Our public statement to the new government

PALYCW (Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work) is a network for academic and practitioner support and education providing high standard training, mentoring and support for youth and community work practitioners from all four nations of the UK. By sharing good practice and an awareness of issues which effect young people we collectively and individually undertake extensive social research and publish academic articles and texts. We work directly with students on a variety of youth related programmes from apprenticeships to undergraduate degree programmes, to MA and PhD level.

As ardent advocates of youth and community work, we acknowledge the much-needed work of youth workers in hospitals, youth clubs, schools, care homes, intervention programmes, charities, local authorities and all other areas. We welcome the new Government’s commitment to democracy for young people, the development of social conscience and awareness and to addressing anti-social behaviour, reducing crime, improving mental health and opportunities for young people in the UK. We look forward to seeing these areas developed and would welcome the chance to be part of the discussion and dissemination of policies and practice as they emerge.

NYA CEO Question Time

Please click on the link to view Question Time with Leigh Middleton, CEO of NYA.

Writing Retreat

Get your writing on track for the new year. Join St Mary's University in Twickenham for a writing retreat, either in person or online, on 17th January 10am-4pm. 

St Mary's University  
Waldegrave Road  
Strawberry Hill  
Twickenham  
TW1 4SX 

Transport: Strawberry Hill (5 mins walk) 

Twickenham station (15 mins walk) 

Buses: 33 from Richmond 

Metered parking is available on site 

Meeting at reception 

Zoom link: https://stmarys.zoom.us/j/89696979863 

Meeting ID: 896 9697 9863 

If you are interested, please RSVP by texting/WhatsApp 07801478525 

Please bring yourself and a writing resolution for the new year. 

Annual Conference 2024 - Reclaiming the Political Agenda: A Call for Action?

Reclaiming the Political Agenda: A Call for Action?  

26th-28th June, Wrexham University (with some online aspects)  

Introduction  

Youth and Community Work is multi-faceted, its meaning and purpose often debated, and perhaps, unclear to those outside of the field.  Various models of Youth and Community Work exist ranging from a focus on the provision of leisure and diversionary activities which frame young people as a problem, to other more ‘radical’ models that seek the participation and empowerment of young people to challenge social inequality and work towards social justice.  The history of Youth and Community Work is steeped in 200 years of British social, political, and economic contexts, the impact of austerity over the last 13 years has cemented the neoliberal agendas at play since 1979. More recently Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have shown that the political voice of young people is not listened to, and the extent to which the diverse range of young people’s voices are represented in Youth Participation is questionable. As Youth and Community Work educators how do we ensure that practice education is rooted in empowerment and participation against a backdrop of neoliberalism and austerity? How do we reclaim the political agenda in Youth and Community Work education to ensure that young people are heard in society?   

This year, the TAGPALYCW conference aims to place politics firmly on the agenda as we debate and discuss the role of politics in Youth and Community Work education.  Are we agents of social control or are we agents of social change? How do we ensure that Youth and Community Work focuses on the political aspect of practice to bring about social justice. As anti-oppressive practitioners, we are committed to addressing oppressive structures in society but to what extent does this happen in educational settings and practice; and what is the role in Youth and Community Work education in making it so?   We are inviting contributions from members, students and practitioners to share and debate whether we need to ‘Reclaim the political agenda in Youth and Community Work’, with a focus on action and next steps.  

Bera Youth Studies and Informal Education Special Interest Group

For our members who attended the ‘hot topic’ session back at the conference in 2019, we are now excited to share the special issue published in Educational Review: Youth Activism, Climate Change and Education. Edited by Ian McGimpsey, David Rousell and Frances Howard, this special issue contains 7 excellent articles, which offer transnational perspectives on the problematic of climate change education.

We are thinking of having some other events in the coming year, possibly in conjunction with TAGPALYCW members and wanted to gauge your interest. 

Challenging heteronormativity in and through youth work

While LGBTQ+ youth work has a long history, the quality of these services, their impact, and the views of workers remains under researched (Formby, 2013). Research and practice has also primarily focused on work with LGBTQ+ youth, rather than on interrupting heteronormativity more generally (Seal, 2019). Formby (2013) found that while challenging blatant discrimination, many workers also display heteronormative assumptions in other areas such as adoption and the family. There are no doubt excellent examples of youth work practice and research in this area that we can draw on and share. 

Neurodiversity and Youth Work

Does youth work, which often emphasises spontaneity, association and working in the moment, work for all neurodiverse young people. As Friel et al (2019) said in their conference proceedings for Community Youth Work Practice and Autism Spectrum Conditions - ‘Our practice must go beyond traditional approaches to strive for opportunities that aim towards optimal well-being. We must challenge the deficit approach, the myth of ‘the normal’ - the average- in our understanding of inclusion and participation. The youth service in its broadest sense should look more holistically in terms of actively reaching out to and engaging the diversity of young people in their communities’. 

Both of these events aim to draw in practitioners and academics, looking at any sharing ideas and research. Could you email us with ideas of people and projects we could contact and how we could frame these events. We will put out a call for them in due course. We are also keen to develop publications from them.

Any ideas, or interest, please email Mike Seal: national.officer@tagpalycw.org 

Writing Retreat

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a four-day writing retreat, spaced over four months and hosted at different locations (the University of Wolverhampton, University of Derby and Nottingham Trent University). This retreat is designed to provide a supportive and focused environment for Association members to work on your writing projects, at whichever level you are at. During the retreat, participants will have the opportunity to attend informal workshops on topics such as ‘starting to plan research’, ‘writing ethics proposals’ or ‘effective peer review’.  There will also be plenty of time for independent writing and socialising.

The retreat will start at the University of Wolverhampton on the 27th and 28th of March. It will then be followed by a session at the University of Derby (date TBC) and a session at Nottingham Trent University (date TBC).

This writing retreat will be hybrid so people can join in person and online. Tea and coffee will be provided, but not food or accommodation, which will need to be covered by attendees.

We hope you will consider joining us for this unique opportunity to focus on your writing and make progress on your projects. If you are interested in participating, please email paula.smallcombe@tagpalycw.org to register by 15th March .

Formally Informal: Pedagogy, Community and Practice

 
7-9th June, University of Derby (with some Online aspects)

Members (In-person) 

 3 days          £350 (EB £280) 

1st day          £125 (EB £100) 

2nd day         £200 (EB £180) 

3rd day         £125 (EB £100) 

Non-Members 

3 days                   £500  

1st day                   £175 

2nd day                  £300 

3rd day                  £175 

Members (Online)  

3 days           £150 (EB £120) 

1st day           Not Available 

2nd day          £100 (EB £80) 

3rd day          £70 (EB £56) 

N.B.

• Online attendance is not available for non-members 

• The price does not include accommodation, lists will be made available. We are trying to secure a hotel with a discount.  

• There is an early bird discount of 20% (in brackets) if booked before the 31st of March.