Podcast #011: What do we mean by profession
In todays podcast Aaron brings you into some of his research from his Honours thesis. The question of what we mean when we say youth work should be a profession is one that rarely gets asked in the youth work literature. The underlying assumption is that we all know what is meant by the term. However, if you ask five youth workers what they think it means you will get five different answers. The rank and file youth workers at the coal face have a very different idea of what a profession is than the academics who are writing about professionalising.
In todays podcast we are asked to think about what we mean by the term profession. We are initiated into the most common definition used by social welfare academics, that of the structural functionalists. This model is best framed in the work of Ernest Greenwood who claims that all professions have five attributes in common. We are asked to consider how these five attributes link to youth work identity and practice especially in the changing environment of the 21st century. Does this model still fit? Is it enough? Does youth work identity sit well with this model?
Today’s resources
- Podcast 002: What is youth work?
- Podcast 006: What is Youth Work Part Two
- What do we mean by professional youth work?
- AYAC Future Focussed Report
- Youth Workers Association
- YACVIC Code of Ethical Practice
- YACWA Code of Ethics
- Buy book: Youth Work Ethics by Howard Sercombe
- Buy book: The future of the professions by Richard and Daniel Susskind
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Aaron Garth
Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.
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