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.