DISQUS

Chris Cook · 11 months ago

I must admit it never sits well with me when we talk about integrated services, extended schools and the DCSF that youth work seems to target a narrow age band of 13-19 with a special case for expanding the range. Within a church youth work context I would often do childrens work but involving young people in the 13-19 band as junior leaders and enablers for activities for younger people. Now in the youth service role I am bound to deliver only to those within my targetted range.

There is always a case for ensuring no one age range gets all the resources and kudos but there needs to be a way of creating a community which works across all age ranges within a youth work setting that allows workers to respond to need without getting mixed up in funding boundaries. Not easy to achieve I know but ...

mas · 11 months ago

thanks Chris - I find this very frustrating, it seems a very short sighted and narrow approach to supporting children and young people to thrive in communities. I don't understand why those that determine those funding boundaries decide that resources should be limited to a particular age group. Surely thats a decision that can only be made by those actually in the community? Presumably theres a philosophy behind targeting resources and funding towards the older age group, but it isn't one thats in any way obvious to me.

ade · 11 months ago

Mas - this is really interesting - we did some research with 13-15 years on the media in nov and one of the interesting side discoveries was how that age group felt in terms of opportunities available to them - lots for over 16 and they felt there was fairly OK provision for under 11s but somehow they were falling through the gap...

mas · 11 months ago

Hi Ade - that is interesting. I suspect you, like us, get a lot of feedback from young people that in their area "theres nothing for young people to do" - usually something that subsequently becomes a bit ridiculous when we ask them to discuss the various resources available to them in their area, albeit not to assume they necessarily want to do those things available to them.

I would agree though there is generally more opportunities available to over 16's - partly of course just because of the freedom that comes with that age, but partly too because of initiatives like V and previously Millennium Volunteers. I'm not so sure if the provision for under 11's is fairly ok in terms of youth work equivalent opportunities - if so who's providing it?

It seems to me that provision should be universal. Services for children and young people should be seeking to support them from as early as parents are prepared to allow them to attend, and from there, there should be a pathway through which they can progress their involvement in local community activities. If there is to be a focus of resources on a particular age group this seems to be a decision best made by those within a particular community - but even so it still should not exclude wider age groups.

I think many community groups do already work this way - but why then does the funding and statutory provision not reflect and support it?

Hilary · 11 months ago

Hi Mas

I'm not going to be able to answer all of this straight away as I'm shattered at the moment but felt compelled to start responding! Part of the issue is some of the funding streams and how we receive these through various sectors. For instance as you know I am just about to start work with Positive activities for Children Co-ordinators (PACCS) who will liase and work with Positive Activities for Young People staff (PAYP). The PACCS are funded through the Childrens Fund and therefore in theory should be focussing on the 5-13 age range. The PAYP funding stream targets 8-19yrs.

I think that some of this ties in with Play strategies. From our work in West Sussex we are clearly focussed on 13-19yrs as Chris has mentioned with an extension to 25 in special cirucmstances however we do try and stretch down to 11yrs in our junior clubs where we encourage over 13yrs to be Junior Leaders.

Alot of it comes down to where to focus limited resources. with further resources we are starting to look at 8-13yrs and probably won't go lower than that as with under 8s it becomes a question of whether you are looking more at Childcare. Vol sector groups also split their age ranges when you start looking at organisations like scouts and guides. I do think there are some natural age groupings and would suggest that we are also looking at different skills for different ages. Perhaps thats why there are more splits as well as the funding issue.

mas · 11 months ago

I very much agree with the natural age groupings - but there again how does 13-19 fit as that? For an interview years ago I was asked to prepare a programme for 14-19 year olds. At the interview I asked one of the interviewers to get in the mindset of a 14 year old (not yet done GCSE's), another to be 17 (maybe failed GCSE's), and the other to be 19 (maybe at University, maybe unemployed, maybe a parent, allowed to drink) - and then asked them what programme could meet each of their needs! I then argued the case that a more sensible split was 11-16, 16-18, and 18+ (with possibly a split in the 11-16 group). There were broader considerations as it was to be a residential programme (so think sex, alcohol etc. and you make life very difficult if some participants are either side of permissible ages - something I've experienced on residentials organised by others).

I wouldn't know what to do with under 8's (despite having 2 children that age)! My thinking there though is that for a 'universal service' the very young would come under 'family provision' - you start at whats currently sure start type stuff, go on to what most likely is 'childcare' (but I have to say some of the most exciting stuff in education seems to be in the early years sector), go on to junior clubs, youth clubs, young adult projects and eventually adult projects etc. with a clear process/pathway throughout - ie. a community programme. I know this does exist in places - but the general structure doesn't seem very well set up to actually support it - its sporadic in what funding is available where and to whom.

I get that current resources are limited etc. but was wondering if anyone could actually suggest how we got to this stage in the first place - at some point it must have been decided that services for young people are best focussed from 13 upwards.

Chris Cook · 10 months ago

I have a number of friends involved in scouting and it is interesting to see their age ranges: beavers 6-8; cubs 8-10.5; scouts 10.5-14; explorers 14-18; network:18-25. What I particularly like about the local group is that they hold a moving on ceremony once or twice a year where they hold a joint celebration and everyone who is moving up to a new group meets and is welcomed by their new leaders. Another strength I have seen is that their network group have developed into a key plank of creating new leaders with good training.

I must admit I am not so sure about the explorers age range, for exactly the reasons you have outlined. I recall an incident (not serious I hasten to add) many years back with a parish group that led us to amend our own procedures because of alcohol.

Because so much of a young persons life centres around school it would seem sensible to match age ranges to academic years and key stages. I would like to think of appropriate splits in this area would be school years 2-4, 5-6, 7-9, 10-11, and 12+. Programs such as DofE would obviously start at year 10 but elements of preparation towards that could easily begin at year 7 - if only recognition for outcomes could also be attracted from that point.

What I find particularly hard with the setup I encounter at the moment is there is no obvious route leading from the children's services to youth services. There is no handover or development program to lead one group on to another. Children provided support in sure start programs seem to have to then be dropped and found again by the next organisation in the chain. This may just be a weakness in the local area that changes in personnel have not been able to remedy as of yet - but it is a worrying picture.

It would be good to see developments that focus holistically on a local areas needs and the whole community life for a young person.

mas · 10 months ago

very much in line with my thoughts Chris. I think theres much to be learned from the scouting movement too, particularly with the idea of how young people are able to progress through them.