04 August

National Citizen Service

An interesting piece on the Conservatives flagship youth programme in The Guardian:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/24/national-citizen-service-unproven-vanity-project

 

What are we thinking?

16:47 GMT  |  Read comments(0)

What Is Youth Work?

I am really interested to find out what people believe Youth Work is.  Over the time that I have been a face to face worker the role, perception and responsibilities of a Youth Worker have changed considerably.  Youth Work has several organisations taking parts of the role of a sector skills council and the current administration are allowing some of the most incredible cuts to services for young people that I remember.

 

In the coming months, the coalition government will contract out the provision of the Flag Ship Conservative programme National Citizen Service which will change the face of Youth Work once more.

 

I am planning on writing a piece on the subject of What is Youth Work and I would love to read your opinions.

 

Gareth

06:05 GMT  |  Read comments(0)

Accredited Training

Synergy Development Training is pleased to announce that we are working with Youth Sector Training to be able to deliver Accredited Youth Work Training.  As part of this partnership we will be able to offer First Steps, Level 2 and Level 3 VRQ in Youth Work.  If you or anyone you work with would be interested in these programmes, please contact me on info@synergydevelopmenttraining.co.uk

 

We are also exploring the possibility of delivering a Train the Trainer programme, again at Level 3.

 

More details will follow when available

05:46 GMT  |  Read comments(0)

13 May

Conservative Youth Offer

Now that the coalition Government has been established, it is probably a good idea to start to look at what might be in store for young people and the wider youth agenda.  I have uploaded a few documents such as the Conservatives “contract for young people” and the plans for the National Citizenship Service programme and the evaluation of the pilot.

 

There are some really interesting aspects to the programme from my point of view in that it talks about bringing young people together from across the social spectrum to develop themselves, evaluate the needs of their communities and develop and implement solutions.  The programme uses intensive residential programmes leading to self motivated community interventions.  There are no accredited outcomes for the programme although young people can use their experiences for existing accreditation schemes.

 

One thing that is clear to me is that the Conservatives are talking very clearly about Communities and Organisations delivering the programmes with the support of the state.  The policy document sets out the background and future thinking along with the process they will follow in order to roll the programme out nationally over the next three years.

 

Once you’ve read the documents I would be really interested to know what you think by using the comment link at the bottom of this section.

 

Finally, don’t forget that I am delivering our first open session for Child Protection Officers on 14th June with significant reductions for Third Sector organisations, click here for more information.

04:04 GMT  |  Read comments(0)

26 February

Vetting & Barring

Will the new Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) stop people from volunteering?  I think the really simple answer is that it SHOULDN’T.

 

The scheme itself should be no more burdensome on volunteers than the current CRB process.  The forms that people know use now will be adapted to include ISA registration which will need no more information.  The sections that have not been used (Bank Details and References) will be removed and if you ONLY volunteer it will cost nothing.

 

From an Employment (Engagement) point of view it should make life easier.  At present if you want to use someone to do face to face work you have to wait for the return of the CRB and then make an individual decision on each case and the only information you can base a risk assessment on, is the information given to you by the individual in question.  When the scheme goes live employers (including those organisations that only use volunteers) will be able to check someone’s status instantly where they are already registered.  This means that at least part of your risk assessment is backed up by another professional opinion instantly.  If someone is registered then that means there is no known reason why they would be deemed unsuitable.

 

The Bigger Picture

Ian Huntley was employed at a School because there was no known reason why he shouldn’t be employed.  It is fair to say that under this system he would not be allowed to register on the scheme.  In more than 18 years experience of face to face work with young people and youth organisations I have come accross a number of adults that would be deemed unsuitable and would not have been registered on the scheme.

 

It is important to see the VBS as another safeguard to help you create an environment where Children, Young People and the adults who work with them are protected and kept safe.  There are many other resources that are very useful and over the coming weeks we will be developing the resources page to become a one stop shop for all guidance on Safeguarding and Child Protection issues.

10:04 GMT  |  Read comments(0)