Engage young people in the strategic development of youth work
Overview
This standard is about helping young people to consider factors impacting upon the decisions to be made and ensuring they are involved in both the decision-making process and in assessing the impact and risks associated with the decisions. You will also involve young people in the development of performance measures and techniques for monitoring activity against these.
The participation and active involvement of young people are some of the key values which underpin this standard, and which youth workers are expected to know about and apply in their practice.
This standard is suitable for youth work practitioners and managers who engage with young people in order to inform the strategic development and delivery of youth work in their organisation.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- engage with young people and encourage them to express their views regarding the provision of youth work in their community
- provide young people with information about the factors impacting upon current and future provision of youth work within their community
- agree with young people the priority areas for the focus of your organisation's resources, together with an agreed rationale
- facilitate young people's exploration of options for youth work activities towards addressing the agreed priorities
- agree the preferred option(s) with young people
- engage and involve young people when working with relevant stakeholders and agencies to design and achieve the preferred option(s)
- agree with young people key performance measures, and methods for monitoring and evaluating agreed actions and activities
- meet the values and principles underpinning youth work in relation to the requirements of this standard
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- legal, regulatory and ethical requirements impacting upon youth work
- the importance of involving young people in the strategic development of youth work, and methods of achieving this
- the importance of communicating effectively with young people, and how to do this across a variety of groups of young people
- your community, the factors affecting the demand for youth work and the needs and expectations of young people within the community
- factors to consider when profiling different neighbourhoods and other potential risks to achieving your aims
- other agencies involved in youth work within your community, and the key features of their programmes
- principal factors affecting the likelihood of support for youth work within communities and amongst individuals and methods of assessing these factors
- the needs and expectations of your organisation and other agencies, relevant to providing youth work programmes
- sources of information that can aid the prioritision of resources
- the importance of consulting with colleagues, young people, other partners, providers and agencies when seeking to agree priority areas and associated youth work programmes
- how to develop measures and methods for monitoring and evaluating the success of youth work programmes
- the importance of sharing information between individuals and agencies
- methods for disseminating effective practice in youth work
- the values and principles underpinning youth work in relation to the requirements of this standard