For decades, youth workers across Australia and beyond have asked an important question: Is youth work a profession? In his seminal 2013 article, “Toward a Youth Work Profession”, academic and practitioner Michael Emslie argues that the answer is yes—if we’re willing to do the work from within the sector. Emslie explores the idea that professionalization […]
In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving world, the role of a youth worker is more vital than ever. These dedicated professionals play a crucial role in empowering young people, supporting their development, and guiding them towards a bright future. Recognising the need for high quality continuous growth and professional development opportunities, the team at Ultimate Youth Worker, is thrilled to announce the launch of our online professional development platform. This innovative initiative aims to equip youth workers of all levels with the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to excel in their careers and make a lasting impact on the lives of the young people they serve.
To support the podcast, donate here! 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. […]
There has been a lot of talk over the past few decades about the need for professional youth work. The big issue here is we don’t really know what we mean when we say we need to professionalise! What do we mean by professional youth work?
ABCD for Youth Work Much of 2016 was horrible for the profession of youth work. Our funding was cut… yet again, more of our colleagues lost their jobs and still more left because of burnout. Much of our discussion of the profession of youth work has focussed on what we don’t have and what we […]
I have been rereading “Youth Work Ethics” by Professor Howard Sercombe lately. I forgot how good a read it is. Clear, concise and straight to the point. What got me was a really interesting discussion of professions being a relationship. Particularly, that by building this professional relationship we build trust in our clients allowing them […]
We know that a significant number of our readers are youth ministers who are seeking to develop a deeper understanding of young people and youth work. We commend this endeavour. One of the slurs thrown at youth ministry is that it is little more than games and coffees… We disagree wholeheartedly. Youth work in a […]
I have been in a number of agencies throughout my youth services career and only one of them had a written down budget for youth work professional development. In this organisation I had one of the largest budgets for professional development I had ever had… $1000. However in most organisations I worked in a professional […]
Thoughts on professionalisation Over the last couple of days I have been re-listening to some of my favourite podcasts from c2ypodcast. Two in particular grabbed my attention as the guests spoke about the failure of the professionalisation movement in light of youth work core principles. We have stated a number of times on this blog that the […]
The argument levelled at youth work as a profession and youth workers in particular that gets my goat the most is that we are untrained, unqualified yahoos who do more harm than good to the young people we work with. I have spent my career fighting this argument. Against social workers with four year degrees […]