Leadership in Youth Work
Overview
Moving from the mindset of being a youth work practitioners to the mindset of being a sector leader is one of the most difficult, but vital steps a youth worker can take. Moving from coalface worker to team leader or manager needs to be developed through a clear approach to leadership in youth work.
This course introduces youth work practitioners to the central themes, critiques and theories of leadership.
The course supports youth work practitioners to construct a theoretical framework in the context of, and for, the practice of leadership in the youth sector and within their own life. The course will direct students in their study of leadership through self-reflection and assessment of their own personal and ethical values. The course will explore a broad range of leadership approaches using them as lens through which to appraise leadership in the wider community services sector. Youth work practitioners will be encouraged too critically engage with current leadership research by applying leadership theory to their own experience and/or practice of leadership.
Learning Outcomes
- Synthesise and evaluate a range of leadership perspectives and theories and their use in a youth work context
- Determine and appraise different ways of framing leadership in youth work
- Justify personal and ethical values as they relate to leadership in the wider community services sector
- Construct a personal theoretical framework of leadership for use in the wider community services sector
- Propose opportunities to apply leadership concepts in youth work practice
Prescribed reading
- Western, S (2019) Leadership. (3rd) Sage
Additional reading
- Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Sage.
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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