The difference youth work makes to young people described as NEET by Youthnet

The difference youth work makes to young people who are described as NEET (not in education, employment or training)

Supported by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland

About Youthnet Youthnet is the voluntary youth network for Northern Ireland, an umbrella body that advocates for and supports voluntary youth organisations across Northern Ireland. Our member organisations cover a broad range of activity for young people across Northern Ireland, including: front line delivery of youth work in communities; work in rural and urban interfaces; outreach and inclusion projects; early intervention services for young people involved in the juvenile justice system; and youth work programmes with young people described as NEET. About the paper As part of our commitment to fostering collaboration, this paper was commissioned by Youthnet on behalf of a group of voluntary youth organisations working with young people described as not in education, employment or training (NEET). The voluntary youth organisations who contributed to this paper include; Artillery Youth Centre, Challenge for Youth, Include Youth, Opportunity Youth, The Bytes Project, The Princes Trust, and YouthAction NI Additional Contributions Joe Hawkins - Youth Works (Youth Council for Northern Ireland) Ruth Barry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VOYPIC (Voice of Young People in Care) Publishing details Written by Nick Mack (Creative Edge Consultancy) Oct 2013 ÂŠ Youthnet 2013

Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction: The Purpose of this Paper ................................................................ 6 Key Points ................................................................................................................. 8 Section 1: The Context ........................................................................................... 10 1.1

The challenges facing young people who are â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Core NEETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ...................................... 12

1.2

The current view of youth work and young people who are NEET in Government policy........................................................................................................................ 13

1.3

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 17

Section 2: How youth work contributes to employability, future business needs and resilience .......................................................................................................... 19 2.1

The alignment of youth work outcomes with requirements for employability ............ 19

2.2

Providing for future business needs ......................................................................... 21

2.3

Building resilience and on-going participation ........................................................... 22

2.4

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 25

Section 3: The distinguishing features of youth work ........................................ 26 3.1

Recruitment and engagement .................................................................................. 26

3.2

Preparing to learn ..................................................................................................... 29

3.3

The learning and development process .................................................................... 33

3.4

Supporting Transition ............................................................................................... 38

3.5

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 41

Section 4: Performance and Outcomes ................................................................ 44 4.1

A summary of the evidence ...................................................................................... 44

4.2

Case Examples ........................................................................................................ 49

Conclusion: why youth work is important to helping young people who are Core NEET ............................................................................................................... 53 5.1

Outreach .................................................................................................................. 53

5.2

Integration ................................................................................................................ 53

5.3

Agency ..................................................................................................................... 53

Annex 1: List of organisations contributing to this paper .................................. 55 Annex 2: Youth work values .................................................................................. 61 References .............................................................................................................. 63

Foreword I am pleased to endorse this report highlighting the powerful contributions that youth work methodologies and interventions make to building of resilience and supporting the development of skills for young people who are described as not in education, employment or training (NEET). I draw your attention to the framework in Section 2.1 (table 1) which clearly identifies aspects of youth work outcomes and matches these to employability requirements. Similar outcomes have been identified in the OECD Report â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Off to a Good Start? Jobs for Youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2010), which clearly states the value of non-formal learning and volunteer opportunities, particularly for young people who do not benefit from a conventional classroom experience or have had a negative experience of school. Non-formal education provides targeted or specialised support that leads to the development of skills such as communication, confidence, self-awareness, trust, problem solving and motivation, which are becoming increasingly valued by employers. I am also pleased to see that the report highlights the key issue of transition for young people moving on to further education, employment or training and that it advocates for the provision of effective support for these young people. Creating a vision in which all young people realise their potential will require an integrated approach to planning both locally and regionally. It is clear from the evidence presented in this report that the non-formal education sector, and in particular youth work, has an important contribution to make in addressing the needs of young people described as NEET. I look forward to the continued role that youth work will play, alongside formal education in preparing all young people for their futures.

Nichola Lynagh Chairperson Youthnet

Introduction: The Purpose of this Paper This paper was commissioned by Youthnet on behalf of a group of voluntary youth organisations working with young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). The purpose of this paper is to enable those outside youth work to get a deeper insight into what youth work does and how it does it. In particular, the paper sets out to explain the relevance of youth work programmes to the aim of improving employability and entrepreneurship amongst young people who may be described as ‘Core NEET’; that is those who have one or more barriers preventing engagement with education, training or employment opportunities. The key purpose of youth work1 is: ‘to enable young people to develop holistically, working with them to facilitate their personal, social and educational development, to enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society and to reach their full potential.’ i

It is hoped that providing this improved insight will expand the understanding of what youth work can offer to the achievement of government policy beyond what is currently articulated in policy documents and strategic plans. It might also enable other organisations and agencies working to address the needs of young people who are NEET to see opportunities for enhanced coordination and collaboration with youth work organisations. This responds to the call for improved coordination as a key aspiration of the Northern Ireland Executive’s ‘Pathways to Success’ Strategy for young people who are NEET. The paper is organised into four main sections. Section 1 provides a brief reminder of the position regarding young people who are NEET, drawing on recent surveys and statistics. It also explains how the current role attributed to youth work in government policy and strategy can be enhanced as a lever for positive change. Section 2 provides a complete view of what outcomes and competencies youth work can offer which are relevant to employability and enterprise. It not only illustrates how the outcomes defined by youth work fit well with a broad range of those identified as important for employability but also explains how youth work outcomes go beyond the immediate requirements for employability to include competencies in emotional, social and moral intelligence. These are now becoming widely understood for their significance in determining the performance of businesses in the emerging post-recession economy. 1

More information on youth work values can be found in Annex 2

Further, the section explains how youth work outcomes also provide for resilience in young people to continue to pursue personal goals through the ups and downs of job seeking. Section 3 explains the features that are distinctive to youth work programmes. It shows how they help to extend the reach of support to engage young people who are most distant from the labour market and how the outcomes youth work is able to provide are achieved. It also explains how youth work demonstrates a means to provide integrated support covering a range of needs for young people as part of a joined up approach. Finally, section 4 draws together some of the quantitative and qualitative data collected in programme monitoring and evaluation to illustrate the performance of youth work programmes on key areas such as retention, the achievement of qualifications and progression into education or employment. The material for this paper was derived from a review of a range of youth work programmes offered to young people who are NEET and listed in Annex 1. They have been noted for their exemplary practice models and high retention and achievement rates.

Key Points The context 

Youth work has historically played a key role in engaging vulnerable young people who are at risk or excluded from society. There is potential for this to be more closely aligned to meet recent Government priorities in policy direction, such as ‘Priorities for Youth’, ‘Pathways to Success’, and ‘Together: Building a United Community’.



There is a body of evidence that indicates young people who are described as Core NEETii face multiple challenges and barriers to engaging in employment, education or training. Youth work has demonstrated its effectiveness in supporting young people to address these barriers and be in a position to positively engage with employment, volunteering and training opportunities.

The relevance of youth work outcomes 

Outcomes attributed to youth work align well with employability outcomes identified by research and future business needs such as emotional, moral and social intelligence.



Youth work outcomes go beyond performance outputs (such as retention rates, qualifications and percentage of moving on figures) to developing resilient and motivated young people able to sustain engagement in the labour market.

The distinguishing features of youth work 

Youth work adopts a range of flexible and innovative methods to recruit young people who are NEET onto a programme. For example, referrals from agencies or families, community outreach, drop-in facilities, or detached youth work.



Young people choose to participate in youth work and youth workers seek to understand and address the realities faced by each young person in considering how best to support their engagement in a programme.



The rapport built between the youth worker and young person is fundamental to their continued engagement. Youth workers are noted for being positive, honest, empathetic and understanding, building trust with young people to empower them to face multiple challenges.



Young people are responsible for their own learning and development process and play a vital role in negotiating the key elements of the programme.



Volunteering is a key part of youth work programmes and a significant way to build employability.



Youth work provides consistent and flexible support for young people. Setbacks are accepted as common place and young people rather than being dismissed from a programme are supported to re-engage.



Youth work organisations prepare young people to ‘move on’ to employment, further education or training but also operate an open door policy, which allows young people to access support post-programme. Many young people continue to maintain a relationship with the youth worker and youth work organisation for many months after the programme has ended.

Performance across youth work programmes 

Although not directly comparable to other interventions such as ‘Training for Success’, a summary of evidence from youth work programmes demonstrates a high level of performance in terms of retention rates, numbers of young people completing essential skills, gaining qualifications, and percentage of young people moving on into employment, education or training.

KEY MESSAGES Achieving sustained employability for young people who are NEET requires strategic investment in preparing and enabling young people to engage effectively and purposefully with training, education and employment opportunities.

The outcomes youth work provides add significant value to the quality and capability of young people as employees or potential entrepreneurs and improve their ability to persevere whilst looking for employment opportunities.

Youth work offers an important means for the different support services for young people to be better aligned with the individual circumstances of each young person, so improving effectiveness and efficiency across the system.

Section 1: The Context The need to help young people who are ‘Core NEET’ as a policy concern and the current understanding of youth work as part of the approach As more research is carried out, the serious consequences for young people who are unable to positively engage with education, training or employment opportunities are becoming increasingly apparent. Structurally, the labour market impacts of the recession and its aftermath have fallen most heavily on younger people. Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) Labour Force Survey (LFS) statistics for June 2013 reported that 19% of 16-24 year olds were unemployed during February / April; nearly two and a half times the background unemployment rate of 7.8%. The same picture is reported internationally; with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimating global youth unemployment rates to be 12.6% in 2013 amongst 15-24 year olds. In addition, figures may not reflect an increasing level of emigration by young people seeking work elsewhere. It is estimated that a total of 14 million young people aged between 15 and 29, or 15.4% of the EU population, are at any one time described as NEET. With an estimated 22% of young people in this category, the Republic of Ireland is one of the countries with the highest proportion, along with Spain, Italy and Bulgariaiii. In Northern Ireland the most recent LFS figures for April - June 2013 record 46,000 or 21% of young people as NEET, from a high of 24% in April – June 20122. Of these young people 46% are unemployed and 54% are described as economically inactive. 20% (9000) of young people recorded as NEET are long-term unemployediv. Youth unemployment figures for the period June to August 2013 showed that 22.5% of 18-24 year olds were unemployed, this compared with 7.7% overall unemployment ratev. Analysis by the Audit Office based on figures for the UK estimate that each young person categorised as NEET in 2008 will cost the tax payer an average of £56,000 before retirement age, along with an additional £104,000 in opportunity costs (loss to the economy, welfare loss to individuals and their families, and the impact of these costs to the rest of 2

It should be noted that the LFS was not designed to provide NEET data (As stated in DEL’s NEETs scoping document). The overall NEET figure is given for both the 16-19 and 16-24 year old age group, however, the definitions are problematic as training is restricted to that which is government supported and education is restricted to full time (see ‘Counting NEETS NI Assembly Research Service Briefing Paper 2013’).

society). Taken together, the entire 2008 group of young people who were NEET could cost over £13 billion to the public purse and £22 billion in opportunity costs before they reach retirement agevi. In Northern Ireland, the estimated annual economic cost of youth unemployment is somewhere in the region of £300 millionvii. The economic loss to society of not integrating young people into the economy throughout the EU is estimated at 153 billion euro3. This is in addition to the cost of youth crime in the UK (including imprisonment of children and young people) of £23 million a week, or £1.2 billion per year viii. In 2012, the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) presented a cost benefit analysis on youth programmes in the Republic of Ireland which estimated the overall net economic return on youth work as €1.21 billion over a 10-year periodix. This compares with more localised findings from a recent cost benefit analysis of YouthAction NI’s Apprenticeship in Youth Work that estimated a six and a half million pounds productive contribution by apprentices over a seven year period. Level 3 advanced apprentices were estimated to generate lifetime benefits to themselves and their employer of £105,000 x. Not all young people who are classified as NEET are the same. The Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) Scoping Study carried out prior to the development of the ‘Pathways to Success’ Strategy breaks overall NEET into three main sub-groupsxi; 

Transitional or Gap Year NEET (41%);



Floating NEET (22%) who have no obvious barrier to engaging in further training / employment ; and



Core NEET (38%) who have one or a multiple of barriers preventing engagement.

It is those who are Core NEET who are of most concern and the focus of this paper.

Based on two types of costs, missing contributions of NEETS in terms of unpaid taxes and social contributions, and the excess in welfare transfers that young people who are NEET are likely to receive

1.1

The challenges facing young people who are ‘Core NEET’

“1991 born...granny died…suspended 4 wks fighting…ma + da split…expelled …drugs…uncle suicide…arrested 4 drinking…2 attempted suicides…3 more attempted suicides…counselling (sic)…thrown out of mums…” (Life map extracts: GRIT Residential participant) It is important to fully understand the realities behind the term ‘Core NEET’ in considering how best to address the issue. Young people described as ‘Core NEET’ typically have few or low level qualifications. Many find it hard to cope with, or can’t see the point of school, or leave school for reasons connected to home life or other circumstances. A recent survey by the University and College Union (UCU) into young people who are NEETxii found that a majority of those who had been out of work for over a year (66%) felt that their education had not provided them with the appropriate skills they needed for working life. The disconnection from education and from training and employment goes deeper however. Young people who are NEET are less likely to vote, to participate socially, or to trust institutions that might help themxiii. They can be hard to engage and motivate and are not typically “joiners” or “stayers” on programmes. They often come from communities in which there is little sense of a positive future to strive for4, and where there is peer pressure not to succeed. About a third of young people in the UCU survey felt they had no chance of ever getting a job, and 37% said they rarely even left the house. As little as six months out of employment, education or training has been shown to impact on mental health and the likelihood of acquiring a criminal record xiv. The UCU survey found stress and anxiety to be common (39%), as well as depression (33%). Importantly, the UCU survey also found that young people saw ‘boosting self-confidence’ (46%) and ‘boosting motivation’ (36%) as two of the best ways to help them get into work or education. These were more likely to be mentioned than either advice about applying for jobs (29%) or clear information about education and training opportunities (20%). Addressing motivation however is not just a matter of finding a vocation or career path. Young people who are Core NEET often have little resilience or self-confidence. They are 4

However it is a mistake to assume young people who are NEET come from workless families – recent research suggests only 26% do so e.g. Barham et al. 2009

more likely to have a difficult family background, may be homeless and a proportion will exhibit high risk behaviour, can be vulnerable to crime, to violence, to self-harm and may drift into drug or alcohol abuse. These background circumstances need to be addressed with each young person before they are in a position to properly engage with employment or training opportunities. Young people who are Core NEET can be far from being able or ready to learn. As this paper will explain, youth work provides important forms of support to address these fundamental difficulties and replace them with the self-awareness, confidence and purpose that will help young people make good use of training and employment opportunities. At the present time, however, this is not recognised in key government policies and strategies.

1.2 The current view of youth work and young people who are NEET in Government policy The key policy documents relevant to the provision of support for young people who are Core NEET are: 1.2.1

Priorities for Youth: (2013) the Department of Education (DE) strategy for youth work

1.2.2

Pathways to Success: (2012) the Northern Ireland Executiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy to address the problem of young people who are NEET under the auspices of the Delivering Social Change Programme and led by the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL)

1.2.3

Together: Building a United Community: (2013) The Office of the First Minister Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) Strategy; in particular, the United Youth Programme.

Detailed reading of these policy documents shows that there remains considerable underappreciation and therefore underutilisation of what youth work can do to help address the problems and life chances of young people who are Core NEET.

1.2.1 Priorities for Youth Pre-consultation to inform the first draft of the DE Priorities for Youth policy noted strong concerns that youth work had not been properly valued and consequently, had been given a lack of clear policy direction; “The meaning of youth work in education has been diluted over the years, and the important contribution good quality youth work makes to achieving a range of education and wider social aims has not been sufficiently recognised outside of the youth sector”xv Include Youth reflected a view shared across youth organisations in calling for the policy to include a vision for youth work, and a definition of what youth work is, “In our view this would help achieve greater recognition of and ‘buy-in’ for youth work and its value beyond the Department of Education, thereby more accurately capturing the vital role youth work plays in improving the life chances of young people”.xvi 5 As a DE policy, however, the strategic aim subsequently defined for youth work has been strongly wedded to supporting educational objectives. The role of youth work is described as one of overcoming social and cognitive barriers to learning, helping to raise standards across young people from different positions of advantage toward equity in educational achievement. Whilst there is a strong role for youth work in this regard, limiting it in this way means the policy misses an opportunity to champion the contribution youth work makes to a wider set of outcomes, identified elsewhere in the policy; including, for example: 

Helping young people to gain confidence, develop their self-esteem, and have high expectations and aspirations for themselves



Helping them develop an understanding of, and respect for, the rights, equality and diversity of all without discrimination



Developing young leaders through supported volunteering in a leadership capacity and



Supporting young people to participate positively and effectively in society xvii

‘Priorities for Youth’ does, however, mention that in developing a framework of outcomes for youth work, the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) will take account of the broad range of 5

DE’s response to the need for a definition of youth work was that such a move could be seen as restricting the potential scope for Departmental funding, or perhaps creating conflict within the sector regarding who is within and who is without the boundaries of a specific definition.

youth work educational outcomes, including those focusing on personal and social development. It is hoped that the outcomes identified above, and in this paper, will be included as a key part of this framework. The policy also provides youth work organisations with an opportunity to work with young people up to the age of 25, with the focus of the 22-25 age range being on young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of being considered in this group. This further provides an opportunity for youth work to demonstrate their effectiveness in supporting young people described as NEET. 1.2.2 Pathways to Success The second important policy document in which roles for youth work might be found for addressing the problem of young people who are NEET is the Northern Ireland Executives Pathways to Success Strategy which focuses specifically on this issue. Along with a suite of actions to prevent young people still at school from becoming NEET, the strategy sets out to re-engage young people in the 16-18 age group (using new initiatives to signpost and support them to resume learning and progress into work) and young unemployed people in the 18-24 age group (by focusing on enabling opportunities for work experience and skills development). When it comes to consider the role of youth work, however, the strategy is content to defer to the DE Priorities for Youth Policy and to see youth work and youth provision as part of education. A fuller appreciation of the youth work approach however would allow a number of important objectives to be addressed that are identified by the strategy. Three examples help to illustrate this: Integration of support In addressing the challenges of young people who are NEET, the strategy describes its key role as one of facilitating and encouraging improved integration across the actions of a wide range of agencies. It sees it as important to break down silos both at departmental and grassroots levels to encourage greater sharing and collaboration to achieve success. How this is realised in delivery, however, is less clear, particularly if this is to be done so that young people themselves experience support in an integrated way relevant to their particular needs. Youth work programmes offer important insights as to how this could be achieved. Youth workers typically liaise with a range of other agencies and organisations in working to address problems and barriers preventing young people who are Core

NEET from taking part in youth work programmes, and assist each young person to make best use of each service to meet their needs. Empowerment The strategy describes seeking to “empower our young people to become positive role models within the community and to tackle those issues that contribute to some of our youth becoming disengaged”. Youth work programmes typically invite young people to explore together a wide range of issues affecting them, assisting them to identify for themselves ways to manage or address these issues. This can often lead to young people taking the initiative for projects that have a positive impact on their community (See 3.3.3 Group Work, p34). Youth work programmes also actively help young people take up volunteer opportunities as a key part of the approach. These opportunities enable young people to gain confidence, experience and a range of applied skills relevant to employability, whilst demonstrating positive contributions to community life and helping to change perceptions about young people (See 3.3.2 Volunteering, p32). Emotional development The strategy recognises the value of supporting personal and emotional development and strengthening resilience, but only with respect to those young people with experience of care, referring to the DHSS “Preparation for Adulthood” initiative to support carers and looked after young people (aged 13-15). As Section 2 shows, these sorts of outcomes are delivered to all young people participating in youth work programmes. They are increasingly recognised as important skills employees should have to meet changing terms of trade between businesses and consumers but also to the longer term resilience of all young people. 1.2.3 Together: Building a United Community The cross-cutting OFMDFM Strategy ‘Together: Building a United Community’ includes a United Youth Programme which aims to provide voluntary placements for 10,000 young people. Key outcomes envisaged for this programme are improvements in empathy, understanding, trust, respect and responsibility amongst young people taking part. These are to be achieved from the placement experience coupled with additional training (para 2.33-35). As the next section of this paper shows, these sorts of outcomes have for some time been embedded within youth work.

There is likely to be a need to work through how the outputs and outcomes envisaged for this programme can be achieved without complicating similar efforts to provide volunteering and work experience within, for example, ‘Pathways to Success’. There is a risk one programme could displace or compete with another resulting in confusion for young people and a concurrent risk of an overall reduction in effectiveness across policy initiatives. The good practice of signposting and assistance that has been developed in youth work programmes to engage young people with opportunities for volunteering as a key part of youth work offers a potential means to solve this difficulty.

1.3

Conclusion

Helping young people who are Core NEET to achieve employment requires more than an improvement in qualifications and employability skills. As research is demonstrating, motivation and confidence are important pre-cursors to effective participation in training and employment opportunities. Success in achieving the necessary motivation and participation also means addressing root causes that are often complex, requiring a range of different kinds of support which cut across policy boundaries such as health, mental wellbeing, and social cohesion. Specific difficulties vary considerably in nature and severity from one young person to the next and whilst there are no shortages of initiatives emerging from different departments, these need to be brought together in the right combination for each young person to make a real difference. ‘Pathways to Success’ recognises the value of better coordination and collaboration in principle, but the practical realisation of this is less clear. Success in moving young people who are Core NEET into employment needs a pathway of support that deals with these complex needs. This needs to instil the self-belief, confidence and sense of purpose required to fully engage in more specific training and employment opportunities and (put crudely) provide a good return on overall investment in provision for government. Youth work offers significant ways to provide this necessary early support, but has so far been underutilised by government. Piloting and testing of new and co-operative approaches through DEL’s Collaboration and Innovation Fund provides one means to develop the evidence base for deeper connections with youth work. However, it is important to recognise that NEET is a relatively recent acronym, whilst youth work has historically played a vital role in engaging with unemployed, vulnerable and at risk groups. The model of youth work outlined in Section 3 for example has been developed within programmes successfully delivered by a number of voluntary youth organisations for a number of years 17

providing for improved employability for young people aged 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25. Many of these organisations are recognised providers by DEL. There is strong evidence that it is the youth work values and methodology which underpins the success of these programmes.

Section 2: How youth work contributes to employability, future business needs and resilience “Short-term programmes largely concerned with generic skills, CVs and ‘employability’ cannot give NEET young people a labour market advantage” (Wolf, 2011)xviii A number of conversations and studies across the youth work sector in the UK and Ireland, on-going for some time, have been helping to clarify youth work outcomes. The outcomes that have been defined for young people align well with the requirements identified by employers for employability. They help to equip young people with skills for maintaining personal development and wellbeing during the challenges of finding a job, and a number of the outcomes typical of youth work are emerging as significant in studies focusing on business performance and competitiveness in the emerging post-recession economy.

2.1

The alignment of youth work outcomes with requirements for employability

In common with training providers, youth work programmes include the delivery of essential skills (numeracy, literacy and ICT) and other accredited courses. These in themselves are not distinct; rather, it is the way they are delivered that is different, details of which are provided in Section 3. The way these skills are delivered also allows for other important wider outcomes to be achieved. These include a number of important personal and interpersonal skills that “make the difference between being good at a subject and being good at doing a job.” (UKES, 2009)xix Table 1 below allows a comparison of the list of key competencies and qualities identified by employers as important to employability (left hand column) and the outcomes identified by youth organisations to be important across youth work. The list of employability requirements on the left was derived from reviews by the European Youth Forum, the National Children’s Bureau, and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) which in turn drew on a wide pool of studies and consultations with employersxx. The list of youth work outcomes shown on the right of the table was derived from a recent comprehensive review by the Young Foundationxxi, which is the most comprehensive to date. Similar work is also being undertaken by the Youth Service Sectoral Partnership Group (NI)6. The table as a whole shows how both of these lists are complementary to one another. 6

Work to develop a framework of expected outcomes is currently being carried out by the Youth Service Sectoral Partners Group YSSPG (comprising of ELBs, YCNI, Youthnet, Voluntary Sector Representatives, and the Department of Community and Youth Work UUJ)

Table 1: The alignment of youth work outcomes and employability requirements Aspect

Employability Requirements

Personal Confidence Effectiveness Self-esteem

Youth Work Outcomes Greater self-awareness Emotional well-being/ managing feelings

Resilience

Self-reflection

Motivation

Increased satisfaction with self

Self-control

Increased satisfaction with life

Reliability

Resilience and determination

Presentation Flexibility Readiness to improve Team effectiveness

Respect for others

Testing values and beliefs

Communication skills

Empathy

Co-operating, listening/ asking relevant questions

Participative skills

Negotiating/persuading Awareness of interdependence with others

Teamwork Communication Leadership Developing positive relationships Increased sense of belonging to the community

Business Planning Effectiveness Prioritising

Creativity Planning

Initiative

Problem Solving

Integrity

Volunteering

Resourcefulness

Social action

Problem-solving Creativity and Innovation

Skills assisting the individual to be more personally effective include readiness to accept responsibility, be self-starting, and have good time management, as well as flexibility, resilience, appropriate assertiveness, and a readiness to improve personal performance based on feedback and reflective learning. Being able to work well in a team includes having respect for others, having skills in cooperating, listening, asking relevant questions, negotiating and persuading, and an awareness of interdependence with others. 20

Business effectiveness skills include the ability of an individual to represent or support a business. They encompass not only planning and prioritising but also initiative, resourcefulness and integrity along with empathy and listening skills. These can underpin effective customer relations or team working skills. As will be noted, these skills are becoming recognised as important in front-line workers as well as managers7; ”the key foundation, must be a positive attitude: a ‘can-do’ and an innovative approach, creativity, collaboration and risk taking; …an individual with these attributes can make a huge difference to any business” (CBI, 2009)xxii

2.2

Providing for future business needs

The table helps to demonstrate how youth work outcomes align with employability requirements as currently defined. However, it also shows the underlying potential for outcomes that will increase in importance in the emerging economy. Research has begun to show how skills such as resourcefulness, integrity, self-control, resilience, a positive attitude, the capacity for self-reflection and good inter-personal skills, are underpinned by the development of emotional intelligence8, and by the opportunity to have tested, reflected on and developed personal values and beliefs. For some observers, emotional intelligence is “a stronger predictor of performance than skills, knowledge and expertise” (Freedman, 2010)xxiii Research and evidence from a number of new initiatives amongst larger employers is demonstrating how emotional intelligence in the workforce is linked to improvements in productivity, customer relations, collaboration and innovation. For example: 

Research by the Carnegie Institute of Technology reported that 85 % of the financial success of an individual could be explained by skills in self-managing personality, the ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. Only 15 % was found to be due to technical knowledge.

See for example, the principles of ‘Design Thinking’ in the development of new products or services, that works best if it includes front-line staff (Red Paper 2 Design Council: Transformational Design), NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement “Front line staff, can be encouraged to use co-design techniques and methods in doing their every day job and to work with and for patients to deliver the improvements that are needed”

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups



In their 2009 report to the Department of the Taoiseachxxiv, Kumar and McNulty note that “Ireland needs to foster and nurture creativity and innovation within all sectors especially in the education system so the next generation of students develop the necessary long term knowledge, skills and attitudes for intercultural dialogue, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative projects”.



Google, Panasonic and other large companies have introduced emotional intelligence and mindfulness courses to their workforce in recent years in recognition of the impact that can be made on productivity. Pepsi, L’Oreal and the Sheraton Hotel Group have tested and found positive results for emotional intelligence with regard to effects on customer service and sales performance.

Other distinct types of intelligence are also becoming recognised. A recent addition is Moral Intelligence, the awareness and cultivation of integrity, responsibility, sympathy, and forgiveness, of keeping commitments, and of being honest. Moral intelligence is a potential asset to employability not only in terms of honesty and reliability, but could be pivotal in helping businesses win and retain potential customers in an economy where integrity, honesty and authenticity are becoming pre-requisites. This call for competencies in emotional, moral and social intelligence is not limited only to managers and leaders but are qualities all staff in a company should have, on the basis that this will enable them to act with a degree of autonomy and agency that makes the best contribution to the effective running of the business. “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves, their values and how they best perform” (Peter Drucker 1999)xxv Teaching these skills however often doesn’t appear until much later in the formal educational process, if at all (CBI 2009) and so must be currently addressed by businesses themselves through work-based training courses, representing an additional cost. They are, however, intrinsic to youth work (see for example 3.3.2 Co-created learning, p33).

2.3

Building resilience and on-going participation

Unadjusted LFS estimates for April - June 2013 show that 54.3% of those unemployed in Northern Ireland have been unemployed for one year or more. This is 9.9 percentage points up from the previous year. The ILO estimates the youth unemployment rate in the developed economies and the EU will be unlikely to drop below 17% before 2016 (p5 ILO report)xxvi. Low-skilled youth are now at high risk of long term economic inactivity and 22

exclusionxxvii. Young people may not attain a job immediately, or jobs may in the first instance be temporary or of poor quality. It is vital, therefore, to ensure that a young person has the capacity to remain positively and actively engaged over extended periods of time when the right job opportunity has not yet arrived. This requires building resilience in a young person, that is; “the capacity to face, overcome and ultimately be strengthened and even transformed by life’s adversities and challenges”. xxviii. Resilience is in turn the result of cultivating a number of psychological strengths such as mood management and emotional intelligence, optimism and hope mastery and positive emotions (ibid) Positive on-going engagement is also achieved by providing a young person with the capacity to draw confidently on a strong sense of personal skills, interests, values, self-belief and personal vision. The outcome is a young person who can continue to strive to realise their own potential, drawing purposefully on opportunities for training, volunteering, employment or enterprise whilst dealing effectively with challenges or disappointments along the way. Whilst employment is an important objective, young people can also maintain positive engagement and add to their experience and confidence through participating in community life. Youth work programme evaluations regularly report examples of young people using their own initiative to take forward projects that have a broader social benefit as active citizens (see 4.2.2 Young people in groups, p46). Alongside skills development, volunteering has been an important part of youth work. It supports young leaders to be involved in collective action, community development, and in creating networks of civic engagement, contributing to peace-building and wider public action for peace. Research exploring the factors affecting success in education or training for active citizenshipxxix sheds light on how volunteering in youth work programmes can be more effective in developing actively engaged young people than education in schools. For example, the research found that important to success was that: 

A sense of citizenship is embedded in each individual’s unique life history and formed through relationships with others.



Active citizens are driven by a sense of commitment to other people, rooted in notions of justice and care.



Active citizens usually learn their citizenship skills through trying to solve a problem or to fulfil a mission, rather than by setting out to “learn to be good citizens”.

ď&#x201A;ˇ

The outcomes of citizenship learning are most likely to be effective if they provide individuals with opportunities to explore and acquire the skills in context, rather than through formal instruction.

The sense of citizenship developed through volunteering has economic as well as social benefit. Efforts to solve the problem of providing effective public services with reducing budgets, for example, needs active engaged purposeful citizens able to make good use of such services to address their own needs. Wider support services offered by different government departments for young people for example, could achieve more if they met with young people who had the confidence and sense of purpose to make effective use of them. The diagram below shows how the skills cultivated in young people through youth work provide a longer term capacity to use external resources to achieve personally defined goals; a model of work relevant to achieving employability, but also entrepreneurship and citizenship.

The Self-Motivated Individual Ability to define goals and to plan / organise to pursue them

Sense of Self (skills, talents, interests, ability to make a difference)

Purposeful use of external resources (e.g. FE colleges, information and advice, loans / grants, services)

Capacity to Reflect, assess and learn, capacity for resilience

2.4

Conclusion

An appreciation of the differences made by youth work begins from seeing that improving essential skills and qualifications is only part of the picture. It is also vital to help young people with more intangible outcomes around social and emotional intelligence that will give them the resilience and self-belief to go forwardxxx. The Learning and Skills Council in England has sought to encourage recognition of a broader range of soft outcomes. The relevant inspectorates across the UK now consider how providers perform in developing these broader employability skills (Deloitte 2010, Ofsted 2011). However, hard outcomes still dominate reporting frameworks. Moves to adopt payment by results in England focus tightly on entry into and retention in employment, missing important information about distance travelled and, given the fragile employment opportunities open to many young people, the capacity for resilience and tenacity brought about within young people themselves. It is important in turn that youth work becomes clearer in articulating and being able to measure and assess this wider range of outcomes; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Outcomes-based funding for training is only as good as the definition of the outcomes.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;(UKCES, 2009)xxxi Progress is being made in this regard with youth work employing a number of evaluation tools and methods that can assess changes in emotional and social skills, drawing on psychological scales, behavioural and activity surveys and bespoke tools such as descriptor scales, the Richter Lifeboard (using the Richter Employability overlay) and the Four Voices Framework.

Section 3: The distinguishing features of youth work In this section the key elements that distinguish youth work are explained, showing how they contribute to the achievement of the outcomes and capabilities discussed earlier. The section is divided into four key areas: 3.1

Recruitment and engagement: important in extending the reach of a programme to include Core NEET young people.

3.2

Preparing to learn: the preparation and support that is important in enabling young people to engage with and stay on a programme, addressing problems in personal lives and providing encouragement to re-connect with learning and personal development.

3.3

The learning and development process: how youth work approaches learning and development and enables young people to be partners in their learning and development pathway to maintain high retention and completion rates. How relevant skills, and emotional, social and moral intelligence outcomes are achieved.

3.4

Supporting transitions: how youth work programmes seek to ensure the benefits to young people continue after programme completion and translate into longer term outcomes as they move on to education, employment or training.

3.1

Recruitment and engagement

Finding and engaging young people is an important first step to any programme, particularly those furthest away from employment, training or education opportunities. A key principle of youth work is that participation is voluntary. The young person must choose to take part. How a young person is first contacted and given information that encourages them to take an interest in a programme is therefore crucial. 3.1.1 Recruitment Some young people who are NEET do not engage in programmes through typical recruitment methods such as advertisements, open days or college based events. To reach them, a more inventive and flexible approach to recruitment is required. Three main methods are typical.

Referral Referrals to programmes come from Social Services, Probation Board, DHSS lone parent advisors, Sure Start family care workers, Health Visitors, and the Trusts. It provides those ‘on the front line’ who encounter young people who are NEET another option they can use to assist young people. The number of referrals by these agencies to programmes is perhaps an indication of the real need of the youth work programme itself. Community outreach Local youth centres or neighbourhood based community organisations can act as valuable outreach or contact points for young people. The youth work programmes may be delivered directly by the youth centre or through a partnership with a youth organisation and an informal community based setting, often close to where the young people live. Street work Youth workers within a programme are often from the communities being targeted by the programme, and can draw on pre-existing relationships and knowledge of young people in the community to recruit them. They go to where young people are; the benefits office, the post office, the street corner, the park, their homes. Young people completing a programme may then assist in recommending the programme to others they know in their community.

Artillery Youth Centre based in the New Lodge area works with marginalised young people including young parents, young offenders and youth at risk. The organisation is an integral part of the local community and engages young people through word of mouth and staff knowledge of the area. “Crucially we use our own local knowledge as a community based youth centre with staff and volunteers who live and work in the local areas.” (Centre Manager)

Around 140 young people are referred to Include Youth’s Give and Take Scheme9 each year by the five Health and Social Care Trusts. In the first years of the programme, social workers referred young people who wouldn't engage in any other programme as a last chance. Increasingly, however, social workers are referring them as a first option. The Trusts report considering the Give and Take Scheme as an integral part of a ‘stepping stone’ process for young people to help prepare them for moving on to education, training or employment.

3.1.2 Engagement Whilst the possibility of getting qualifications to help get a job is a factor motivating young people to take part in a youth work based scheme, a core principle of youth work programmes is that each young person agrees to participate in the programme voluntarily rather than being obliged to do so. The opportunity to choose is empowering, immediately contributing to the task of building self-esteem and confidence, and establishing a partnership relationship from the start with the young person. A decision by a young person to participate comes from them being able to quickly see that they will have some say in what is provided to them (a person centred approach). Many young people who are NEET could not make use of the opportunities of school because they could not see the purpose behind learning. Youth work programmes do not assume that the benefits of learning opportunities are already clear. Rather, the relevance of learning opportunities are explained to each young person so they can see the point of them, where the process and learning will take them, and why this is a good place to get to. A decision to participate is strongly influenced by whether the young person feels a rapport with the staff they meet, which comes from how the staff interact with the young person at an early stage. It is important the young person can see that they will be supported and feels comfortable; including the possibility of getting one to one support. In essence, a youth work based approach sets out to make the programme a service for a young person, rather than make the young person serve the requirements of the programme.

Include Youth’s Give and Take Scheme is a youth work employability programme funded through the European Social Fund (ESF), Health Trust’s and National Lottery

Young people coming to the Give and Take Scheme have been referred by a social worker, but they still have the option of agreeing or not to participate. All young people referred have an opportunity to meet with Give and Take staff along with their social worker to learn more about the scheme and are then given time to make a decision about participating.

Challenge for Youth take referrals to the Youth Works, Time for Change and Understanding Choices programmes from various statutory agencies and directly from family and community. In all cases, there are two clear steps that youth workers go through. The first is ‘to go to where the young person is at’; where possible this will be in the young person’s home so that a connection is made with the young person in their space and with their various support networks. It is primarily an opportunity to listen, build trust and demonstrate genuine interest in connecting with any aspirations that the young person has. The second stage is focused on ‘creating an appropriate pathway towards engagement’; this often focuses on the first step, dealing with fears and frustrations and allowing progress to happen at a level where the young person remains in control.

3.2

Preparing to learn

Many young people need to be brought to a place where they are ‘education ready’. In youth work this means enabling young people to feel they have the support, confidence and skills to take responsibility for their own development and their own lives. This may take considerable time to achieve, but achieving a positive and purposeful re-connection with learning is vital not just to gain qualifications but to maintain long term confidence to pursue education, training or employment. These early steps help to connect the young person to the right kind of support and begin to nurture emotional intelligence. 3.2.1 Relationship building Youth work staff go above and beyond programme tasks to ensure reliable, trustworthy but challenging support is provided to young people, particularly those with difficult personal circumstances. The time invested in building positive relationships with young people helps instil self-belief and optimism. Young people who are NEET need to feel valued and to have an interest taken in them consistently over time until they can develop their own self-belief and self-worth. For many, this kind of support has often been missing in their lives, 29

particularly if they have come from separated or dysfunctional families, and is one of the reasons they have found themselves NEET in the first place. Staff and volunteers on programmes working with young people who are NEET are noted for being positive, honest, empathetic and understanding. Staff on the Youth Works programme10 noticed one young girl had stopped attending so the youth worker arranged to meet her for lunch and chat about what was going on with life before persuading her to return. Another young man had been put out of his house by his mum because of behaviour and through the intervention of a youth mentor the mother was made aware of the progress he was making on the programme. This helped mend the relationship and keep the young man engaged.xxxii

3.2.2 Dealing with difficult personal circumstances If young people are struggling to live, education and training is not their priority. Barriers such as mental health problems, family breakdown, homelessness, being an ex-offender, being drug or alcohol dependent, or managing negative influences coming from community, friends or family need to be recognised and understood. Support needs to be provided for the young person to manage them, quite possibly as an on-going part of their time on the programme. This may include offering mediation support to address family or other relationship issues or helping to deal with benefits, financial or accommodation difficulties, which can include accompanying a young person to meetings with providers. Addressing these realities in the lives of many young people who are NEET is important to enabling them to participate fully; it is also intrinsic to the learning and development process; it is applied, not theoretical. The need but also the potential of this aspect of programme offers an important and much needed model for integrating support services to young people.

Youth Works is a programme developed by the Department of Education (DE) with funding from the International Fund for Ireland (IFI). It is managed by the Youth Council for NI and its delivery partners include Artillery Youth Centre, Challenge for Youth, Include Youth, Newstart Education Centre, NI Alternatives, YouthAction NI and Opportunity Youth

Peer workers Youth workers can be assisted by peer workers as a valuable means to properly resource this kind of practical and emotional support. Peer workers are typically young people who have come through similar programmes in the past and feel a strong urge to ‘give back’ to others as part of the appreciation they feel for having been valued themselves. They support each young person as they go through the programme, providing advice, ideas, encouragement and support, and acting as a role model. They may be matched to a young person by gender or previous circumstance and typically also come from the same local area as the participants of a programme. This makes them someone a young person can quickly relate to and trust. The advice they can offer is meaningful because it comes from knowing the background and knowing the person. Challenge for Youth carries out an initial assessment with each young person who participate in their programmes to identify what they feel are their primary needs. This may not be education. “Unless we address or at least acknowledge that the young person is often dealing with key issues such as relationships, addiction, hunger etc. there is no point addressing their need to achieve qualifications.” (Staff Member)

YouthAction NI’s REACH11 Programme uses a series of pre-training steps considering barriers such as mental health problems, family breakdown, homelessness, exoffending, drug or alcohol dependencies, and influences coming from community, friends and family.

3.2.3 Achieving a positive attitude to learning as personal development Young people who are NEET typically lack confidence in academic ability and question the value of academic subjects. They want to learn useful relevant skills and knowledge they can see will help them in their lives, both in looking for work and in managing day to day challenges. They want to have clear learning goals from the beginning and understand what they can be used for. Youth workers work with young people, therefore, to integrate

REACH is a youth programme with 16-25’s delivered by YouthAction NI. It is part financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) the Department for Employment and Learning and the Youth Council for Northern Ireland.

literacy and numeracy skills and accredited courses into their own personal development plan, rather than it being seen as something that is imposed upon them. “Youth work programmes like ‘Second Chance’12 should be self-evidently practical for the young people we work with. So it involves accreditation that is built around the capacity of the young person; it incorporates a high quality work placement and equips the participants to make the most of it; and critically every element of the programme should reflect the ambition of the project to empower young people, to build their capacity, nurture their ambitions and raise their expectations.” (Centre Manager, Artillery Youth Centre) Youth work programmes typically include mentors and tutors who can provide additional one to one support. Tutors Tutors can be dedicated and ‘in-house’ to the programme and generally help deliver the essential skills or other course elements of the programme. Complementing the work of the youth worker, tutors provide one to one support for those who lack confidence to participate in group learning, or whose level of ability is so weak that they require additional support. Mentors Mentors, typically volunteers, may be involved in reviewing learning and personal goals, setting out small steps to be achieved progressively throughout the programme. YouthAction NI’s Positive Solutions Programme, for example, has recruited mentors to provide additional guidance and support for young people to set and review personal development goals. The Prince’s Trust, as part of the range of volunteer opportunities it provides, uses volunteer business mentors to support young entrepreneurs aiming to start a business. VOYPIC (Voice of Young People in Care) run an effective personal development programme, using volunteer mentors as a core component, for young people in care and often NEET.

The Second Chance Programme is a NEET focused youth work programme aimed at 16-25 year olds in North Belfast. Supported by the Collaboration and Innovation Fund programme under DEL, it is a partnership of several groups including Artillery Youth Centre and Clubs for Young People NI

A good supporting relationship with a tutor, mentor or peer worker encourages and cultivates personal reflection to apply personal learning to strengthening emotional and social intelligence and to build resilience through positive self-knowledge. The Give and Take Scheme found it necessary to recruit ‘in-house’ essential skills tutors. The result has been a significant increase in the numbers of young people achieving essential skills qualifications, which continues to grow year on year. This training was previously accessed via the further education (FE) colleges, but this entailed a standard form of training the young people had to fit into that did not work for the target group. For example, training had to be in a group setting and failure to turn up to three classes resulted in expulsion from that class. As a result young people were not succeeding in getting their essential skills qualifications. Consultation with young people showed that they valued the supportive and encouraging approach adopted by the tutors and the ready availability of one-to-one support. In recognition of this, YouthAction NI’s GET SET programme 13 has made use of Include Youth’s essential skills tutors to deliver the essential skills element of the programme rather than using a FE college.

3.3

The learning and development process

Youth work sees young people as co-creators in their personal development plan. Either individually or as a group, they choose the courses that are most relevant and useful, and draw on personal and peer experience as well as course content. 3.3.1 Programme design Youth work programmes are designed to include a number of distinctive characteristics: 

A safe and comfortable space that aids the involvement and retention of young people within the programme, providing a place which is non-judgmental, and where young people can feel they are a partner in the programming of learning.



Multiple entry and exit points rather than a linear course structure, recognising that many young people need time to address other life challenges as well as attend training.

GET SET is a collaborative, voluntary youth sector and business partnership, led by YouthAction NI funded through DEL’s Collaboration and Innovation Fund



A range of learning experiences including volunteering opportunities help young people identify innate talents and interests and discover wider possibilities for personal development.



Course activity within the programme that is typically of short duration and orchestrated to provide incentives as well as challenges, allowing a young person scope to shape their own learning process.



Content is delivered in a staged approach which helps young people to develop a sense of trust in the relationship between themselves and the programme, and to feel confident in being able to access learning opportunities at a pace that suits them.



Training is typically interwoven with opportunities to volunteer.

Modules within programmes have often been developed as pilot initiatives to address aspects such as peace building, cultural transformation, young men’s or young women’s health, conflict management, resilience training, equality and social justice. Some of the subjects help young people make sense of their circumstances and gain perspective, helping them to see that their situation is not unique, not all their fault, and to explore how to find ways to address it and move forward. 3.3.2 Volunteering Volunteering is a key part of youth work programmes and a significant way to build employability. Many young people who are NEET will not be aware of, or confident enough to take part in, volunteering opportunities. Youth work programmes bring these opportunities to the young person and encourage them to take part to build on or extend interests and self-worth. Volunteering is often linked to accreditation, but it also allows the young person to gain new insights to others’ lives and into their own interests, talents and motivation. It can also provide personal satisfaction and pride in having done something of value for others. As such, it is a valuable means to increase confidence and sense of purpose. In rural areas where work experience opportunities are more difficult to access, volunteering is a valuable alternative to employment schemes in providing practical experience. There remain some challenges associated with volunteering, such as providing out of pocket expenses for young people, and ensuring there are not problems arising in continuing to maintain benefits in taking up a volunteering opportunity. 34

3.3.2 Co-created learning Sustaining motivation to learn is strongly dependent on the learner’s confidence in his or her potential for learning. A key principle in youth work is that young people are a partner in the learning and development process. Tools and methods helping to achieve this person centred approach to learning include: 

Staff acting as facilitators rather than teachers enabling young people to help drive and inform their own learning, typically in a group setting.



Participants joining a scheme are often provided with an induction programme tailored to meet individual needs, followed by access to a suite of accredited training programmes.



Participants are assisted on an ‘adult to adult’ (rather than teacher pupil) basis to set goals and personal milestones for themselves that reflect their own particular challenges, emotional, physical, and social as well as educational.



Youth work programmes typically use an individual action plan developed with each young person.



Evaluation of each day’s sessions is encouraged. This re-emphasises ownership and equality in the course delivery, but also encourages participants to ‘internalise’ learning by applying it to their individual lives.



There is often structured support to reflect on experiences, using personal logs, mentoring sessions, or group work sessions. Reflection helps apply learning and to grow self-awareness. It provides a basis for recognising progression to new goals and milestones.

Co-creation helps the young person to feel valued and respected. Students who are involved in shaping their own learning show better retention of knowledge than those who learn through traditional methods. A person-centred approach that teaches young people to take responsibility for their own learning forms a habit of thought they will carry with them after the programme is over. The reflective approach provides a means to cultivate emotional awareness, build emotional intelligence and improved self-management, as well as a clearer sense of interests, strengths and talents.

Opportunity Youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GRIT programme 14 helps young people identify what they want out of life, making many of the participants more willing to take responsibility for ensuring that they get the training they need. This has been evidenced by several of the trainees changing courses rather than dropping out when they realised they did not enjoy the work experience/ training on the course they were attending.

REACH supports young people to identity what their learning goals are and enable them to influence the structure of the programme and its content. By doing so the young person feels their contribution is valued and there is greater ownership from the young person because they have helped shape it.

3.3.3 Group work Some young people joining schemes struggle with group work and group learning and this can cause difficulties in some learning settings such as a further education (FE) colleges. Some join programmes isolating themselves from contact with others, lacking in confidence or fearing further rejection or harm. For some one-to-one support is a continuous requirement, however, an important aim in youth work is to enable young people to become effective and confident participants in a group. The purpose behind the group in youth work goes beyond being a vehicle for delivering training. It is an important means to cultivate leadership amongst young people in shaping their own learning and development, sharing knowledge and supporting and encouraging one another. It is another important place in which young people can become aware of themselves and their relationship to others as a means to strengthen emotional, social and moral intelligence. In the group, youth workers adopt the role of facilitator rather than teacher. Whilst a teacher may give a lecture which covers the subject matter, a facilitator helps the group to develop their own shared understanding of the content, typically drawing on individual life experiences. The group work approach also encourages collaboration among learners, in contrast to traditional competitive approaches.

Opportunity Youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GRIT programme is residential based youth programme funded initially by DSD/IFI

Group work offers a number of additional important benefits to young people in addressing their individual challenges and finding a way forward: 

Groups provide opportunities for young people to break away from the oppression and ‘holding back’ of previous friendship groups. The new social friendships developed on the programmes provide an opportunity to be with other young people on a similar journey in which ‘group and individual’ hope is realised. Collective understanding, processing and support aid the ongoing journey and progression of each young person.



With the support of a youth worker, a group can provide vital peer support and solutions for one another and care for one another. Encouragement, honesty and feedback within the group create a space where young people can be self-aware, socially aware and learn how to best function with others. Group discussions also help to uncover unconscious assumptions, prejudices or inherent values and beliefs.15



Group ownership of the learning process extends the person-centered learning principle outwards into a team working context, in which group members may take responsibility for finding and bringing information to the group, or the group as a whole may decide the pace, approach and direction of learning.

In REACH staff found that in addition to their own work to create a ‘job wall’ of current jobs and training, individual young people would carry out searches and research for the whole group.

A participant on Opportunity Youth’s Switch On to Employment16 programme commented on the group work elements of youth work “My greatest achievement has been my integration into the sessions. At the beginning I isolated myself from the group and didn’t really make any verbal contribution. Now I fully interact within group sessions and I am making valuable contributions to group discussions.”

Peace and reconciliation work is a natural extension of this and features in most youth work programmes addressing young people who are NEET, typically most exposed to the social and cultural processes of reconciliation or violence and perhaps best placed to make a difference through changes in attitude, outlook and behaviour. 16

Switch On to Employment is a programme delivered by Opportunity Youth and funded by ESF

The Bytes Project Youth in Motion programme is a mobile project that supports youth work in areas of high deprivation and delivers a composite of group work programmes based on themes relevant to young peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. Themes may include for example, issue based work (suicide awareness, homelessness, substance misuse), assertiveness, decision making, employability and project based work (good relations, local community action projects, media campaigns).17

3.4

Supporting Transition

Outcomes achieved by young people on youth work based programmes are significant, as evidenced by the figures in Section 4 below. Between 60-80% of young people, move into education, training or employment. However, the point of transition from youth work programmes into mainstream education, training or employment options (where the level of support tend to be lower) presents a major challenge for many young people. For young people who are Core NEET and often leading chaotic lifestyles, maintaining a consistent positive commitment to training and employment does not happen immediately. Young people often need to progress through number of stages in their learning and personal development, which for some can include one or more relapses18. Learning from setbacks and recovering helps to build resilience and strengthen progress overall, however, the reality for many young people is that they still require additional support post programme and initiatives need be ready to maintain an open door policy. There is a further risk that the work preparing a young person to engage more fully in life opportunities is undone without the right assistance and reassurance in preparing them to leave a supportive environment. For those young people who do not feel ready to leave the programme, discussion about moving on can lead them to feel abandoned by those whom they have grown to trust. Youth work based programmes include and are developing a number of actions to address this critical transition stage.

YOUth in Motion is a programme delivered by the Bytes Project funded by DEL and ESF.

This is common across a range of social and psychological change processes. See for example the Prochaska Stages of Change Model http://socialworktech.com/intervention/stages-of-change-prochaska-diclementi/

3.4.1 Prior to leaving Accreditation, even for small stepping stones toward a recognised qualification, provides a sense of achievement and of progress. This sense of achievement is as important to the young person as the accreditation itself. Celebration events and an opportunity to present work to others are important markers of achievement that help value and recognise how far a young person has travelled. They help provide closure and a transition point in moving on to other things. Youth workers will help each young person identify their next step options and review their goals in taking up their option. They will also assist in coordinating the transition into a new opportunity. More work is now being done to develop this transition process (see examples below). 3.4.2 After leaving Youth work programmes rarely maintain a clear cut off point. The relationships which are central to the success of the approach remain after a programme has completed. Youth workers may regularly visit the young person at their education, training or employment placement to ensure a good relationship with the placement provider is maintained. Similarly, they may continue to ensure links with other key people are maintained such as a social worker, residential worker, foster carer or significant other. Youth workers can continue to offer practical support for young people in their new placement depending on assessed needs. This might be via phone calls or texting, or where confidence is low, bringing the young person to their placement option. This helps reaffirm support, and offer friendly reminders of dates and times associated with a placement to help with the transition. During this time the youth worker can help the young person to identify support; this might be in the workplace, training organisation or in the community and can help the young person maintain their placement and become more self-sufficient. If any blocks appear to progression, the youth worker might advocate on behalf of a young person with a relevant person or agency; for example, in helping with new benefit arrangements, working with social services, supported accommodation providers.

3.4.3 Setbacks and extensions Set backs are not uncommon both during and after a programme and as far as possible, youth work staff will provide further support to help the young person back to their feet again. If required, programmes typically try to facilitate an extension. This is not uncommon, indeed evaluations have reported as much as 50% of young people may require extended engagement. Those that typically require additional support are those with a learning disability and poor essential skills. Where a young person is due to start another course or programme that is a number of months away, some programmes allow them to stay on the programme until they are due to start. This ensures that the young person remains in a positive and structured programme of activity and not left with nothing to do for a period. Challenge for Youth has an open door policy, encouraging young people leaving its programmes to come back to celebrate their successes and access support when they need it. Many of the young people who participate lack consistent, positive adult relationships and a suitable support network. A key element to Challenge for Youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s programmes, therefore, is to provide consistent support through establishing trust between the young person and the youth worker. This also involves working with young people to develop the confidence to ask for help when they need it and know where to access relevant support.

A tracking exercise conducted by Include Youth between April 2010 and December 2012 found that 82 young people (78%) out of a total of 112 moved into mainstream education, training or employment. Of those 82 young people, 60% maintained their placement for six months or more. However 31 young people (38%) werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t successful in maintaining their placements. All 31 young people saw those placements break down within the first six months, and the vast majority (27 or 87%) broke down within the first three months. Young people consulted with indicated that they required additional support to make a successful transition into mainstream education, training or employment. Based on the findings of their tracking exercise, Include Youth has developed a two year transitional support pilot project. The project comprises of two Transitional Workers covering the five Health Trust areas. Young people leaving the Give and Take scheme are case loaded for six months, with a further six months tracking undertaken to establish longer term outcomes. 40

3.5

Conclusion

The key features of youth work based programmes that contribute to success can be summarised as follows: 3.5.1 Engaging young people and preparing them to learn 

Each young person agrees to participate in the programme voluntarily rather than being obliged to do so.



Youth work programmes do not impose learning opportunities; rather, the value of opportunities is explained to each young person so they can see the point of them.



The young person feels supported and comfortable and has the possibility of one to one support.



Time is invested in building positive relationships with young people to help instil selfbelief and optimism.



Staff and volunteers on programmes are positive, honest, empathetic and understanding.



Support is provided for the young person to manage life problems such as family or other relationship issues, dealing with benefits, finance or accommodation difficulties.



Youth workers are often assisted by peer workers matched to young people by gender, previous circumstance and the same local area as the participants of a programme, so that the advice they offer is meaningful and understanding.



Programmes offer a safe and comfortable space, which is accessible and nonjudgmental, that aids the involvement and retention of young people within the programme.



Programmes include multiple entry and exit points rather than a linear course structure, recognising that many young people need time to address other life challenges as well as attend training.

3.5.2 

Supporting the learning and development process Youth work programmes typically include dedicated mentors or tutors who can provide one to one support.



Mentors are often volunteers and may be involved in reviewing learning and supporting young people to set personal goals (small steps to be achieved progressively throughout the duration of the programme).



Course activity within a programme is typically of short duration and orchestrated to provide incentives as well as challenges, allowing a young person scope to shape their own learning process.



Content is delivered in a staged approach which helps young people to develop a sense of trust in the relationship between themselves, the programme, and the pace of learning.



Training is typically interwoven with opportunities to volunteer and take responsibility for initiatives.



Staff act as facilitators rather than teachers, enabling young people to help drive and inform their own learning.



Evaluation is encouraged of each day’s sessions enabling participants to ‘internalise’ learning by applying it to their individual lives.

3.5.3 Supporting young people with ‘moving on’ 

Accreditation, even for small stepping stones toward a recognised qualification, provides a sense of achievement and of progress.



Celebration events and an opportunity to present work to others help provide closure and a transition point in moving on to other things.



A range of learning experiences including volunteering opportunities help young people identify innate talents and interests and discover wider possibilities for personal development.



The person centred approach teaches young people to take responsibility for their own learning as a habit of thought they will carry with them after the programme is over.



The reflective approach provides a means to cultivate awareness of emotions and triggers to build emotional intelligence and improved self-management, as well as a clearer sense of interests, strengths and talents.



New social friendships developed on the programmes provide ongoing support with other young people on a similar journey after the programme is completed.



Youth workers will typically help coordinate and assist the transition to a new opportunity appropriate to the young person, offering practical support and helping the young person to identify natural supports to help them become more selfsufficient.



If any blocks appear to progression, the youth worker might advocate on behalf of a young person with a relevant person or agency.

Section 4: Performance and Outcomes Having outlined the distinctive features of youth work, how well do youth work programmes succeed with regard to key performance outcomes for young people who are NEET; for example, retention and achievement rates, numbers of young people moving on to (and remaining in) employment, or taking up other education or training opportunities? Retention and achievement rates across youth work programmes are reported by programme evaluators to be significant given the circumstances and fundamental disconnection characterising many of the young people involved. The examples provided below of data from youth work programmes addressing young people who are NEET show how these features translate into performance outcomes. This is followed by some of the many case examples that show how the changes that are brought about are meaningful to the young people themselves.

4.1

A summary of the evidence

Whilst not directly comparable, it is useful before looking at the figures from youth work programmes to place the data in context using statistics from the Training for Success Programme for the period 2008 - Oct 2012. The data for this programme reports around 70 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 80 % of leavers across the Skills for Your Life and Skills for Work options achieving a qualification. Of these around 40% achieve an entry level qualification and 30% (Skills for Your Life) to 40-50% (Skills for Work) achieve a Level 1 qualification. Across the different programmes 30-40% are recorded as having progressed on to training, further education, or directly into employment xxxiii. A summary of results from a cross section of youth work programmes are provided below: 4.1.1 Artillery Youth Centre In the last 9 months (Jan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Oct 2013) the Second Chance programme has worked with 151 young people. 64 (42%) young people have already completed the programme and have moved onto employment (52%), education (20%) or training (28%). 13 (9%) young people have left the programme early and 74 (49%) continue to participate.

During this time 117 (77%) young people have been supported to complete a CV and 233 job applications have been completed. Young people have also had the opportunity to participate in a range of education and training opportunities. 4.1.2 Challenge for Youth The Time for Change programme has worked with 107 young people over 23 programmes. 92 of the participants have moved on to engage in education, training or to positive involvement in their community. In 2011-13, Challenge for Youth delivered five 6 month programmes specifically focused on supporting young people into employment, education or training. 57 young people took part in these programmes. Of the 57 young people 84% had no qualifications at all on entry to the programme, 47% of young people had drug and alcohol issues and 60% had issues relating to mental health. 70% (40) of those who participated in these programmes moved on to further education, training or employment. 4.1.3 Include Youth The Give and Take Scheme supports young people in or leaving care and saw 89% of participants in 2011/12 successfully complete the programme. 85% of young people gained an essential skills qualification and 66% of young people gained two essential skills qualifications. 72% of the young people leaving the scheme in the year 2012/13 moved on to education, training or employment. 4.1.4 Opportunity Youth The GRIT programme is a residential based programme for young people who are at risk of dropping out of training. Over the 9 programmes, GRIT worked with 123 young people in total. The overall percentage of participants completing the programme was 98.4%. 3-6 months after completing the programme 88% of participants were still in training. A sample group of 65 (53% of the total participants) were followed up with several months after being on GRIT (as part of the final evaluation). They all felt they had gained greatly in terms of personal development. The results are as follows (Table 3).xxxiv

Table 3: Personal development gains following participation on GRIT

Aspect of Personal Development

Increased self confidence

Improved self-belief

Change in Attitude

Plans for Life

Mixing with Others

100

Respect for Other People’s Opinions

100

The Switch on to Employment programme works with 110 young people each year who are not engaged in education, training or employment. The programme focuses on the personal development of young people and supports them to obtain qualifications in literacy, numeracy and ICT. 71% of participants last year completed the programme. 4.1.5 The Bytes Project The Youth in Motion programme targets young people who are excluded or at a disadvantage in the labour market, who have challenging, risk taking and offending behaviour. Between April 2011 and April 2013 the programme worked with 359 young people. 54% completed the full programme in 2011/12 with 70% completing in 2012/13. 84% of young people who participated on the programme in 2011/12 and 94% in 2012/13 gained qualifications at level one. 57% progressed onto education, training and registered for employment options. 4.1.6 The Prince’s Trust The Prince’s Trust works across a number of programmes 19 and in the year 2012/13 engaged with 2,026 new participants (along with re-engagement of 1,279 previous clients in further programmes). Overall, 77% of participants across programmes were recorded as having positive outcomes (going on into employment, education, or training). Based on a three month follow up survey (55% response rate) 34% of respondents reported going on into 19

The Prince’s Trust runs the ‘Fairbridge’ programme (Funded by DEL through the Collaboration and Innovation Fund) and the ‘Journey to Success’ programme (Funded by DEL through the European Social Fund). The Journey to Success programme includes a number of different programme elements including the Team, Enterprise, Get into and Get started programmes

employment or self-employment, 48% into education and training. 12% recorded involvement in voluntary work20. Of those new to programmes, 99% were unemployed, 70% classified as educational under achievers, 19% were ex-offenders, 8% in care or leaving care, 5% were lone parents and 1% were refugees / asylum seekers. 20% were recorded as having a disability. 91% saw ‘improvement’ or ‘development’ in their skill levels and in their personal development during the programme. 82% of young people who engaged with Prince’s Trust programmes completed them. Importantly in reaching out further to young people who are NEET, 97% would recommend their programme to others. 4.1.7 YouthAction NI From 2010, the Apprenticeship in Youth Work has employed 53 apprentices. 79% of youth work apprentices achieved an Advanced Level 3 Apprenticeship and 79% gained further employment and/ or progressed to higher education on completion. A further 14 apprentices will be employed in the Fermanagh/ Monaghan areas over the next 2 years. Young people on REACH typically enter with no or few qualifications and a range of additional challenges such as drug or alcohol dependency, homelessness and offending records. From 2011 to date REACH has worked with 232 young people who need employment, education or training (NEET). 76% completed the programme, 99% gained a qualification and 86% progressed into volunteering, employment, education or training.

4.1.8 Youth Works Youth Works is an initiative developed by the Department of Education (DE), with the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), and managed by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland (YCNI). It involves the following youth work organisations; Include Youth, Artillery Youth Centre, Challenge for Youth, NI Alternatives, Opportunity Youth, and YouthAction NI.

Some respondents may have been involved in more than one activity – for example, part time employment coupled with education

68% (195) of the 288 young people who participated in Youth Works were from communities with high economic and social deprivation. The table below shows percentage of young people within the most deprived SOAs.

Most deprived

Level of deprivation bands - SOAs

NIMDM

20%

195 (68%)

10%

134 (47%)

92 (32%)

77% of young people who participated in Youth Works held no qualifications at GCSE level or equivalent. 65% of the 166 young people who participated in the pilot and phase 2 of the programme completed it21. 71% of these young people have gained at least one Level 1 Award qualification and 56% achieved more than one qualification at level 1 or 2. 68% went on into employment, education, training or volunteering. Graph 1 indicates the self-assessed progress of 100 young people on the programme in a number of outcome areas. Young people report a 20% and 15% increase in communication and social skills. GRAPH 1

Phase 3 figures are not currently available as this phase of the programme has not been completed

4.2

Case Examples

At a glance, it appears across a diverse range of youth work programmes that retention, achievement rates, and moving on figures are comparably high. Given the stories of young people engaged in each of these initiatives it could be said that youth work provides an effective and holistic opportunity for young people who are Core NEET. A collection of short case examples that provide a fuller picture of the realities behind the figures is provided below. Some examples of the difference taking part in youth work programmes can make to young people as individuals or when working as a group are illustrated below. 4.2.1 Individual Benefits Sarah (Include Youth) Both Sarah’s social worker and her mother praised youth work staff at the Give and Take Scheme for ‘not giving up on her’. Both communicated their appreciation of the respect and patience shown for Sarah despite the fact that for many months she would not communicate or properly engage with the programme. Sarah is now working two days a week, developing her essential skills qualifications and considering going to college to study for a childcare qualification.

Ryan (Opportunity Youth) “Before I started going to Youth Works, I was getting into trouble with the police, drinking a lot and taking drugs almost every day. I was shy and did not even want to think about my future. I was on another training programme, but I ended up leaving it because the people who worked there were bossy and difficult to work with. A friend recommended Youth Works to me. At first, I was nervous about going because I did not know what the people would be like. When I first came through, I realised that the people there were just like me, which made me feel more relaxed. The staff who worked there were dead on. They really listened to what I had to say and gave me more attention and support than any teacher or anyone else ever did”

Joel (YouthAction NI) Joel has a two year old daughter who he has regular contact with and enjoys being a father to her. His over reliance on caffeine and short attention span meant he was challenging to manage in a group setting, leaving others out and not listening. Participating in REACH helped him learn how to communicate well in a group and develop listening skills. With the help of the youth worker, Joel saw real growth over the duration of the programme and became an encouraging and supportive member of the group. Joel completed REACH and went on to get a job in a call centre. Jane (Youth Works) Jane hated school and stopped concentrating. As a result she failed all her GCSEs. She went to Tech to repeat her Maths, English and IT but found that Tech was just like school and dropped out. She heard about Youth Works from a friend. What attracted her to the programme was that she could study a variety of courses that would provide her with qualifications and hopefully help her to get a job. She came with a friend because of a lack of confidence but as time went on she enjoyed the programme because “it is not like school” and “what you want to do is important”. She appreciated the one to one support that helped her to address personal issues and problems.

Michael (Artillery Youth Centre) Michael came to the Second Chance programme having been long term unemployed. A father of one, he wanted support to get back into employment. Michael wanted to update and modernise his CV. He was also keen to learn how to apply for jobs, gain interview skills and avail of mentoring support from staff at the project. Michael took up a number of courses on the Second Chance Programme which included the completion of his CSR card and also an OCN Level 2 in Play work with Young People. He also volunteered with a local youth project to gain some work experience. Michael applied and was successful in gaining a full time job with a Belfast based engineering firm as a nightshift operative. When asked what he thought about the Second Chance Programme Michael said “it’s a great programme which really helped me get back on my feet and back into employment which I was really struggling to do before I signed up. I was hard to motivate myself after numerous job knock backs but through the help of the staff on this programme I finally got there and I am happy and back in employment”.

Jenny (The Prince’s Trust) Experiencing difficulties in her home life, Jenny entered into an unhealthy relationship where she was introduced to drugs. As her addiction grew, Jenny lost contact with her family and later developed chronic anxiety issues after witnessing a violent incident. She faced homelessness when the difficult relationship ended, later spending a period of time with her sister after re-establishing contact. By now self-harming and continuing to battle her addiction, Jenny eventually moved in to her own flat. However, her emotional state was such that she felt unable to venture outside. Jenny heard about the Team programme through a care worker. The 12-week course is aimed at helping young people gain key workplace skills and confidence. Jenny signed up in the hope that a structured routine would help with her dependency and occupy her mind. Over the course of the programme, Jenny started to feel she had something to live for after all. While in the company of people she felt believed in her, she became a key Team member. Younger participants looked up to her, and her family relationships began to improve. The positive environment brought about new levels of confidence and motivation in Jenny. Her ability to communicate and work with others saw particular improvement. Jenny has ambitions of starting her own textile business.

Kim (Challenge for Youth) Kim came to project having disengaged from education completely. She was battling anxiety and mental health as well as caring for an ill relative. Anxiety and stress were a regular part of everyday living and her confidence had completely dropped. She was, however, extremely bright and clear about what she wanted to do. Kim was supported to engage in one to support to build her confidence and learn to manage her anxiety and overcome her fear of public transport and spaces. She went on to complete Level 2 in Numeracy and Literacy. She participated in group work and personal development programmes which were a challenge, as mixing with new young people usually triggered panic attacks. Overcoming this has had a massive impact on her confidence and social skills – “I love it, well I love it now, at the start it was all too much and I couldn’t really speak to people, but I’m ok now and I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet so many people”. Kim went on to study health and social care.

4.2.2 Young People in Groups

The Team Programme (The Prince’s Trust) Nine young people on the Team Programme were unemployed and facing obstacles that had stopped them achieving anything meaningful in their lives. Homelessness, mental health issues, problems with substance misuse and learning difficulties were typical of the challenges faced. Having all been indirectly affected by cancer, they decided to create an awareness campaign focusing on testicular and cervical cancer. To carry out the project each young person had to consider the particular needs of others while developing their communication and teamwork skills. It was a challenging project from which the young people gained confidence and a real sense of achievement. Louise, one of the participants, said: ‘For me, the subject we chose was very close to home. I am glad that we were able to highlight the issue and possibly save lives.’

The Moving On Programme (YouthAction NI) Four young mothers taking part in the Moving On Programme, having explored issues of equality, social justice and citizenship, were inspired to apply for a Think Big Lottery grant of £300 to prepare hampers for other young mothers who were using Women’s Aid services. They collected donations of new goods and clothes in addition to the grant to make up 50 hampers on a variety of themes from toilet training to newborns to parent pampering. The hampers were delivered to Women’s Aid and distributed to young mothers who had been through domestic violence situations. The project was well received and added to the self-esteem and pride of the Moving On mothers. It opened up a sense of what was possible for the young mothers and provided them with a real sense of what they could achieve for themselves and for others.

Conclusion: why youth work is important to helping young people who are Core NEET The approach developed in youth work based programmes and outlined in detail in this document has demonstrable impacts on retention and achievement rates amongst young people who are Core NEET. In helping to address the problem of young people needing help to re-engage with education, training and to be able to gain employment ,youth work has three important overall advantages for government to consider and for the wider body of providers to draw upon:

5.1

Outreach

Youth work, in partnership with community and voluntary groups can reach out to those furthest away from the labour market and invite them to feel valued and included, so that they can positively engage with, complete, and achieve valued outcomes from programmes of support.

5.2

Integration

This report provides an insight into how youth work offers an important means for the different support services for young people to be better aligned with the individual circumstances of each young person, so improving effectiveness and efficiency across the system. Further, the added value provided by the youth work approach is that it can help young people to fully engage in applying the different kinds of support on offer, to addressing their own needs. This means that significant potential improvements can be made in the cost effectiveness of services to young people across departments, and the results are more likely to be long lasting.

5.3

Agency

Agency can be defined as having a sure knowledge yourself and your goals, and a confidence to access and use resources available to you to continue to build you life and realise your potential in the longer term. The key principles of youth work; that participation is voluntary, that young people choose to take courses, volunteering opportunities, or work placements, that they are co-creators in their personal recovery and development plan, and that they are regularly invited to reflect on their experiences and what they have learnt, contribute to developing young people who have agency. They are more likely to participate 53

fully in education and training provision and to actively seek and keep employment positions. They can cope with waiting for a job to arise, they can use short term employment or poorer quality jobs as stepping stones, they know how to seek the support they need to improve their skills and experience over time. At the same time, they can look after themselves and their family, their health, wellbeing, and safety, and make personally satisfying contributions to community and society. Without the kind of support and competence provided uniquely by youth work, efforts to move young people straight into training and employment, particularly those who are Core NEET will be inefficient and ineffective. With the help of youth work, the results can be significant and long lasting.

Annex 1: List of organisations contributing to and reports used in this paper Artillery Youth Centre Artillery Youth Centre is a youth led project based at two sites in North Belfast. It is an independent voluntary youth organisation with a reputation for innovation and creative youth work. Artillery was involved in the design of the Youth Works Pilot and currently delivers the Second Chance Programme with NEET young people. Artillery delivers a range of programmes including the Youth Safety Partnership alongside the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Youth Justice Agency and Probation Board NI. They operate a Youthbank, deliver more than 300 OCN accreditations each year and have links across the Youth Sector. Challenge for Youth Challenge for Youth is a registered charity based in Belfast which engages and supports young people to realise their potential, and has been running life-changing personal development programmes since 1990. From street work to adventure learning, and from leadership skills to volunteering, the focus is on building relationships and engaging in a reflective learning process. This is a process of learning from experience, where the learner undertakes a variety of tasks, activities and challenges, reviews them in depth and draws conclusions which can then be applied in more everyday situations or â&#x20AC;&#x153;real lifeâ&#x20AC;?. Time for Change is an 8-week programme designed by Challenge for Youth to provide an opportunity for young people to participate in an intensive person-centred programme, making use of a range of both outdoor and centre-based activities to explore and reflect on personal circumstance and behaviours that have led to the breakdown of relationships. The programme includes a 5 day intensive residential in Donegal, during which each participant will identify priorities for change and build action points into a plan that will be supported for six weeks on return. This is one of the organisations most intensive, challenging and rewarding programmes. Understanding Choices programme is designed to help young people look at the cause and effect of their own behaviours by providing them with an opportunity to challenge themselves within a secure, safe environment and to reflect on their experiences.

Youth Works is a 6 month education and training programme which offers unemployed young people not in education or training, and who live in areas of economic and social deprivation the opportunity and support needed to fulfil their potential. Following a successful pilot in North Belfast, Challenge for Youth has been involved in the extension of the programme to young people across Belfast.

Include Youth Include Youth was established in 1979 and is an independent rights based NGO that actively promotes the rights and best interests of, and best practice with, marginalised and vulnerable young people across Northern Ireland. Include Youth provides a range of employability programmes for these young people including the Give and Take scheme which is a pre-vocational programme that aims to improve the employability and increase the self-esteem and confidence of vulnerable young people aged 16-21 who are not yet ready to participate in mainstream education, training or employment. Include Youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Start Programme is a 28 week employability programme, funded through DELâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Collaboration and Innovation Fund, which supports young people aged 16-24 who need education, training and employment. Based across three sites- Lisburn, North Down and West Belfast and delivered in collaboration with a number of community based organisations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the programme assesses the needs of each young person in conjunction with their individual youth worker and an action plan is put in place. The Youth Works Programme is a 26 week programme aimed at encouraging 16 and 17 year olds to re-engage with formal education and training. It is funded by the International Fund for Ireland and managed by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department of Education. Include Youth was the lead partner within a consortium of organisations for the pilot phase of the project. Include Youth also engages in policy advocacy work in the areas of employability and youth justice. As part of this advocacy work the organisation supports and facilitates young people to engage directly with decision makers around the issues that affect them. In addition, Include Youth produces resources, training and support to practitioners and other organisations working for and with vulnerable and marginalised young people.

Opportunity Youth Opportunity Youth is Northern Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading provider of support services to young people, adult offenders and families in the community. The organisation provides a range of services and interventions in the areas of health, justice and the economy. Opportunity Youth has an excellent track record working with young people and adults in partnership with the statutory, voluntary and community sectors. It supports people through an extensive range of skill-based programmes and services. The organisation has continually developed its services to meet the changing needs of people in Northern Ireland. By holding true to its core vision, it continues to provide a range of innovative services focused on making a positive impact on their lives. The organisation has grown to be the one of the biggest youth organisations in Northern Ireland, working with almost 20,000 young people, vulnerable adults and their families in each year. It offers a diverse range of interventions from family support, counselling, mentoring, and advocacy through to group work and intensive residential experiences. This extends to supporting, encouraging and facilitating young people and vulnerable adults to overcome their difficulties in terms of mental health, substance use, offending behaviour and other risk-taking activities. This work occurs in a variety of settings including the juvenile justice centre, the young offenderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s centre, the prisons, residential care, youth clubs, schools, the home and the community. Opportunity Youth services are built on evidence-based practice. With support from partners the organisation is committed to developing new innovative ways of establishing and maintaining services that are available to address the complex and diverse needs of marginalised young people and vulnerable adults in Northern Ireland. The organisation continues to work with those whose opportunities in life are potentially materially restricted by their behaviour or environment. Opportunity Youth currently employ more than 90 people and have offices in Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Lurgan, Omagh and Augher. In addition, teams are located in Hydebank Young Offenders Centre, Maghaberry and Magilligan Prisons.

The Bytes Project The Bytes Project is a unique initiative that offers free, unlimited access to information technology in a non-pressurised environment, to young people aged from 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25 who have left full time education and are not participating in further education, training or employment and are felt to be at risk in the community. 57

Bytes personal development work is challenging in nature, raising awareness of issues pertinent to healthy lifestyles such as the effects of substance abuse, challenging behaviours, attitudes and labour immobility. It offers practical and constructive ways forward, developing not only their confidence and self-esteem but also their skills base. This is encouraged and facilitated on cross community basis. The approach is to: 

Build trust with the young people and that is key to the development stage both directly delivering services and as support to external specialist providers.



Identify a range of learning needs and



Identify suitable learning methods

The organisation aims to create an environment in which young people can learn because they want to. Services include one to one mentoring and support, ‘experiential learning’ methodologies which ensure that each individual has the opportunity to work on not only their communication skills but on creative problem solving also. That is, ‘learning’ mapped to accredited qualifications, developing bespoke projects which are interventions to the many issues and challenges and sign posting to specialist services. Bytes work in partnership with many organisations, voluntary, community & statutory in order to ensure that all young people are aware of and receive the best possible services available to them.

The Prince’s Trust The Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland works with over 4,000 young people aged 13 – 30 who are unemployed, educational underachievers, ex-offenders or in/leaving care every year. All of its work is driven by the belief that every young person should have a chance to succeed, and last year, three out of every four young people that completed its programmes moved into education, training and employment. The Trust engages young people through a range of personal development interventions, including programmes that use the ‘hook’ of sport, music or the arts to engage young people furthest from the labour market, in-school support for young people at risk of disengaging from mainstream education, through to employment and self-employment programmes for those who are work ready but unable to get work experience in order to enter sustainable employment. Within the past year the Prince’s Trust has worked with employers across a range of industries, including engineering, food manufacturing, hospitality, social care and retail to secure work placements and jobs for unemployed young

people who often face multiple personal barriers to entering the workplace and need intensive but flexible support. The Prince’s Trust works with some of the hardest-to-reach young people throughout Northern Ireland and its main goal is to move them into sustainable employment. YouthAction NI YouthAction Northern Ireland is a membership based, regional, youth organisation, with a 70 year history of working with young people to tackle inequalities in their lives, improve their life chances and contribute to flourishing communities in a peaceful shared society. During 2012 YouthAction improved the life chances of 11,530 young people by providing new opportunities, building skills and realising potential. It contributed to 462 local community and arts groups, to support their work with 30,068 young people. YouthAction’s employability programmes are as follows: REACH targets young people aged 16 – 25 years, from areas of deprivation in Belfast to complete a small step programme. It is part financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) the Department for Employment and Learning and the Youth Council for Northern Ireland. Moving On is an accredited training programme specifically designed by young mothers to meet their employability needs. Moving On is one of three key employability programmes delivered through the REACH project. POSITIVE SOLUTIONS targets young people aged 16 – 20 years , who are disengaged from education or at risk of offending, living in disadvantaged areas in the Waterside area of Derry ~ Londonderry and is funded by the Big Lottery and the Department of Foreign Affairs. GET SET is a new youth sector partnership initiative involving the business sector, targeting young people aged 16 – 24 years who identify as NEET located in Belfast, Armagh, Fermanagh and the North West. It is funded through the Collaboration and Innovation Fund (CIF) of the Department for Employment and Learning. YOUTH WORKS targets young people aged 16 – 17 years with no qualifications in Newry, Kilkeel and Armagh. It is funded by the International Fund for Ireland through its Sharing in Education programme and is managed by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department of Education.

The APPRENTICESHIP IN YOUTH WORK employs young leaders in Fermanagh / Monaghan and is funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Department for Employment and Learning, the Youth Council for Northern Ireland, the Rank Foundation and the Western Education and Library Board. YOUNG MEN TALKING engages young men aged 15 – 16 years, in South Armagh and East Belfast onto the young men’s volunteering scheme and is funded by the Big Lottery. Youth Works Youth Works is an initiative developed by the Department of Education (DE), with the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), and managed by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland (YCNI). Youth Works was designed specifically to use a youth work methodology to engage, on a cross community basis, young people aged 16 and 17 in the ‘Core NEET’ group and support them to gain recognised qualifications that will make a positive difference to their long term employment, education and training prospects. A 26-week substantially full-time pilot project was delivered in North Belfast, through a partnership made up of Include Youth (lead partner), Artillery Youth Centre, Challenge for Youth and NI Alternatives. Learning from the pilot project was distilled and two further phases of the project were rolled out across Belfast (with Newstart Education Centre joining the partnership), and Foyle/East Londonderry delivered by Opportunity Youth and Newry, Kilkeel & Armagh delivered by YouthAction NI.

Annex 2: Youth work values22 Participation and active involvement 

Young people choose to be involved, not least because they want to relax, meet friends, make new relationships, to have fun, and to find support,



The work starts from where young people are in relation to their own values, views and principles, as well as their own personal and social space,



It seeks to go beyond where young people start, to widen their horizons, promote participation and invite social commitment, in particular by encouraging them to be critical and creative in their responses to their experience and the world around them,

Equity, diversity and inclusion  promoting the acceptance and understanding of others, whilst challenging oppressive behaviour and ideas, 

It respects and values individual differences by supporting and strengthening young people’s belief in themselves, and their capacity to grow and to change through a supportive group environment,



It is underpinned by the principles of equity, diversity and interdependence,

Partnership with young people and others 

It recognises, respects and is actively responsive to the wider networks of peers, communities, families and cultures which are important to young people, and through these networks seeks to help young people to achieve stronger relationships and collective identities, through the promotion of inclusivity,



It works in partnership with young people and other agencies which contribute to young people’s social, educational and personal development,



It recognises the young person as a partner in a learning process, complementing formal education, promoting their access to learning opportunities which enable them to fulfil their potential,

Youth Work National Occupational Standards 2012

Personal, social and political development 

with what they know and can do



It is concerned with facilitating and empowering the voice of young people, encouraging and enabling them to influence the environment in which they live

 environment in which to explore their values, beliefs, ideas and issues. These values underpin and are to be reflected within the requirements of the relevant standards.

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Lifelong Learning UK (2012) UK National Occupational Standards for Youth Work

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