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Introduction

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

In this course, we look at the roles that are taken when working with young people. We focus on what those working with young people actually do, starting with some analysis of roles. We show that, in the context of work with young people, the term is more than simply a statement about who does what: it also says something about the kinds of relationships we form with young people and the values we bring to our work. We then move on to discuss roles in relation to the ‘bigger picture’ of organisations and projects that are concerned with young people.

This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 1 study in Education, Childhood & Youth qualifications

Learning outcomes

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

After studying this course, you should be able to:

describe and analyse interventions by practitioners working with young people
describe the key responsibilities of practitioners working with young people.

1.1 Preamble

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

‘Role’ is a word we use all the time, for example ‘my role is to do the ironing while she sorts out the blocked drain in the kitchen’ or ‘my role is to ask the difficult questions at meetings’. Here we suggest that, in the context of work with young people, the term is more than simply a statement about who does what; it also says something about the kinds of relationships we form with young people and the values we bring to our work. To help with this analysis, we are going to look at roles in terms of actions, characters and philosophies.

Actions: the interventions that are made in the course of a typical meeting or activity with young people.
Characters: the pattern of interventions that are made. We represent these in terms of ‘characters’ which workers will play from time to time, such as the ‘facilitator’ or ‘supervisor’. When and how these characters are brought into play will depend on the apparent needs of young people and the personal, professional and agency values of those who work with them.
Philosophies: the overall framework of values which informs the actions we take and the characters we play in working with young people.

Before reading on, it is worth remembering that we create categories in order to understand, to describe and to compare. You can make up your own mind whether or not our three categories and their labels help you to describe and understand your work and that of others.

1.2 Actions

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

In Activity 1 below, the purpose is to observe and identify some of the actions or interventions that adults make in their day-to-day work with young people. Some examples of these individual actions are:

making contact
listening
suggesting
giving information
challenging assumptions.

Click in the box below to start playing the video.

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Factory clip 1

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Transcript: Factory clip 1

AKKAS/KASEM

[00.00] Here’s Andrew – he’s late….as usual…but anyway.. Hello Andrew…and anyway …..the whole…..and noone was injured anyway. Hello Andrew.

ANDREW

[00.14] Hello.

AKKAS/KASEM

Happy Eid.

ANDREW

[00.18]Yes thank you, did you have a good ‘un?

AKKAS/KASEM

We did indeed.

ANDREW

[00.20]Right, I’ve brought all the consent forms for the Eid trip for next week, yeah alright tenpin bowling, Laserquest is what they asked for….well let’s go for it then shall we? We’ll get you on that training course…eventually when they’ve run more of it the only course they ran has been full to the brim

KASEM

[00.43] Oh, have you asked Sheila about um…in your home learning?

ANDREW

[00.49] No, but I see her on Thursday morning.

BACKGROUND CHATTER THROUGHOUT

ALL

[00.54] Hello……..Hello. Andrew, how are you? Andrew you look skinny.

ANDREW

Are you alright………cheek.

JABIR

[01.03] How are you – you alright?

ANDREW

….good…

KASEM

[01.09] Oh Shams you need to fill in a form for me please…..

AKKAS

[01.21] …we’re on the streets we going to dish out the consent forms for the Eid celebration, Eid celebration which happening next week and then the week after that we’re going to be on the streets giving out er the …..5th er the 4th anniversary of the Factory Group…..then erm we’re going to do a show case and we’re going to do a show case in Mountfield Lodge which we going to ….show pictures….all the pictures from the….since we started all until now….all the pictures………and on 14th er we’re going to have a movie night and that……..down there.

A N OTHER

[01.54) Oh, yeah, I’m going to that man……

AKKAS

[01.58] Here you go…

ANDREW

[01.59] You should sign the back of the them.

ANDREW

[02.00] Vox Pop… you know what happened …we’ve got about a hundred thousand pound to build the extension.

KAWSAR

What, you’re doing the extension?

ANDREW

Yeah.

KAWSAR

[02.16] You gave us them things but you never told us….you gave us the piece of paper saying….

ANDREW

[02.19] Yeah, the government minister came up last Friday to a meeting at the Moira Centre and she’s, she’s put the money in, so there’s a hundred thousand pound extension which shall be built…

KAWSAR

[02.31] …so what happened with all the other areas….like…

ANDREW

[02.33] No, we can’t get planning permission – they’re too expensive – we need lots more money, you know, it’s not feasible.

KAWSAR

[02.43] A hundred thousand pounds!………it’s good….

ANDREW

…it’s pretty good…. 7.33pm

ANDREW

[02.48] What’s wrong with your job?

ZIAUR

Not very happy with it.

ANDREW

Why are you not happy with it?

ZIAUR

[02.56] I am happy but I prefer a different job….I’m going to go back to school next year……something different…..I don’t want to work in the factory all my life.

ANDREW

[3.05] Hmm, so…why did you er leave school so early then?

ZIAUR

[03.08] It’s all my friends, mates and that.

ANDREW

[03.12] …..peer pressure?

ZIAUR

Yeah, I know.

KASEM

[03.13] You do know you need to apply for six universities not one…..

ANSWER

[03.15] I know, I know, I know, that’s what’s worrying ….I don’t know which one to go for.

KASEM

[03.19] Yeah, cos I think what…..Burleigh ….because I was doing, I wanted to do Chemistry, they offered while I was doing my A levels they offered us a position just to go to a uni, they call it taster course, taster course, just to erm follow people around who are actually doing the course…You get actually to sit in their lectures. It’s for a whole day and you get to see a taste of that course.

ANDREW

[03.40] What about the forms, the applications?

AMIN

[03.42] I’m going there in’t it…you take care now.

ANDREW

Ok, are you going on the Eid trip?

AMIN

I don’t know…..most likely.

ANDREW

[03.46] ..that’s clear!…see you later…but you know what about the writing of the application forms?

SHAMS

[03.54] No good.

ANDREW

[03.55] Alright then, Ok, well we can work on that, certain ways to write them isn’t there?

SHAMS

[04.01] Yeah

ANDREW

[04.02] …you know, and er, a lot of forms are very similar, I mean if we go down Tescos and get a form or someat…..and practice on it.

SHAMS

Hmm.

ANDREW

It’ll be alright….do that.

ANDREW

[04.16] Right, we’re off now –see you guys.

KASEM

[04.18] – see you next week guys.

ANDREW

[04.21] See you next week if you’re on the bowling trip.

KASEM

..see you next week bowling – that’s alright Tuesday.

ANDREW

[04.25] Yeah, yeah, yeah……

ANDREW

I’ll give you a ring tomorrow yeah

ANDREW

[04.33] You could always ask why you didn’t get in.

KASEM

[04.34] Yeah, erm apparently along the lines of my skills didn’t match what they need.

A chance meeting on the street

ANDREW

[04.51] Ok lads?

SHAMS

[04.55] Hey, how you doing?

ANDREW

See you next week.

MIZAN

[05.02] I’ll actually see you on Friday….see you next week

The site of the old factory where the project all started

ANDREW

[05.07] Ah, remember the old factory?

KASEM

Hmm

ANDREW

It’s very different now isn’t it?

AKKAS

[05.11] …very…there’s houses and flats here now….and a massive car park.

ANDREW

[05.20] All the jobs gone.

KASEM

Hmm…

8.13pm: They meet a group of 18-23 year olds in front of the glass factory

ALL

[05.25] How are you doing? How are you doing?

KASEM

[05.33] Right, erm for the Eid Celebration at Laserquest and Bowling.

ALAM

Yeah.

KASEM

Are you interested Alam?

ALAM

[05.38] How much do you need?

FARUK

Laserquest and bowling, couldn’t you think of anything else?

KASEM

[05.42] What can you think of?

FARUK

[05.45] Man, you come up with the same thing all the time.

KASEM

[05.47] What can you think of Faruk?

MUSLEH

Yeah, let me see I will go on it.

KASEM

(talking to Faruk) [05.51] We always ask you, but you give us the same thing…

MUSLEH

I want to see that, what’s going on?

KASEM

[05.54] Eid celebrations….. Laserquest, bowling…..food, food.

MUSLEH

Yeah man put me down.

KASEM

food….food…

MUSLEH

[06.00] Yeah, put me down, isn’t it.

ANDREW

[06.04] Did you sort all them rent problems out?

PAUL

(nods)

ANDREW

[06.08] Did you get any money off them to pay all your bills?

PAUL

[06.10] No…I’ve paid them all

ANDREW

[06.13] Yeah, that’s good, apart from the rent, But that’s sorted now?

PAUL

[06.19]

Yeah, it is now.

ANDREW

[06.22] Did you do that or did she go down there?

PAUL

([6.24] No, I did that and she did half.

ANDREW

[06.27] Did you do it the way I told you? 8

PAUL

[06.28] No, I worked.

ANDREW

[06.31] ..on the Friday to pay the rent?

PAUL

[06.33] No I have a couple of days a week.

8.27pm: Talking to a member who’s going to be youth worker

MUSLEH

[06.36] I’m fully qualified but I don’t know if I’m going to put my skills into use or not, you know what I’m saying?

KASEM

…but there’s a food and hygiene course as well.

A N OTHER

[06.43] Yeah, I’m going to take that, I don’t know, the place that I work at is that you know I work with you as well on Fridays and at the Shree Ram we’re only like the kids there about like up to 13, 14 work up to 25 years old but not always, you know what I’m saying….detached youth work…one..I don’t know because I haven’t really done any detached youth work yet, but I don’t know I mean it’s alright, this is detached youth work isn’t it?

8.36pm: Debut of a rap written for the local Mela

JAHANGIR

[07.06] (Rap)

ANDREW

[07.23] You want to do Mela then?

JAHANGIR

[07.25] I’ll give it a go yeah, why not……isn’t nothing that scary is it?

ANDREW

[07.31] I don’t know. There’s two, three thousand people there.

JAHANGIR

[07.35] …..I’ll give me more cover. If you lot can do it I can do it as well…..no back up or nothing. Do you know what I mean?

ANDREW

[07.43] I’ll get the entry form.

JAHANGIR

[07.45] yeah….nice one mate, cheers for that.

8.51pm: One of the members raises the issue of homosexuality

ALAM

[07.51] Well, how can people be born gay?

KASEM

[07.55] No-one said they were born gay.

ALAM

You said they discovered they were gay.

KASEM

[07.57] Why is it as people that grow up they go through relationships and they explore……..and they try different things and then eventually they….

MUSLEH

[08.07] So do you think it’s natural, you think it’s right for….

KASEM

[08. 10] It’s natural for the people who want to be gay, yeah.

MUSLEH

[08.12] Yeah, but I’m, I’m trying to say, is it natural? Gays are gay because of society, of media, fashion trends. That’s what I think. That’s what society is all about.

KASEM

[08.22] That’s nature, nurture that does have an effect on people.

MUSLEH

Yeah, it has a hundred per cent effect.

KASEM

…you’re against it………religion…

MUSLEH

[08.29] No, in religion it doesn’t , no in Islam it doesn’t say to be against gays, it says you should respect them.

JAHANGIR

[08.38] See you later then.

ANDREW

See you later. Thanks for the rap… It’ll be after Christmas.

9.17pm: Back at the car for the end of session evaluation

ANDREW

[08.54] Oh, that was challenging tonight.

KASEM

[08.56] Very challenging.

AKKAS

[08.57] (reads) Describe what you are hoping to achieve in this particular session.

KASEM

[09.01] To promote Eid celebration.

AKKAS

(as he writes)….promoting…

ANDREW

[9.07] Did we not actually plan the informal discussions? We left space for them.

AKKAS

We did yeah.

ANDREW

[09.13] ..because you can do an awful lot of activities then you would never have any discussions Hmm

ANDREW

[09.17] So that’s quite important Ok, I mean, one of the, one of the things on top of the form is adulthood and independence and you know what’s really good about that session is they were learning to talk about a really difficult issue for them er which is quite complex. Now they couldn’t do that at home. So if we add that in that bit at the bottom there, we’re getting into…..future issues.

AKKAS

[09.40] First out…future issues….?

ANDREW

[09.43] You know they know you’re youth workers….So I know he’ll be up for that. It’s part of his job…Is that is then? …..Sign it then.

AKKAS

That’s about it yeah.

ANDREW

[09.51] Signed it?

AKKAS

That’s yours.

ANDREW

[09.54] See you later then.

AKKAS/KASEM

See you later.

ANDREW

Do you want to get that light off?

KASEM

Yeah see you later …. next week….6.50 for the Eid trip.

ANDREW

[10.03] Yes, right.

KASEM

[10.05] See you then……cheers

End transcript: Factory clip 1

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Activity 1: The actions we take

0 hours 40 minutes

Now view the Factory, Clip 1 (above) Here you see three detached youth workers – Andrew, Akkas and Kasem from The Factory project – out on the street making contact with young people.

Make a list of what you observe the workers actually doing. You may need to watch the clip more than once. Make a note of the actions taken by each of the workers.

Alternatively, you may prefer to do this activity in your own workplace. Observe and then list the actions you or your colleagues take in one evening or within a specific activity.

Discussion

Comment

You will not necessarily use the same words as we have to describe the actions you observed the workers taking in this clip. You probably noted, for example, that they were distributing leaflets about future events, and about Eid – a Muslim festival – in particular. Linked to this, there were consent forms to be given out. At other times, Andrew, Akkas and Kasem were simply listening to young people, or finding out about them. More generally, throughout the evening, they were making contact with the young people who were out and about. Later on in the clip, we see Andrew offering to get hold of an application form and then we see Akkas facilitating an informal discussion about sexuality. At the end of the evening, the three workers discuss what they have accomplished and fill out an evaluation form.

In completing Activity 1 you might have wanted to use more than one label for what you saw the workers doing. This is not surprising as there are many ways of describing the same activity, and they often overlap. For example, listening and making suggestions can be ways of showing an interest. Giving certain kinds of information can be part of protecting a young person.

One activity can also serve different purposes. Take, for example, ‘listening’:

The police will listen to a young person primarily to elicit information to assist with peace-keeping, community safety and crime detection.
A doctor will listen to a young person primarily to make a diagnosis.
A counsellor will listen to a young person primarily to help them explore a personal issue.
A friend will listen to a young person to show they are a friend, that someone is interested in them and to further their friendship.

As someone working with young people, you may have listened for different purposes – even in the same group meeting. They are not exclusive to work with young people but can be found in other work contexts and also in our personal lives.

1.3 Characters: the Ally and the ‘Emotional worker’

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

In this section we describe seven ‘characters’ who often appear in work with young people, as well as in other types of informal education:

The Ally
The ‘Emotional worker’
The Catalyst
The Mentor
The Advocate
The Facilitator
The Supervisor.

We will first characterise the role each of them plays, and then identify particular issues relating to each role.

1.3.1 The Ally

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: The image we have of an ally is that of a dependable if sometimes critical friend, who likes us and who is committed to hanging in there with us through thick and thin. This can be incredibly supportive to young people as they make difficult transitions into adulthood, particularly where consistent parental support is not available.

Issues: Young people need support and approval. Some get constant messages from other adults in their lives – parents, teachers, neighbours –that they are bad, stupid and unlovable. Sometimes they only get any attention when they behave in this way – and so they persist. Finding some aspect of them that we can genuinely like can stop or even reverse this potentially downward spiral.

To help us do this, it may be useful to separate liking them from liking their behaviour. However, faced with behaviour we consider to be appalling, unacceptable or thoughtless, it is not easy to see someone as fundamentally good, intelligent and capable. This is when our understanding of young people can help bring a different perspective to our work.

Unlike a teacher, a worker in a youth-offending team, a social worker, or education welfare worker, many of those working with young people view their work as largely on the young people's terms. Young people are not required to see a youth worker; they do so of their own volition. This is a key factor in being able to play the role of an ‘ally’. However, this does not mean that boundaries do not need to be set. Being an ally does not protect you from being in a situation where there is a conflict of interest or where you are unsure about how best to act in the best interests of the young person. In the clips of Cowbridge youth centre you will see Guy offering support to the young people at the club, but also being sensitive to the boundaries of his involvement.

Click in the box below to start playing the video.

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Cowbridge clip 1

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Transcript: Cowbridge clip 1

RICHARD

[00.45] Yeah

GUY BUTLER-MADDEN, YOUTH SUPPORT WORKER

[00.47] The snow, you can see how deep it is and we were were walking around on the top of the snow. This lad is here filming and the lad in the wheelchair was actually not only physically disabled, he’d got mental disabilities as well

LAUREN

[01.01] Will be…in the summer then?

GUY

Well, if it goes off….It’ll be next summer????????

BOY

[01.07] I can’t believe you’re going out with someone with a baby though

ANOTHER

I know………how old, how old is she?

NIKITA

[01.18] Sit next to me come on

BOY

Yes

TINA

[01.29] Before you go home tonight can you collect the money from the safe and er..

LAD

Yeah

TINA

[01.33] …the money you raised for Children in Need. It was a good night and we’re hoping to make it better again next year. So I’ll go and get the photograph afterwards and then you can have a copy for yourselves. S’alright. Was it as good as when you played in the Battle of the Bands, then

RICHARD

[01.45] Er, I think the equipment wasn’t as good but, but there was crowds so it was better and more fun to do.

TINA

[01.51] Sometimes I can hear from the other side. You see I sneak up into the store room to go and get my stuff and I can hear you lot saying about which bits you actually like, without actually interfering with your playing

LAUGHS

7.05pm Map reading session for Duke of Edinburgh Award Group

GUY

[02.02] Simply have a look at the map. Find a symbol on it and simply just de-code it.

BOY

[02.07] Er this purply road is the motorway

GUY

[02.12] Ok, yeah motorway, so M.way. Anything else

BOY 2

[02.17] Yeah, there’s some er thick blue lines M1 or the A6…

GUY

[02.22] Have a close look at it again

BOY 2

Ah, that’s a river is it

GUY

[02.26] River, yeah, well done. Red line running North-South. What’s that?

GIRL

[02.33] A521

GUY

Which is a….

GIRL

A road

GUY

[02.36] A road ok. What’s significant about the numbers on the contours?

BOY

[02.40] It shows which way the height’s going

GUY

How?

BOY

[02.42] For like the right way it is….

GUY

Yeah 3

BOY

….the hill is going upwards

GUY

[02.47] Got it, yeah. Ok so the numbers are as if they are stamped on the side of a hill, so you can see them on there.

BOY

Yeah

GUY

[02.52] Very good, yeah, brilliant

7.55pm Sexual health education session for 14-17 year old girls

TINA

[02.59] We’re going to do lots of different activities tonight. I’m not going to sort of talk about love and the feeling side of er sexual relationships or anything. It’s just actually going to be some more information about your own bodies and about contraception in general so to help you make decisions yourself. You have to take a little disc out without finding out what what colour you are. Would you like to put your hand in….no…you only take one out alright. Got one, only one…one and only one, to have one and only one

GIRL

[03.37] Are we allowed to look?

TINA

[03.43] Yeah………Ok so now you’ve got two teams one blue and one yellow. I’ve got various questions here. Erm, I’m going to put three answers down on the floor and you can put your dot down on whichever one you want.

GIRL

[03.53] Are we allowed to discuss it?

TINA

[03.55] Yeah, if you want to, yeah, you’re, but you’re completing against this group alright. When you have a period ok, how much blood is lost on average do you think? Is it one to two tablespoons? Is it four to six tablespoons, or do you think it’s a cup full?

LAUGHTER

TINA

[04.19] Are these all on here?

ALL REPLY

Yeah

TINA

[04.22] Wrong. It’s all four to six. You’ve all got the eggs inside you but how do they actually get to the womb? Do they get along the vagina, the ovaries or the fallopian tubes. Where’s that one….

GIRL

[04.40] Fallopian tubes

TINA

[04.47] …over here, what do you think Anita? Do you think you all got it right? Think you can all have that one right – well done.

TINA

[04.49] But what I want to do is try to make the internal sexual organs of a woman out of what you’ve got in the bag.

LAUGHTER

TINA

[05.00] Now in a group try and keep it away from the others so they don’t know quite what you’re doing

CHATTER

….inside of a woman

GIRL

[05.12] Where did you get this rubbish from?

LAUGHTER

GIRL

[05.15] That doesn’t look like anything

CHATTER

GIRL

[05.20] I don’t know what these are meant to be

TINA

[05.22] You don’t know what to do with the sock

GIRL

TINA

[05.25] Have you finished then….and perhaps you’d put the names on what you think they are, as well. Ok….very interesting I must admit, very interesting. The pipe cleaners are both….pipe cleaners are fallopian tubes, yeah. Where have you connected yours to?

GIRL

[05.40] It’s supposed to be to the womb

TINA

[05.42] From where?

GIRL

into the ovaries………we haven’t done our homework…maybe yeah

TINA

[05.47] Where are your fallopian tubes connected from what to what?

TINA

[05.52] Would you like to stand up two seconds for me. If I tie this round here, then you have to, have to hold the top here, ok, because I’m going to feed things into you. Lauren is pregnant, well she’s not really, I hope not anyway. I haven’t asked her if she was. And this baby is approximately… How heavy are babies when they are born?

GIRL

[06.15] About seven pounds

TINA

[06.17] So about three kilos would you say?

GIRL

I don’t know

TINA

Is that about right?

GIRL

Yeah

TINA

[06.22] Ok, so if you hold that bit out here

GIRL

That bit

TINA

[06.25] Hold this bit out here. We’ll put three kilos of baby in here. Ok, got hold of that?

GIRL

Yeah

TINA

[06.31] Right, and then around the baby what do we have…fluid but it’s called amniotic fluid, ok. But we have to have that round the baby as well and that’s I think about a litre of that. We’ll go round there. It’s alright. I know we’ve got an extra bottle of that as well, so I apologise for that. Ok, so this is your baby carrying around all the time. What’s it like?

GIRL

[06.51] Heavy

TINA

[06.52] Have a little look. It’s a contraceptive kit. But, first before we do that erm I’m going to let you all have a look at a condom.

GIRL

[06.59] Can we open it?

TINA

[07.01] Yeah, in a minute, because I want to show you, show you what to do with them. So you need to make sure you’ve got it on the right way to start with yeah. So on the top there’s a teat so you need to actually remove the air from that before you actually put it on yeah, ok and then you have to put it onto a penis that’s erect obviously………… I’ve got various books here for people to have a look at. You are not obliged to keep them but if you’d like them. 8.10pm

TINA

[07.31] If you think you’ve learned anything tonight. You can put it towards here or if you learned a lot or just a little bit er this one is, would you tell your friends to come and have one of these sessions. So if you think you’ve learned anything and you think it would be a good idea for one of your mates to come along here. So you can each have a pen each. A dot on to the circle, as and when you want to

CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

8.30pm

TINA

[08.07] Can we have one – what one’s are these?

GIRL

Er, cheese

TINA

[08.13] That one…there’s this one…that’s good …we could give you one…and use one for the shop

GUY

[08.19] What, what did they work for and you could have copped out early on but you stayed with it.

LAD

[08.26] It’s not hard. The hard bit is the walking……How far did we walk in France?

GUY

[08.31] …you did twenty five. We did forty

WOMAN

[08.39] What were the girls doing with Tina?

GUY

[08.42] Oh, god, yes, yes, yes, ….written it down, erm sex education and Tina.

9.33pm

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1.3.2 The ‘Emotional worker’

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: This is not a worker who is constantly overwhelmed by their emotions – though expressing emotions does have its place. It means being able to acknowledge and work with the strong emotions in ourselves and the young people we are involved with. Young people are a complex mix of emotions – sometimes angry, disappointed, wretched, but also excited and joyful. ‘Doing emotional work’ (Fineman, 2000) means being prepared to work with the young people's emotions in individual and group settings rather than avoid them. Goleman (1996) contends that ‘emotional work’ develops qualities such as optimism and resilience on the part of the individual and the ‘emotional worker’.

Issues: In many work settings, emotions are seen as private, or perhaps messy and inconvenient. Certainly, this tends to be the case in schools where handling the feelings of large numbers of people in an enclosed space is challenging, potentially disruptive to the teacher's main aims and therefore often suppressed. It is also true in many families. Intense expressions of emotion are sometimes too much for adults to cope with, and in the wider community the expression of strong feelings by young people, whether anger or boisterousness, can be frightening or viewed as unacceptable.

What is sometimes referred to as ‘emotional literacy’ is the ability to register and take account of the strong feelings that young people have. In order to achieve this, workers need to develop an ability to deal with strong feelings in others, and this means being comfortable with their own feelings. In other words, being able to ‘recognise what I am feeling so that it doesn't interfere with my thinking’ (Orbach, 1999).

1.4.1 The Catalyst

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: A catalyst is something which changes the speed of a reaction. Those who work with young people often need to act at the interface between the young person and the opportunities that are available for their personal and social development. In simpler terms, we can say that the worker as catalyst ‘makes things happen’, providing stimulus, challenges and opportunities.

Issues: Acting as a catalyst can involve taking risks. One worker in an inner city youth club decided to organise an event to which none of the young men would be allowed entry if they weren't wearing a tie. Some would view this as inappropriate, demonstrating how out of touch the worker was with youth culture. However, it did produce all manner of reactions and conversations among the young people. The event was very well attended and was talked about years afterwards.

Being a ‘catalyst’ implies a relationship of power which can be viewed as positive or negative, depending on the outcome of the intervention, and who is doing the judging. So extending young people's experience can be interpreted as ‘workers deciding what is good for young people’, but it can also be seen as ‘opening doors’. On the clips from The Factory project, notice how the workers extend the experiences of the young people they meet through their street project.

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19 year old Kawsar has been involved with The Factory since his mid-teens.

KAWSAR

[00.04] They give us opportunities to do things that we don’t get to do usually. Um, um, when we were younger we didn’t have much money or anything and we never used to organise things and whenever we used to do anything it would just be dossing round the streets or playing football but when they came along they were giving us ideas, do you want to do this, go out for a day, go ice skating, go Laser Quest and do all sorts and that to us it was like, whoa, we don’t usually get to do this so come on let’s go. So it gives you opportunities and on top they do all these workshops and um they make you learn things, they give you advice on things when you aint got a clue what to do they’re there for you, so it is someone to go to when you, when you need anything basically.

ANDREW

[00.49] But not ‘til you seen everything is alright. You should sign the back of them. Sign the back. His experience with The Factory may have helped him gain his place at University.

KAWSAR

[00.53] It’s made me develop my communications skills, help me be, become a more confident kind of person and see wiseness, see what’s actually good for me and you know not to bother with all the dossing around and all that. Its helped me come to because I’d thought about it and they gave me advice on it so all in all I think it has helped me become a better person kind of thing because I was a bit of a – when I was younger I wasn’t all understanding

ANDREW

[01.19] I could pass myself off as you. You do get a lot of freebies as students

MEMBER

Yeah, yeah right…you don’t look like me man…

ANDREW

..I’m not good looking He thinks youth workers need particular skills to make a project like The Factory work well

KAWSAR

[01.28] They need patience for a start, they need to be chilled out, relaxed, you know, take things easy, not take a lot of the things personally because a lot of the kids they like to mess around, they like to you know, take the mickey now and again, you know they like to pick on you and all sorts they’ve got to take it basically. They need to be more confident, yeah, very confident and relaxed basically and they shouldn’t show that oh yeah I’m like someone bigger than you or anything, they should just be on our level, yeah, be able to come down on our level and talk to us basically. He has an excellent relationship with Andrew, the project leader.

KAWSAR

[02.06] Andrew is different from a lot of older people because he knows how we are and right he understands like culture wise and all sorts. So, and, he is not there telling oh do this and do that. And he is always giving us opportunities and giving us advice and when you take it, it’s like, it makes you realise oh this guy is giving you good advice, and this and that, and you get to like him. He's a good guy. Kawsar’s involvement in the project has taken him to places he’d never thought of visiting.

KAWSAR

[02.32] We went to Wales, we went to the Black Mountains, and the Brecon Beacons in Wales and we did loads of activities. We did gorge walking, abseiling, climbing, raft building – all sorts and it was all very good because you learn to, you know, because we all went as friends but basically there were a few people in the group that I didn’t know so it was good for us, giving us team building skills, and you know, we got to talk to each other and how to work things out. A lot of the activities we had to do, we had to work in a group and you know learn and talk to each other without the other group hearing and you know had to do a lot of discussions and things like that so it was good to, you know, to learn more from each other. Some of The Factory’s major achievements arose from their input to Vox Pop, a youth forum with the local council.

KAWSAR

[03.18] Basically when we first went to the Vox Pop we were just told it was some meeting and it’s going to be real big but we just thought it was going to be something um, that, yeah they always say the politicians always say one thing but they never listen to us but when we went um it was quite a huge impact. We are there saying our teachers in our school don’t do anything when people are racist, we haven’t got a youth group and we don’t get any this and we don’t got a youth group and all sorts and basically when they heard things like that it is more more serious basically and the county council leader, he was straight on the case straight away and the college we used to go to, they used to, there was a bit of a problem there. He sorted that out. They also won funding for a dedicated youth centre close to the site of the factory where the project first started

KAWSAR

[04.05] What they’ve decided to do is Moira Centre, the place where they normally hire out so we can chill out and have meetings there for this and that, they’ve decided to build an extension on the side and they’ve given us £100,000 to do so, so and basically we’ve more towards, targeted towards us, so it will be open when the Moira Centre’s closed so we’d be able to go there and chill out and it would be more suited, targeted towards our youth group, so yeah, it’s all good (smile).

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Paul is a one of several non-Bengalis who have become regular members of the Factory Project.

PAUL

[00.05] It’s kept me out of trouble, a lot of trouble. It gives me something to do and if you’ve got nothing to do it ends up in trouble, doesn’t it, usually?

PAUL

[00.15] They don’t just look at you and think you’re a yob on the street and just brush you away sort of thing. He’s changed a lot since his early teens.

PAUL

[00.24] I was a handful at that age, um always getting into trouble, not bothered about anything or anyone and now I’ve grown up and got to get on with it sort of thing.

ANDREW

[00.39] Are you going to do it all proper then?

PAUL

Yeah, I passed my theory….I’ve got the provisional…. Andrew has played an important part in helping Paul’s development as he moves into adulthood.

PAUL

[00.45] Coming here and seeing Andrew has put me on the rails sort of thing, getting me to do certain things and doing different trips and tasks and sort of guidance in the long run isn’t it.

ANDREW

[00.58] Two-thirty. Can you go to Mountfields? Paul values the guidance Andrew gives.

PAUL

[01.02] You can communicate with him, he listens to you no matter what your problem is. He’s always been there for me in the years I’ve known him when I’ve needed him and other people, family haven’t and he has.

ANDREW

[01.13] Do you want to go back to the summer camping thing?

MEMBER

Yeah, that was good man. Cor, can we do that man? ‘Cos that was good man…we saw the pictures Andrew’s inclusive approach is important to Paul.

PAUL

[01.18] He works well with different mixture groups, doesn’t matter,skin colour. Obviously to some people it does. He doesn’t say oh he’s better than him or he’s better than him, everybody is just the same to Andrew. Unlike many other adults, Andrew has won Paul’s trust

PAUL

[01.35] It’s nice to feel he’s got the time for you, and to give you that little extra push ‘cos no-body else does.

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1.4.2 The Mentor

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: This character might also be described as an advisor or guide. Whilst mentoring or advising is the main focus of some jobs, it also forms one aspect of many jobs in this field. The role of the mentor is to present choices and provide advice based on a more extensive life experience.

Issues: This is a very powerful position and it can sometimes be difficult to resist being seen as ‘all knowing’. However, there are times when the experience of the young person is beyond the capability of the advisor or mentor to deal with. In these situations mentors must step aside and refer on to a more specialist advisor who is better qualified to deal with the issue.

The adult guide will sometimes see their role as protecting young people from the dangers of the adult world. This can lead to young people being simply told what they should do ‘for their own good’. A more developmental approach to guidance aims to leave decision making in the hands of the young person, whilst continuing to provide support. However, it is important to remember that all forms of guidance seeks to influence young people, and these interventions are a form of control over the decisions that young people make.

There can be real tensions for a worker when their judgement about what is best for a young person is in conflict with the policy of their organisation or agency. For example, the policy may state that young people can get certain kinds of support only if they agree to take a certain course, sign up to a certain belief, or stop using drugs immediately and completely. The worker may feel that such conditions are unrealistic or inappropriate. There are situations where the aims of guiding or empowering young people can be undermined by requirements for measuring predetermined outcomes.

1.4.3 The Advocate

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: The formal meaning of ‘advocate’ is speaking on behalf of someone, as a lawyer does in a courtroom. The idea of young people developing an ‘active voice’ is also considered an important value in work with young people. In some settings young people are encouraged to advocate for themselves, with the adult's support.

Advocacy occurs with both individual young people and with groups. The table below gives some examples.

Examples of advocacy with individuals and groups

	With an individual young person	With a group of young people
Acting on behalf of (they aren't present themselves)	Case conference	Liaison with, for example, the local leisure centre
Acting in a supporting role	Talking with the young person's parents about a problem	Supporting a group of young people in putting their case to the local council for a skate park
Formal situations	Being a character witness in court	Advocating the needs of young people in a public meeting
Informal situations	Chatting to a young person's parent informally about how well s/he is doing	Encouraging a local councillor to take a more developmental approach to anti-social behaviour

Advocacy has strong official endorsement as a role to be played. The revised Office for Standards in Education, England (Ofsted) framework for the inspection of youth services seeks evidence that those working with young people:

act as advocates for young people and enable their views to be articulated in local and, where applicable, regional, national or international contexts.
(Ofsted, 2004)

Issues: Working with individuals: the worker is often faced with making choices. For example, a young person wants to attend a residential but is concerned how best to seek permission from their parents/carers. The worker might decide:

to suggest that they speak with the parent/carer on the young person's behalf
come with the young person to talk with the parent/carer
help the young person think through how they might introduce the idea with the parent/carer, and then support them through the outcome of the encounter.

Many feel that the route chosen should depend on the young person's own decision. Factors that a worker might consider when making a decision are: the ongoing relationship between the young person and the parent/carer, any history between the parent/carer and the youth group, any religious or cultural issues, and the degree of skill and self-confidence of the young person. The adult may feel the young person is about to make ‘the wrong decision’ and may need to check out this feeling with the young person. As in all such work with young people, we need to be aware that our own experiences will be influencing our judgement in ways that might not be in the best interests of the young person.

Working with or for groups: Those working with young people are also acting as advocates for their collective interests. In Clark's (1996) terms, they are ideally placed to be the ‘connecting system’ between the ‘system’ of the young people and, say, in some villages or estates, the ‘system’ of a group of adults complaining about young people's behaviour. In Christensen and O'Brien's (2003) study, Children in the City, the authors suggest that living in the city is as much about negotiating relationships with other human beings as it is about living in material places and spaces. They see the street as a point of transition between the home, the neighbourhood and adult life. Streets are contested spaces and groups of young people often want and need support in finding their share of that space. Young people need adult allies in neighbourhood affairs – adults who can interrupt the daily barrage of how awful young people are and promote a view of young people which is more positive.

1.5.1 The Facilitator

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: A facilitator works closely with the individual or group of young people to help them achieve a task and learn from the experience. Implicit in a facilitator's role is the belief that the young people involved are competent and, with the right information, support and motivation, can meet their goal. The term ‘scaffolding’ is sometimes used, meaning that the worker provides a support structure around the task. If the young person wobbles, the scaffolding can keep them on track. The support structure can be gradually dismantled as young people develop their own skills and are able to work with less or no support.

Issues: There are always difficult judgements to be made about when to step in and provide support, and when to let young people find their own way; whether to allow them space to learn through active experimentation, even when the risk of getting it wrong could be damaging to self-confidence or lead to the failure of a project. In the clips of Madcap you will see Gawaine and Steve talking about their roles, and the importance of providing a space for young people to try things out and take responsibility for the outcomes.

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Steve is the lead worker on music projects at Madcap

STEVE

[00.05] I think a lot of youngsters have the ideas in their minds, have ideas that they want to and things that they want to express but they may not have the means or the ability to do that. So what I am actually trying to do is make something that’s amorphous in their mind you know actually concrete I guess, you know that's what it sort of comes down to. So I am forever looking for what it is they really are after rather than trying to impose my own ideas on what they’re doing.

Text: His work brings him into contact with some potentially problematic young people.

STEVE

[00.40] A lot of the people that come to me are referred to me via various social services groups like Connexions or er well the young offenders team, you name it but they come in and potentially I have got the very worst young people who are, are well known for causing massive problems elsewhere.

STEVE

[01.01] We might be able to get a mix sorted so that you’re actually going out with something that is relatively complete and then you, but you…

Text: Anyone referred here becomes the lead musician on their own music project.

STEVE

[01.08] And yet, by having one at a time what happens is they come in and I say to them, well if you are working with your friends, bring them in. So they tend to bring their mates in who bring other mates in and soon you have a group of people who are actually already, they have already worked on their own dynamic, they work and if they are falling out then usually it’s a lot easier to deal with that because they’re already friends they know each other.

STEVE

[01.31] As you hit that note just put your head up slightly, yeah, so that you get it. Text: Building confidence is one of Steve’s first objectives.

STEVE

[01.35] At first you may have to put an awful lot of input in to make them realise they have even got good ideas and then you can gradually back off as the time goes on but when they start to realise that their own ideas have value and they do work um you can sort of back off and allow that to happen.

Text: But everyone who comes here has different abilities and aptitudes.

STEVE

[01.57] You may find that the person has come in with um, you know have loads of lyrics and they they write lyrics every day and they are absolutely brilliant so it, that that process of gauging where they are first is incredibly important. Gauging without any kind of judgement is also incredibly important and so everything they are doing you have got to say, you have got to bring out what is good about it so it is not a case of lying and saying it’s good when it’s not but um it is to actually bring out what is good about it.

STEVE (sings)

[02.29] ‘Watching it towering me. Sending me down…’ No that wasn’t quite right

JACKIE (sings)

[02.32] …’sending me down’

STEVE

[02.34] Yes, so it’s lower, so it’s… It’s crucial for the first stage of a creative project to be non-judgemental.

STEVE

[02.36] Sometimes that stage is called origination and I think that’s the most important thing, is to keep everybody smiling, and keep everybody feeling that their ideas have value and to actually bring no judgement whatsoever at that point and and so usually the people that are making the most judgement on themselves are the young people themselves so they’ll say something and oh no that's rubbish you know, and you go, and it is so important to make sure that they understand that it most certainly isn’t rubbish and even if it is rubbish maybe you’ve got to get the rubbish out the way before the good stuff comes so for God’s sake just do it, you know.

Text: For every project Steve and the band leader start by working up a plan.

STEVE

[03.16] In fact what you have got is a rolling plan but the, so therefore the plan doesn’t dictate what actually happens but what the plan does do is, is give purpose to the whole process. And I think that having purpose is really essential is, is what it’s all about. With purpose comes discipline and that’s not imposed discipline necessarily, um it’s, it is the kind of discipline that the young people actually want themselves. They want to create this thing, they want it to happen and I keep my, my job I guess is to keep reminding them.

STEVE

[03.50] Er and I’ll get the levels right, and sort of mix a bit so that you can hear everything right. And then we’ll go for it.

Text: Steve believes working towards a goal is a very effective form of discipline

STEVE

[03.57] They actually have ownership of it and all I’m being abrupt with is their tendency not to do the work, but it’s their work it’s not mine, so hence you know we, we don’t have discipline problems, because that’s what it’s about. They know it’s their work and they know that the result of it will be their you know, will be their thing.

Text: The goal may be a CD, a live performance, or a set of lyrics.

STEVE

[04.20] Young people I think (laugh) as a, as a breed tend to have brilliant ideas but find it difficult to actually bring something to a close. Actually, I say young people, I’m sure we all find that difficult, um but it is in the bringing something to a close, and completing it in some shape or form, that says look, I can do it, I’ve got this, this is mine, this is it, this is the stake in the ground and listen to me on this CD or, you know, and that is what actually creates confidence in doing the next project and it because what it’s saying is that my ideas are valuable, they work.

STEVE

[05.05] How about if we hang it up or no, one of you hold it and we stick a microphone at both ends. Text: Steve believes his ability to do the job is tied to his love of music.

STEVE

[05.12] There’s no doubt about it that what drives me is my love of music So I am very, very enthusiastic about music, and, and I’m also aware that I have, you know that, that’s where my skills lie.

JACKIE(sings)

[05.28] ‘has turned again.

STEVE

[05.30] Ah, you’re doing something really interesting. That’s what you’re doing. Text: He sees no divide between Steve the project worker and Steve the musician.

STEVE

[05.36] So for example somebody may sing a snatchet of melody which is all out of tune and everything, and my skill. I have to listen to what they’re really trying to do, use my musical skills to work out what it is they really want to do, play it back to them and say “Is that what you meant?” But if I wasn’t musical I wouldn’t be able to do that. So I’m really feeling that whatever youth work, that you know a good youth worker has got, if they are going to work within a certain medium they have got to know that medium too and not just know it but love it, they’ve got to love that medium and that’s what you express to the young people that you’re working with.

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Text: Gawaine’s connection with Madcap goes back a long way.

GAWAINE

[00.03] I first started coming here about 14 years ago, something like that, because they used to have a lot of gigs here and so you know when I was roughly the age of the people that come here now’s age, I was coming here and getting drunk and getting up to shenanigans because they had a lot of music and a lot of bands and stuff playing here so I’ve been coming here for a while but about four years ago, I think Steve started here then and I came along to a gig and obviously ended up chatting to him and he showed me into the studio.

Text: Gawaine’s own past may help him relate to the centre’s more troubled users.

GAWAINE

[00.32] I was homeless for a while but I got myself a place, I was living in a hostel for a while and sort of been getting myself sorted out over time and sort of so I’ve been trying to move into a career which I actually enjoy doing because I can’t work in an office and I can’t work in a factory because you know they are not environments that I like, I like creative things and interacting with people and that.

GAWAINE (background chatter)

[00.51] The frequency switches the gate….the right frequency for that one…

Text: Gawaine was lucky enough to get a Musician’s Union New Deal placement at Madcap.

GAWAINE

[00.57] Well, I’m just trying to pass on knowledge mainly, that's what I mainly do. I want them to be able to do, you know do and you know that anything I know and I am more than willing to pass on to them. Do you know what I mean, so it’s like I’ve got a lot of technical knowledge which I’ve picked up over time from studying and if I can condense that and pass it on to someone who can use it in five minutes then it’s worthwhile and useful knowledge then. That’s what I see myself doing really, passing on knowledge and enabling people to do what they want to do, you know.

Text: Gawaine’s work at Madcap involves close collaboration with Steve.

GAWAINE

[01.24] Steve is um more, more of a musician, he works with a lot with bands and he’s been doing, has been working as a musician for quite a while so he’s more there, he can direct them from that kind of aspect, so he can get them to sit down, hum a few words and then write a tune around it basically. You know, work out the chords, play the melody and arrange it that way. I am more technical. I can handle you know the mixing and recording side of it more easily than Steve can and Steve is obviously more fluent at dealing with the musical aspects of it. So we’ve got different strengths but they work together kind of thing so I think that’s how it works really.

Text: This partnership with Steve has taught Gawaine a lot of new skills.

GAWAINE

[02.01] Dealing with people because I mean a lot of it is obviously dealing with people, social situations basically. You have got to try and coax them into giving their best performance, you’ve got to coax the creativity out of them, know when to go in and tell them to do this and know when to step back and to give them some space to do what they want to do.

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1.5.2 The Supervisor

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Description: This role is essentially to create and maintain an environment in which young people feel physically safe. It is fundamental to the successful running of any youth group. It is about maintaining an overview of the dynamics, finding ways of interrupting unsafe behaviour in a way that is firm but ‘light’, being around, showing an interest whilst at the same time not getting hooked in by attention-seeking.

Issues: A lot of large and noisy young people rampaging around may be very intimidating for quieter, younger people. It might also lead to physical harm to individuals, to furniture and to buildings. Similarly, projects for young people are not by definition ‘psychologically safe’ places – they have to be made so. There can be direct or indirect bullying and oppressive language, particularly linked with racism, sexism, homophobia and disablism.

A common complaint of those who work with young people is that they constantly find themselves playing this soft-policing role, leaving less time and energy to engage in more developmental work. However, it is important to remember that practitioners have a legal responsibility to protect young people from abuse and harm.

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10.00hrs James arrives for the final session of his ‘Mad Music’ project.

STEVE McDANIEL

[00.12] We might be able to get a mix sorted so that you’re actually going out with something that is relatively complete. There will be a time I’m sure we’ll find a gap somewhere, where you can come in and do it again but it’s like I don’t know when

JAMES

[00.22] Yeah

STEVE

Yeah

JAMES

Alright, cool

STEVE

[00.24] Can you…….work er, with James to get a mix of what is there now as close as we can, right, to some kind of completion.

CALLIER

[00.34] …this is a really loud amp isn’t it

A N OTHER

…very loud…

CALLIER

I think it’s one of the lowest settings anyway so it's alright…..

STEVE

[00.45] Do that, will you….how, how about if we hang it up, oh no, one of you hold it and we stick a microphone at both ends. James and his friends are putting the final touches to their latest song

JAMES

[01.04] When you….when the guitar is added over that it might just work I think

GAWAINE

[01.07] Yeah… ‘cos it does need to cut through it……

JAMES

Yeah

STEVE

[01.15] Hold that…. that is so cool isn’t it. Come on mate you’ve got to use that. That’s got such a lot of resonance if you pick it up off the floor.

STEVE

[01.44] I’m going to get back problems you realize this don’t you LAUGHTER

STEVE

[01.47] … suffering for my art, 0h, actually suffering for your art.

A N OTHER

….Yeah

LAUGHTER

STEVE

[02.11] Yeah, right that was really good, really good and the end bit where you went tch, tch, tch, tch, tch that was excellent. That sort of went against the er the original rhythm.

DRUMMER

[02.16] I mucked it up see….it was like oooh

STEVE

[02.18] No but it sounded good actually, I think we’re there, I think we’re there. That sounded to me to be much tighter.

A N OTHER

(WHITE T-SHIRT) [02.30] I was hoping to put a…..wow, wow, wow…kind of thing going on there…..

STEVE

[02.32] I love you lot ‘cos, because you always force us, erm to be creative and do something I’ve never, never done before.

LAUGHTER

2.34pm Steve’s first session helping Jackie with her new song

STEVE

[02.47] Is it really slow? Is it, has it got a sort of rhythm to it. What do you mind, what do you sort of expect?

JACKIE

[02.53] I like the fact it goes kind of high and then goes down a bit

STEVE

[02.58] Actually, hang on, let’s stop that for a minute. I’ve got perhaps a better idea. I think what you’re going to have to do is just give me erm just burst into song with it.

JACKIE

[03.07] What from ‘watching… ’?

STEVE

Yeah, just go on…try

JACKIE (sings)

[03.11] ’Watching it towering me. Sending it down’

STEVE

[03.14] Right…hold it….so (PLAYS PIANO) SINGS…’sending it down’. That’s alright isn’t it.

JACKIE

Yeah

STEVE

[03.22] SINGS AND PLAYS…..’watching it towering me. Sending it down’ Alright, ok now, hang on I heard a chord. It might be PLAYS…. Hang on

BOTH SING

[03.32] ’Watching it towering me. Sending it down’ James has volunteered his services as a session musician

STEVE

[03.35] Right, so now, I’m hearing four……’watching it towering me. Sending it down’. Actually you’ve got a waltz, believe it or not, I think. So let’s, let’s start with that then. I just want to get that verse in our mind, really really clearly. So it’s…..count with that……

BOTH SING

[03.58] ‘The spirit falling from the sky. Watching it towering me. Sending me down’

STEVE

[04.12] …then you repeat that then…

BOTH SING

????????????? Please catch me now

STEVE

[04.18] Now, just a minute James. What I’m going to try and do now is decide on the next chord. Well, in fact, I’m not going to decide, you’re going to decide. I’m going to try a few options. Right. SINGS…..’my….

STEVE

Oh, hang on…..

BOTH SING

..’my soul has turned again’

STEVE

[04.38] Do that again…SINGS ‘my soul…

JACKIE

…’has turned again’

STEVE

[04.43] Ah,…you’re doing something really interesting …..that’s what you were doing the first time. I kind of like that.

JACKIE

3.41pm

STEVE

[04.50] Yeah, what do you think? Do you …is it er feeling kind of right at the moment

JACKIE

Yeah….

STEVE

[04.55] It’s a bit early days. You can’t really tell.

JACKIE

Cool

STEVE

What….I’ve now…that drum rhythm is really odd

LAUGHS

but I kind of like it

JACKIE

Yeah, yeah it’s cool

STEVE

[05.03] Yeah, cool. It’s kind of making….it’s sending it off in a different direction slightly, isn’t it.

JACKIE

….different, yeah.

STEVE

[05.08] Yeah, erm it’s er, tell me again about. You started to talk about erm how this, what the, the purpose of this…..

JACKIE

Yeah…

STEVE

..when you wrote it.

JACKIE

[05.18] Yeah, ‘cos my mate went through a lot when she, when we wrote this so she kind of like put it down on paper.

STEVE

[05.24] So really we should make it quite dark and….

JACKIE

[05.25] …the first two are not too bad but the s…the second. The first two? The first verse and the chorus are quite light, but

STEVE

[05.36] …make it immobilized….what er…I mean, you don’t have to say anything about it if you don’t want to but what, can you be more specific about when you say she’s been through a lot?

JACKIE

[05.47] Well, erm she ended up, she kind of like ended up self harming herself that’s why she wrote it down. So I said to her right stop doing that and write it down. It’s so much easier and less painful as well, well, but physically it’s less painful but erm….

STEVE

So you’re actually helping her?

JACKIE

Yeah

STEVE

[06.10] I tell you what, you know, this erm business of erm working with people who’ve got, who’ve got, you know, you are actually in pain as it were, working on songs is er, is an amazing thing and I know that myself when I’ve had bad times I’ve written lots of songs.

JACKIE

Yeah….?

STEVE

LAUGHS….and it kind of gets it all out doesn’t it

JACKIE

[06.27] ???????????

4.37pm

STEVE

One, two, three, four…

BOTH SING

[06.33] My spirit’s falling from the sky Watching it towering me Sending me down Looking dreaded from slavery Please catch me now

STEVE

[06.51] …that’s it.

BOTH SING

[06.52] My soul has turned again Sending my spirit high What did they expect me to do Totally immobilized

STEVE

[07.08] That’s fine. That’ll be great ‘cos that’s all we need for now and we can worry about the way actually it’s going to go later. Excellent

JACKIE

[07.15] I really didn’t believe I could do this.

STEVE

[07.15] We have written a song

BOTH LAUGH

JACKIE

Right

BOTH LAUGH

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1.00pm The second afternoon of a three week ‘Reaching Out’ course

STEVE

[00.08] Right; ok, so you want actually sort of like do, do a DJ set and record it?

BOY IN CAP

Yeah

STEVE

[00.12] That’s cool. Actually it’s very easy to do and we can do a lot of that. That’s good. What, what have you got in mind?

A N OTHER

[00.19]I don’t know at the moment.

STEVE

You can be quite dreamy

ANOTHER

[0.23] ….more club than anything….it’s what I’m into…

STEVE

[00.24] So it, you know, like you can actually take the vinyl and put it all together, but that’s stuff that’s already been created by somebody else…in a way…you’re using

ANOTHER

I want to create my own….

STEVE

[00.32] You want to create your own. That’s a great start. Have we got any groups of people, like four people, who’ve already decided that they want to work together. I think you two….

ANSWER

Yeah…….

STEVE

[00.42] Yeah, ok, so we’ve got, there’s Marlon, Sammy yeah. You may find that there’s somebody else you know after you’ve er sitting down at dinner time and chatting to somebody. you may discover er that things are going on in another group that you’re really interested in and think in terms of working, not in terms of whether you like each other or not, just in terms of what’s working then later we can possibly change those things. But it’s just that it gives us er a starting point.

1.25pm LADS CHATTING

STEVE

[1.13] Right now lads. Just be respectful of it and don’t muck around. I, I, I’ve had people come in and think it’s school and they kept mucking around you know. No, stay calm, it’s a small space, lots of expensive equipment, stay calm, do your thing and by the end of it, we’ll have, you’ll be making CDs and everything you know. Shame you weren’t here yesterday ‘cos we were playing all the stuff we’d made and everything and some of it’s brilliant. Isn’t it. Is it good or what?

ANSWER

[01.34] …actually some it it’s really good…..

STEVE LAUGHS

ANOTHER

[01.36] ……..do you have a power pack…

OTHER

…there….

ANOTHER

[01.40] Er, what sort of music are you two into ….

ONE

[01.42] I prefer my garage and drum ‘n bass, man.

TWO

Yeah, drum ‘n bass.

ANOTHER

[01.47] Have you got an idea for, if you want some kind of instrument – piano. I’d go for this one…..it doesn’t have to be a piano but you know, some drum and bass have got piano old school Er, just have a play really….

ONE

[02.07] Yeah, do you want to go first?

TWO

Don’t mind mate, what ever

ONE

Yeah, I’ll let you go first, yeah

ANOTHER

[02.15] How are you getting on?

ONE

[02.16] Yeah, can you erm play like pop music and things like that?

ANOTHER

You can, but you need to have the beat on it’s own

ONE

[02.22] I’ve got beat on it, erm

ANOTHER

Just go up to the folder on there on the loop player, which is that one. All of these are different loops

STEVE

[02.37] Right, next thing I’m going to put you on, horrible, horrible distortion ‘cos it’s absolutely really really important. Otherwise it just doesn’t sound right LAUGHS Right we’re having a guitar lesson now. Right ok erm, where were we.. Play, play the thing again.

GIRL

[02.54] You can just use a paint brush. ‘cos it’s quite a plain colour you, you’d get away with using the paint brush. So what we need to do, we need to choose the exact colour first of all. So how you do that is with the eyedropper tool which is just there. Once you’ve done music for a couple of days you might get an idea of something that you want to do to made a CD cover.

A N OTHER

[03.12] Erm, how do I do the name…..

GIRL

[03.14] …on the text, go on then, I’ll click on the text tool, decide on what colour you’d like your text by clicking on the little colour. There you go…down there…

STEVE

[03.23] That string there….or….that line there represents that string which is the top string., know as an E string, doesn’t matter. And that one at the end represents that string – yeah – got it – and when it says X it means don’t play. And when it says O it means play it open, which means your hand is not on it…yeah, on that particular string, but if you look here, that line there

GIRL

[03.51] …that one

STEVE

[03.53] The…the big black line there

GIRL

Yeah

STEVE

….is that thing

GIRL

Oh, I see

STEVE

Make sense?

GIRL

Sort of, yeah

STEVE

[03.59] You sure, so when I play it, it sound like that…a Beeeeeeeee Now let’s just do the next one. So I’m going to put my finger here. Ooop….. third, and that one there. There we are all done, and that’s A7.

GIRL

[04.13] …you don’t play the first string

STEVE

Ah!

GIRL

You shouldn’t with that string

STEVE

[04.15] Oh, whoops, and I shouldn’t play the bottom string. Oh yeah, absolutely, well done. I can always count on Michelle to tell me where I’m going wrong

LAUGHS

3.10 Rating the day’s activities

SPEAKER

[04.25] Can I ask each one of you as you did yesterday for everyone else to give a number. Ok, very quick and you’ve got anywhere from one to ten. So one – appalling, real poor, ok, Ten – brilliant, five in the middle.

BOY

Five, nine and ten

GIRL

Six, nine and ten

STEVE

[04.46] You don’t have to say ten seriously, I mean LAUGHS

WOMAN

[04.47] He’s blackmailing them all LAUGHS He’s blackmailing them

GIRL

Four, eight and seven

3.45pm The ‘Reaching Out’ Team evaluate the course so far

STEVE

[05.01] The nature of this group is such that, that at the moment things are, er you know like last time, everybody was here, it was very quickly, people were kind of forming groups and having their ideas of where they were going……?????.. this is much less. This group is much less like and they’re much more of er you know trying to experimenting with this and that and just, they don’t know, they, they’ve not got off the ground…????..musically before they came here.

SUE QUINN

[05.25] The confidence seems to me to be very very low in this group and I think, you know, in three weeks time, springing a presentation on them, well we won’t be springing it on them ‘cos we’ll discuss it with them. I think they will go into complete panic if we try and do exactly what we did last year.

ANSWER

Yeah – ok

SUE

[05.41] And I think that’s something we need to, may be I need to sit and talk with you and Nick and Max and Natalie about it.

ANSWER

[05.46] Yeah, we’ll set up some sort of meeting

SUE

Yeah

MAN

[05.48] …positives, er, we had twelve people this morning that’s everyone from yesterday and everyone who said they would come who was just phoned up late notice yesterday. Erm, there’s nobody says.. ’Ah, you know this isn’t working out for me, or anything…yeah, yeah…I mean. We also ...we tried to get round, I mean Regan was one that concerned me ‘cos he seemed a little bit isolated, erm, throughout the day, erm, especially at lunch, but as Dave said like he was taking a bit of a lead down there, with you.

STEVE

[06.12] Er, who was the other person. Sammy – I haven’t quite, she seemed, I don’t know, was she engaged do you….

GAWAINE

[06.19] Yeah, yeah, yeah, she was….she was

STEVE

[06.21] She was very quiet and she didn’t want to say anything much

GAWAINE

[06.24] Oh no..when she thinks of something she says it. But they, but they, they both work together quite well.

STEVE

Good, ah, that’s alright then

GAWAINE

[06.28] When one of them speaks, it’s ‘cos they both agree on it you know

STEVE

Yeah

LAUGHS

she did actually laugh once today

GAWAINE

Cool

ALL LAUGH

STEVE

……at me

ALL LAUGH

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Activity 2: Workers talk about their roles

0 hours 45 minutes

Look at Madcap, Clips 1 and 2. How many of the ‘characters’ we have discussed here can you identify?

Discussion

Comment

In many cases, workers are playing a composite role, drawing together several of the characters we have described. For example, Steve at Madcap might be seen as playing both facilitator and catalyst. He talks about ‘injecting’ enthusiasm, ‘pulling out’ what's inside their heads, finding out what they want, involving them in a creative process. The way he works with young people, working intensively to start with and then gradually withdrawing and making himself redundant, illustrates the process of ‘scaffolding’ within the facilitator role. Gawaine talks about the importance of knowing when to intervene with help and advice and when to let young people take the initiative.

1.6 Philosophies

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

In your overall approach to your work with young people, you will be taking on different characters at different times. Being able to identify these, and take on the most appropriate character at any given time, is an important part of working professionally. However, this is not simply a process of assessing the situation and then selecting the most appropriate character to deal with it. Working with people at any age is far less precise and technical than this; it involves referring to our instincts and feelings about the situation, and engaging with the values that we bring to the role. So, the individual actions we use and the characters we deploy can only be fully understood when placed in a framework of values and purposes. We have chosen to call this a ‘philosophy’, that is a set of understandings about the nature and purposes of the work which informs all our actions. The statements below illustrate some of the assumptions that might be made about young people and the interventions in their lives that would therefore be useful. While we describe these as characterisations, they are also caricatures. Most people's frameworks of values and purposes will be more complex and draw on a range of ideas and assumptions.

1.6.1 A. Worker as protector

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Young people are not yet full people. They are essentially rather weak and helpless and need a lot of nurturing and caring for. They also need protecting from the traps and many potential evils of society. Society is increasingly complex and they need guidance to find their way around. It's the adults’ job to provide this nurturing and protection and to ‘prepare them for life’ until they in turn become adults and will play their own part in moulding the next generation.

1.6.2 B. Worker as personal reformer

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Young people are flawed human beings and potentially quite wild and ‘untamed’. They are the cause of much misery to a lot of adults, and don't promise at all well for the future of society. At least, though, they are mouldable. It's the adults’ role in society to reform and domesticate them because adults know best. This needs to take place through instruction, and occasionally through punishment. We need to show them ‘the right way to be’, and tell them how to behave so they will eventually – if they deserve to -be able to take their full place in society.

1.6.3 C. Worker as liberator

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Young people are born good, powerful and with great flexible intelligence but through even the most well-meaning family upbringing, through their school experience and life in the community, they pick up hurts which close down their intelligence and separate them from that awareness. It's the adults’ job to help them reclaim that awareness, to hang in there with them even when their hurt makes them behave badly, give them information and support and, when appropriate, help them learn from experience and encourage their good thinking and their attempts to take charge of their lives. Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educator, suggests that ‘To be a good liberating educator, you need above all to have faith in human beings, you need to love’(Freire, 1971, p. 62).

1.6.4 D. Worker as community developer

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Young people are a fully contributing part of their communities already and their views and interests need to be taken as seriously as those of any other grouping. It's the adults’ role to help articulate their needs and concerns and to give them information and support to help them communicate these appropriately in the right quarters. Adults may need to act as advocates with or on behalf of young people to ensure their voice is heard. Young people also have responsibilities in relation to community development and, again, need to be helped to recognise these and fulfil them.

1.6.5 E. Worker as institutional reformer

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

The problem for young people is the way they are excluded and oppressed by the main institutions of society. Few are really listened to at school – and certainly not about how they could be better taught. Many are oppressed by the forces of law and order – and even by local community groups who are threatened by often harmless if boisterous behaviour. The job market wants to slot them into dead-end jobs. The doctors often treat them as appendages of their parents. These institutions need to treat young people with more respect. So, as a worker, I must spend quite a bit of time with these institutions encouraging them to reassess their service in relation to young people and involving young people in any re-design.

(Adapted from an idea by Leigh and Smart, 1985.)

1.7 Understanding Roles

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Activity 3: Understanding roles

0 hours 30 minutes

Look back at the philosophical positions on work with young people described above and answer these questions:

Which of these fits most closely with your own philosophy on working with young people?
If you are currently working with young people, which of these philosophies fits most closely with the way you work at present?

Alternatively, you might want to look at the workers at Factory, Madcap, or Cowbridge (in the previous clips) and match them with the philosophical positions.

Discussion

Comment

Whether we are aware of it or not, roles are not value free. The interventions we make in our work with young people cannot be understood only by the actions we take. These need to be understood in relation to an overall philosophy of what we are trying to achieve. In some cases the roles we take will be influenced by factors which are beyond our own personal values. Organisations have their own priorities and philosophies, as does the government. The roles we play are shaped not only by our own skills, judgements and philosophies, but also by the wider context in which we work. These external factors can create real tensions for practitioners as they try to work within their own values whilst carrying out the tasks for which they and their organisation are funded.

In this activity we asked you to match philosophical positions with examples of practice. In fact it is unlikely that you will find any exact fits, since most practice is a mix of several underlying philosophies. It is also common to find different practitioners within one project who take differing stances towards their work.

So far, we have been looking at how practitioners think about the roles they play in their work with young people. In Activity 4 we ask you to turn again to the clips and listen to what the young people involved in the Madcap and Factory projects have to say about the practitioners who work with them.

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Text: Jackie’s first contact with Steve was when she came for a course called “School’s Out”.

JACKIE

[00.06] Well the music teachers at school don’t really help out much. They’re there but they’re not helping you with your vocal … they’re not a vocal coach as well whereas Steve does do that as well, he like helps out if you go wrong, and he’s a really good teacher.

Text: She enjoyed Madcap so much that she’s now back on work experience.

JACKIE

[00.26] They’ve all been a great help, they’ve all helped me out with everything they could and I feel a lot better for it.

Text: She’s just started working with Steve on a song linked to one of her closest friends.

STEVE & JACKIE (SING)

[00.33] ‘please catch me now. My soul has turned again..’

JACKIE

[00.44] My mate had been through a lot when she was younger and to now when she’s like 14, nearly 15 so I got her to write most of it down as a song so we kind of changed it to a song and to really make it effective and to get her emotions out so she didn’t like cause any trouble in her mind or anything, just to help her a bit.

Text: Jackie believes the main beneficiary will be her friend.

JACKIE

[01.12] I kind of see my part in it as um trying to help her overcome this sort of aspect of not being able to get her emotions out and to really build it up a bit and make it effective as a song and get her emotions out that way.

STEVE

[01.30] It’s very very close now……you’ve got it

STEVE & JACKIE (sing)

[01. 33) ‘my soul has turned again’

Text: But Jackie benefits too. The result: a song that will hopefully speak for itself.

JACKIE

[01.37] They help me out and if Ifeel good about myself it’s going to end up being a good result hopefully.

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Text: 18 year old James has been through difficult times. His involvement with Madcap has given him a more positive outlook on life.

JAMES

[00.07] I’m a lot more confident than I was. I mean, it’s easier for me to talk to people and like get involved in things like so I am not always at home like doing nothing.

Text: It’s a year since he was referred to Madcap by his Connexions adviser

JACKIE (sings)

[00.15] ‘..my spirits high. What do they expect me to do’

JAMES

[00.22] It’s a really good atmosphere, you know you can have fun for, um well for free. It’s just like yeah a very good atmosphere, you can record your songs and you go home at the end of the day, you know, and you’re like, it make you feel good about yourself.

Text: Madcap provides opportunities for James to develop his musical talent

JAMES

[00.43] I’ve got two music videos to show for it, um a song, no two songs actually –two new songs. Um, I’ve got a couple of photographs from a gig we did um a couple of weeks ago here at Madcap which Steve organised. Text: James also helps out as a session musician for other young people at Madcap.

JACKIE(sings)

[00.57] ‘..so turn again’

STEVE

Alright, ok you’ve given me what I need

JAMES

[01.02] Yeah, I would like to get more involved in like session musicianing,like going doing to the studio and like helping other people out with like their like songs and stuff because it’s really fun you know and its good to know you’ve helped someone else I suppose as well.

Text: James’ relationship with the project’s central worker, Steve, is a crucial part of his experience of Madcap

JAMES

[01.22] Steve’s really cool because he like helps you and if you stuck on anything he’ll always be there to try and like make sure you are doing the right thing and not going wrong and stuff. He’s er very good at talking to people and getting his point across. So he is um very clear in what he says and stuff and you can always understand what he’s talking about.

Text: Listening is an important skill for someone working with young people

JAMES

[01.45] He can be a good listener sometimes when he’s busy though you can’t sometimes get a word in because he’s always running about, so I think he’s a good enough listener.

Text: Madcap’s flexible approach has engaged with James to an extent that formal education could not.

JAMES

[01.59] When you’re doing music here you know you’re actually getting to do what you want to do and you are not you’re not getting the teacher saying no, you can’t do that, you can’t do this, he lets you do anything you want, like really creative ideas. ‘Cos I’ve come in and made a music video and like it’s a really, really strange like song and stuff, it’s not er nothing like you’d hear in the charts or anything. He is happy with anything you want to do, that’s the cool thing about Steve.

Text: Madcap’s atmosphere encourages informal learning.

JAMES

[02.28] They treat you like they treat anyone else, they make you feel comfortable basically and like you settle in and you’re like, this is like a cool place to be. You don’t realise you’re learning but when you go home you realise that I’ve learnt something so it’s cool.

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Text: 19-yr-old Callier was introduced to Madcap by James.

CALLIER

[00.05] It’s a nice happy friendly area where you can come where everyone is nice and smiling, you feel really welcome when you come here definitely.

Text: Like many young people, Callier had previously felt a lack of motivation.

CALLIER

[00.19] It’s motivation that can be lacking I think. It’s like, like what has happened here, it’s like, here you go, and it’s like your motivation then gets kicked off a bit whereas if nothing is really around, you haven’t heard much, no one’s come up to you, you keep a bit quiet but you need to go out there and actually find it yourself as well. You get more confidence so you can actually go out there after to get stuff

CALLIER

[00.40] It’s very old. Probably as old as my dad.

Text: The cost of a similarly equipped commercial recording studio would have been prohibitive.

CALLIER

[00.45] It’s nice being in the studio, getting to use all the different equipment, learning about the set up and also personally, we play together better now, and we’ve got a live gig and everything like that out of it so we’ve really come together more than we were before playing in the bedroom!

Text: Working with Steve has proved very different to Callier’s experiences at school.

STEVE

[01.03] Basically right, as I see it we’ve got the amp for the track almost finished yeah

CALLIER

[01.07] Oh I’ve loved it, Steve’s hilarious, he just brings you together. He brings out the best in you as well, builds you up and makes you play to the best of your abilities I think, definitely. I’ve learnt a lot.

CALLIER

[01.18] Teachers don’t really understand that's what you want most of the time whereas normally what they give you is like you have to do this, you have to do it along these lines whereas here is it what have you got, I like that, let’s keep that, let’s do this, you just need to change this a bit. You know, just a bit of creative influence into what you have already got I think, definitely.

Text: So what effect has his involvement with Madcap had on on Callier and his self-esteem?

CALLIER

[01.14] Well um I think more really it gives us, the more you can do it if you put your mind to it , you can actually go out there you can do it, there’s nothing holding you back, if you get the time you can actually go out and get yourself a CD, you know you can play some live music, get together as a group, it’s pretty good actually, definitely.

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Text: Dan would recommend Madcap to any young person with musical interests.

DAN

[00.06] Go for it, like definitely if you’ve got an interest in music at all because like, if you want to take it like not just take it further for yourself or for other people then definitely, it is like one of the most constructive environments in Milton Keynes to like come and make music and make your dreams and stuff, or whatever.

Text: Dan has been coming, with the rest of the band, for several months.

DAN

[00.30] Today just finishing off a song we’ve had written for a while, just like getting the finishing touches because like obviously we have to sort outthe levels and stuff, all the technical side.

Text: Working with Gawaine and Steve has helped him develop his artistic talent and technical skill.

DAN

[00.46] Just adding in a few last minute changes, and like a bit more guitar, a bit more drums and like ideas we’ve had at the last minute and stuff, just getting them all together because this is one of our last sessions so yeah just bringing it all together now it’s like a whole.

Text: A major part of the attraction for Dan is the creative teamwork.

DAN

[01.04] I think since coming here, I’ve like you know, especially playing live ‘cos we made a song here and we got to play it like a showcase of Madcap, like all the people had been doing, especially lacked experience, cos all my mates beneficial because I got a lot more confidence playing live.

Text: He’s discovered the motivation and discipline that performance demands

DAN

[01.22] I’d never done it before and it gave me a good idea of what I was working towards, the live playing of gigs and all that is something I’ve dreamed of doing so that dream’s like been fulfilled, the first step to getting further with it as well, it has given me the hunger to get out and do more, like make more music, come here and we will do more live stuff so.

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Activity 4: Listening to young people

0 hours 30 minutes

Listen to what Callier, Jackie, James and Dan say about working with Steve in the Madcap project.

Under Factory, listen to what Kawsar and Paul say about working with Andrew (see Factory clips 2 and 3).

Make a note of the roles which these young people identify, and what they say about them.

Discussion

Comment

Here we describe only a few of the roles the young people identify as helpful to them.

At Madcap, Callier, Jackie and James all see Steve as a facilitator. According to Callier, Steve is someone who ‘brings out the best’ in you. When encouraged to compare Steve to her teachers, Jackie talks about the quality of the personal attention she gets. James comments that Steve is ‘good at talking and getting his point across’ and also ‘a good listener’. He values the freedom he is given to make the music that interests him: ‘he's happy with anything you want to do, so that's the cool thing about Steve’.

At The Factory, Kawsar and Paul have a lot of respect for Andrew. They feel understood and listened to. Kawsar says, for example, that Andrew ‘knows how we are and right he understands like culture wise’. Paul values the guidance Andrew has given him: ‘he listens to you no matter what the problem is … it's nice to feel he has time time for you’. He sees Andrew as an ally and a mentor who has helped to ‘put me on the rails’.

Whatever struck you from these interviews, it is clear that listening to young people's views is a rich source for reflection on roles. If you are currently working with young people, you may want to discuss with them their experiences and expectations of you and your colleagues.

2.1 The diversity of roles

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

So far we have looked at the roles that are taken in work with young people. Now we move on to discuss roles in relation to the ‘bigger picture’ of organisations and projects that are concerned with young people.

The aim of this section is to help you do three things:

gain an idea of not only the diversity but also the complexity of different roles involved in working with young people
consider what is meant by organisational roles
clarify the underlying values of an organisation.

2.2 Roles within agencies, projects and organisations

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

The next activity is intended to widen your understanding of the variety of roles undertaken in the field of‘work with young people’.

Activity 5 Variety of job roles with young people

1 hour 0 minutes

Below you will find 10 advertisements for jobs. We offer them as a snapshot in 2005 of this increasingly wide-ranging field of work with young people.

As you read the advertisements, try to identify and describe each of the following:

the name of the organisation or service
their particular focus
the target group
the organisation's purpose and underlying values
the role being offered or described.

Some information – like underlying values – will be implicit rather than explicit, so you will have to work out what you think the organisational values might be.

View larger image

Discussion

Comment

These advertisements show not only the diversity but also the complexity of work with young people. In them we find ‘young carers’, ‘young disabled people’, ‘asylum seekers and refugees’, ‘young offenders’ and others. Roles range from development workers, to advisers, counsellors, mentors and supervisors.

Alongside the roles with young people, there are what we might call ‘organisational’ roles such as fundraising and administration. These jobs all involve a particular area of expertise, related to the target group. For example, in advertisement A, familiarity with online support would be an advantage. In advertisement C, where the target group is ‘asylum seekers and refugees’, the applicant will need knowledge of housing; in E and G, applicants will need experience of supervision and management.

Some organisations are explicit about their underlying values in their advertisements. For example, in B the name of the organisation does not appear, but the fact that the advert mentions ‘active Christian involvement’ suggests it is a project supported and funded by a Christian organisation. The focus is arts and performance; the target group is ‘youths from a deprived area’. Christian values are likely to be underlying the service. The young people may be seen as vulnerable and in need of protection. Key roles seem to be ‘facilitator’ and ‘community developer’.

Conclusion

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

This course has examined the diversity of roles played in working with young people. We have looked at roles on three levels:

the individual actions that practitioners take
the characters they play in different situations
the philosophical position they take, which influences the actions they choose and the characters they play.

We have presented roles as being more than a list of tasks and responsibilities attached to a particular post within an organisational structure.

We argued that roles are:

fluid: the roles we take, even in the course of a single day or session, will change in response to different situations and challenges
values driven.

You have seen that the ways in which we carry out our work, whilst often constrained by factors outside our control, are nevertheless an expression of our personal and professional values. In addition, you have gained an idea of a range of projects and services for young people, and the roles that are involved. This has helped you appreciate the not only the diversity but also the complexity of different roles involved in working with young people. Finally, you have considered what is meant by organisational roles and looked at the underlying values of an organisation.

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References

The Open University — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Christensen, P. and O'Brien, M. (2003) Children in the City, London, RoutledgeFalmer.

Fineman, S. (2000) Emotions in Organisations, London, Sage.

Goleman, D. (1996) Emotional Intelligence, London, Bloomsbury.

Leigh, M. and Smart, A. (1985) Interpretation and Change: The Emerging Crisis of Purpose in Social Education, Leicester, National Youth Bureau.

Ofsted (2004) 'Local authority youth services; a framework for inspection' HMI 2307. www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications

Orbach, S. (1999) Towards Emotional Literacy, London, Virago.

Acknowledgements

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Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Course image: US Department of Education in Flickr made available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence.

All material contained within this course originated at the Open University

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