http://www.indefenceofyouthwork.org.uk/wordpress/

The new site allows us to create a range of forums, where our supporters can instigate and contribute to threads of debate. In addition we are in the midst of organising better our lists of supporters. In future there will be a general list and, as we gather more information, regional lists plus working groups. This will allow us to send – as appropriate -  newsletters/mailings to keep you in the picture.

In the shifting political climate we need more than ever to continue defending and making the case for a democratic and emancipatory Youth Work. Whether or not we succeed depends enormously on our collective will and energy.  Let’s maintain the momentum we have generated.

OUR IMAGINATION LIGHTS THE FUSE OF THE POSSIBLE

[with apologies to Emily Dickinson]

You will find below, for what it is worth, a possible letter to local candidates with copies to the press inviting them to a public meeting to debate the future of youth work. The LEIGH bit is just about where I was born – substitute as appropriate!

Obviously you might want to revise, tear it up or whatever, but I think such an approach has some value, especially if it could be sent with the backing of the local union branches and voluntary organisations.

Better to act than just grumble [ apologies to William Morris]

THE IN DEFENCE OF YOUTH WORK CAMPAIGN

THE LEIGH PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY

An Open Invitation to all Parliamentary Candidates in the forthcoming General Election

These are troubled times. Commentators from across the political spectrum talk endlessly about the economic and political crisis. Against this backcloth everyone worries about the present generation of young people. On the one hand they are seen positively as being ‘Our Future’. On the other they are demonised as an anti-social threat to the very fabric of our society.

How are we to engage with this contradiction?

As youth workers, volunteers, part-time and full-time, we are in the midst of the dilemma. Perhaps it goes without saying, but we believe in and trust young people. And, we would argue, young people respond positively to this respect.

But we are in a quandary.

Our voluntary and negotiated relationship with young people – they could always tell us to get lost- has been eroded by successive governments. The strength of the youth work tradition going back to the nineteenth century is that it focused on the whole young person, on their potential as active participants in a thriving democracy. Unfortunately in recent times youth workers have found their role diminished. We have been pushed into preparing young people to be employable. This is not our job. We have been pressed into being ‘soft police’ imposing ourselves on young people’s lives. Frankly this doesn’t work. Young people see through us.

As our possible  future member of Parliament we would like to debate with you these contradictions.

As youth workers we desire to be involved in educating young people to become creative citizens, able to govern and be governed. We think we have a distinctive role to play in this vital process.

We would appreciate your involvement in a public meeting, bringing together ourselves, young people and the community to think through these issues together. And we do so, knowing full well that money is very tight.

Hoping to hear from you soon

CC to local press etc…

Please share, circulate your criticisms, revisions, alternatives etc…..

TT

What makes me despair, though, is the number of (mostly older-generation) youth workers signing up to Tony Taylor’s ‘In Defence of Youth Work’ campaign, which is completely unconstructive. Taylor wants to defend traditional youth work, but does so by foot-stamping and complaint rather than by offering solutions. Youth work – as with any public service – has a duty to demonstrate to the taxpayer the worth of money spent on it. The IDOYW campaign seems to show that many youth workers do not understand this point. Youth work needs to figure out how it can demonstrate its value if it is to survive.

One of our supporters responds:

Your criticism of the “In Defence….” campaign highlights one of the difficulties faced by youth workers (many of whom, across the generations, support the campaign) trying to operate in the current climate. Nobody is denying that youth work should be accountable to the taxpayer / funding body / society in general, but what form that accountability takes is, and must be, open to debate. The campaign aims to defend youth work as an open ended, exploratory and democratic practice where the terms of the engagement and any “outcomes” are negotiated, on equal terms, with the participants. The difficulty arises when workers are tasked with working to prescribed (written previously) agendas such as increasing young people’s participation in employment and training, or reducing crime and ASB. While these may well be outcomes of the youth work process, the prescription of and measuring against these targets necessarily compromises the “democratic and emancipatory” nature of the work.

Forget the personal references -  it has kicked off a debate, to which you might want to contribute. Hopefully the discussion is reaching a wider audience than normal.

Dear All,

We are sending this note to all those who attended the successful IN DEFENCE OF YOUTH WORK conference held on Thursday February 11^th, plus those who registered but were unable to attend, plus those who came to an IN DEFENCE seminar held in Lancaster on Wednesday February 10^th. Over the two days close to 200 people were involved in our activities.

There was an overwhelming desire to maintain and indeed increase the momentum of the Campaign. In order to do so the following Action Points were identified in the workshops and the afternoon plenary session.

1. It is important that each of us spreads the word about the Campaign. In the next week we will post on the website a summary of the main decisions of the conference, which could be circulated together with the WHAT WE STAND FOR leaflet.

2. Where possible supporters should seek to organise local meetings to overcome isolation and explore together what’s possible in their particular situation.

3. Out of the local, supporters should lend their weight to regional initiatives. At the conference groups came together on a regional basis and it is hoped that regional steering groups will continue to develop.

4.  More specifically, individuals and groups are asked to focus on the following proposals:

• The real possibility in the pre-General Election period of organising IN DEFENCE meetings in parliamentary constituencies where all the candidates are invited to speak to young people, the community and youth workers on what they see as ‘The Future for Young People’ and ‘ The Future of Youth Work’.
• As the NYA has abandoned Youth Work Week, the remarkable potential of reclaiming the idea for the IN DEFENCE campaign.  At a local, regional and national level a host of possibilities emerge. In my personal opinion what would be powerful would be to envisage events which go beyond the self-congratulatory ’spin’ of the NYA approach. Whatever, this needs your critical attention. Your thoughts much appreciated.
• The need to begin creating our version of what happens within Youth Work by telling our stories of practice, our accounts of the contradictions of our work, which involves also drawing into the process young people themselves. Bernard Davies is coordinating a group focused on this vital and fascinating ‘Oral History’ project.
• Linked, perhaps more immediately to the above, the necessity of gathering information about the surveillance and policing of young people, the revival of Stop & Search, and making sure that this is passed on. LIBERTY and the Federation for Detached Youth Work are already pursuing this.

5. Whilst there was a charged exchange at the conference about the relationship between the notion of a new professional Association and the Trade Unions, the majority underlined the importance of still joining the union. Doug Nicholls, the General Secretary of CYWU (UNITE) spoke persuasively about the vital role of the trade union in protecting jobs, services and practice. Whilst Tim Price from UNISON underlined our collective obligation to defend all jobs and services in the public sector. The Campaign will seek to publicise and support all workers’ struggles against cuts in provision, wages and conditions.

6.  Nineteen people volunteered to be members of the National Steering Group, which will seek to coordinate our activities in the coming period. More information to follow.

7. It was agreed that we should look to a recall conference in the late Autumn/early Winter to weigh up how things are going and to draw strength from one another.

In the hurly-burly I failed to raise the issue of the name of the Campaign. Various people felt that the name needed to be changed. We will circulate a separate note re this dilemma.

I’ve probably overlooked significant issues, but for now I’ll get this out to everyone, knowing you will sort out my errors.

As ever your responses very much welcomed.

Warts and all it was an uplifting conference. Let’s keep upsetting the status quo!

Thanks for your support.

Tony

Reports from the regional meetings will be put on a separate page,  REGIONAL REPORTS – click on the link in the right hand column. Try to have a look as they give a real feel for how things are growing.

LATEST NEWS FROM THE IN DEFENCE OF YOUTH WORK CAMPAIGN

Update: the videos are now available: see the new page ‘Conference Report’ on the right-hand side.  Thanks to Justin for their excellent quality.

IN DEFENCE OF YOUTH WORK

Second Post-Conference Mailing

1. You will find attached the WHAT WE STAND FOR statement agreed at the national conference. It has been retyped to make sure it fits onto a double side of A4 paper. However we welcome supporters playing around with the format to make it more stimulating and attractive, especially as we encourage you to circulate it widely. This said, it is important to note that various criticisms of the statement were made at the conference. On a specific level Graeme Tiffany questioned the implications of the sentence refering critically to our incorporation into the State’s agenda. More generally reservations were expressed about the language used. Given that the Statement was itself a compromise, drawing on the Open Letter, the North-East ‘Developing and Defending’ document, together with amendments from Doug Nicholls and Bernard Davies, the conference was happy to see it as a provisional, working statement, which will be open to change at our next conference. Using the statement will sharpen up its strengths and weaknesses.

   What We Stand For

2. One of the important decisions made at the conference was the setting up of a working group to move forward the collection of our stories of practice. Bernard Davies agreed to coordinate this vital and fascinating project. However we’ve misplaced a list of people eager to join Bernard in the endeavour. So please get in touch with him urgently at mailto:davies@vip.solis.co.uk whether or not you were on the original list.
3. Over the last couple of weeks a number of people have asked whether they could still sign up to the Open Letter. To say the least this is very much the case. So if you would still like your name to appear on the list of signatories, please get in touch.
4. At the conference we touched on the issue of whether we ought to embrace the defence of Community Work. This was not sufficiently debated, but in our Statement we do underline our close working relationship with the National Coalition for Independent Action. So find below notice of a forthcoming meeting.

5. The National Steering Group are to meet on Wednesday, March 24 from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. in Transport House, 211 Broad Street, Birmingham, B15 1AY. It is a 10 min walk from New Street or Snow Hill train stations. Directions are attached to this mailing. Tea and coffee will be available all day. All supporters are welcome to attend the Steering Group’s open meetings. You will have to bring your own lunch or venture out into Broad Street to grab some food? If you have any proposals for the agenda , please send them to Tony or to Dan Hall at dan.ant.hall@googlemail.com

Directions to Transport House

6. We are in the midst of exploring improvements to the web site, which will include a separate forum to encourage discussion. All being well the one site will include all the bits and pieces we need to improve communication, debate and activity. So keep visiting http://indefenceofyouthwork.wordpress.com

Finally a plea to everybody to keep sending in your news and views so that we have the fullest picture of what’s going on.

Hoping you’re in good fettle

Tony Taylor at tonymtaylor@gmail.com or indefence of youthwork@gmail.com

Lenny muses:

I think the new management culture (bureaucracy) has been developing and strengthening its own systems and structures to the point where it has taken control of society.  I felt this shortly after Thatcher kicked our arses in the miners strike.  Where bureaucracy used to support, it is now in command.  Where bureaucracy once supported capitalism, capitalism now supports bureaucracy.  I must admit I’m not the greatest fan of Marx and so I don’t believe capitalism will necessarily consume itself.  I think Marx underestimated the strength of technology and that technology has protected the structures and that… what the fuck am I raving on about?!!!    How do you deal with an aggressive management culture?  We can’t fight it toe-to-toe because it is far too big and we are far too small (at the moment).  My own strategy has been a self-destructive one.  I have told the system that I disagree with it and now I’m a marked man.  It doesn’t matter how much honesty and integrity I have, I’m still seen as an agitator, a trouble-causer and an irritant.  I was called a “loose cannon” a couple of months ago that really hurt.  I always see a loose cannon as being someone who is reckless and destructive whereas my focus has always been on “fixing” things which don’t work properly.  If I’m not allowed to fix something, which is pretty much the case here, then I expose it.  I’m also a very cautious worker and … I digress… again.  How do you deal with an aggressive management culture?  If you want to keep your job I suggest you create an anonymous channel for critical debate.  I suggest that you, me all of us make this debate as public as possible so that others who are disillusioned may seek some comfort and support and encouragement in knowing they are not alone.  If we can encourage everyone to talk by offering anonymity then we will have a situation where our voice is louder and we will also be able to look at our numbers.  At the moment we haven’t got a clue how many people out there are disheartened by this situation.  Maybe there is only a handful of us but maybe there are thousands of us.  I think this information is important so that we can build strategies around it.  It’s a bit of a vicious cycle isn’t it?  People won’t speak out because they feel exposed and vulnerable but people feel exposed and vulnerable because no one else is speaking out.

Trevor adds:

Thank you for the lead in organising the IDoYW; which incidently looks like txt speak for I do Youth Work. which can’t be bad!

And Andrew argues;

During my attendence of the most recent conference In Defence of Youth Work and the days following I have been in conflict regarding the tone and premise of the campaign. I do not disagree with the arguments raised. However in all honesty I found many aspects reactionary. I feel in some situations we missed the point. Yet the point was elusive to me, until now. The whole campaign in my view should be ‘In Support of Youth Work.’ To defend is to define. To defend is to identify a moment in which we associate and identify as needing defending.

We do this with support of central government, voluntary aided organisations, charities, faith groups and community groups. Our agenda is Young People and the community in which they live. It is our intent to promote and support this agenda as our own and In Support Of Youth Work for today tomorrow and the future.

Unison bids to stave off youth cuts and Tory outsource plans

The body is also calling on other unions to join its fight against the outsourcing of youth services to voluntary sector organisations.

In response, Dillon Hughes, secretary for the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services , exposes his organisation’s  utter lack of backbone by claiming that  times of financial constraint are often when local authorities are at their most innovative and open to partnerships – to be translated generously as ‘we’ll do whatever is asked of us’.

Whilst Doug Nicholls, Unite national secretary for community and youth workers couldn’t resist a hint of sarcasm, he praised UNISON’s plans. “We’re delighted Unison has adopted a policy we first adopted in 1939,” he said. “We look forward to working with them to make it a reality.”

And the Campaign looks forward to working alongside both of them.

Let’s create our own ways of managing

via Democracy not Tyranny at Work : Independent Action.

Lenny’s piece begins:

So… I attended the Federation for Detached Youth Work Conference at Wigan in November last year and I must declare that I became increasingly charged throughout the weekend with a delightful positivity and felt an unusual level of intense inspiration from the radiant enthusiasm and passion of the guest speakers and other attendees. And then Tom Wylie spoke. He charged youth work purists with being hopeless romantics and scoffed at the thought that there was any value in the convivial relationship between youth worker and young person. My positivity plummeted and my hope wilted with every word that fell from his lips. There seemed to be a cruel irony in that a conference with the theme “Positive About The Street” should end with such a negative tone.

I get the feeling that I’ve been climbing a mountain for fifteen years only to find that the architects of social policy have built another mountain on top, twice as big and twice as steep. Metaphorically the mountain represents the daily grind of wading, chest-high through the formalised social control that is currently trading under the title of youth work^©. I’ve got my own vision of the summit and the clarity is startling. But that’s just a vision. The reality is a jumbled mess of strategic clichés.

Read the whole and Lenny’s suggestions for the future: The Great YW Heist

Meanwhile Steve in two pieces, Thatcher,_Blair_and_all_that_jazz and YOUTH_WORK – to be or not to be blurts out, to use his own phrase, his thoughts on the individualising imperative of the last 30 years and the state of Youth Work today.

Meanwhile, youth workers, and many others, dare to do youth work because they are working with young people. Recent figures say approx. 2800 of approx. 8500 full-time youth workers are JNC qualified. I was trained to work with young people informally to encourage their participation in the practices necessary for everyday living as part of a community.

I wasn`t trained to label young people so as to prescribe a set course of action to remove their mistakes and make them a model citizen. Whilst this has alluring tentacles its premise is faulty except for some young people(human beings) who may respond to this approach.

Both Lenny and Steve would love to get responses, to have you join in the debate. All of us need one another’s help in  escaping the trap of passivity, in refusing to keep our gobs shut.

Around 1,300 early years and youth services jobs in Birmingham are under threat as part of a council wide reorganisation.

Read more at  Birmingham Threatened.