THE National Youth Agency

The National Youth Agency is the national body for youth work in England with responsibility for professional validation of youth and community work awards and the professional (JNC) recognition of youth workers. The NYA facilitate the development of skilled youth workers to build relationships that support young people to explore their personal, social and educational development; and to develop their voice, influence and place within society. The NYA is an independent body funded through grant funding and charitable donations. Find out more at: https://nya.org.uk/

Community Learning & Development standards council Scotland

The CLD Standards Council Scotland is the professional body for people who work or volunteer in community learning and development (including youth work) in Scotland. CLD are a member led organisation with over 2000 members.  The CLD approach and work plans deliver its core responsibilities as defined by member committees and based on feedback from the wider membership. CLD are funded  by the Scottish Government, with a ministerially appointed Chair and deliver professional approvals structures for qualifications and courses in Scotland. Find out more at: http://cldstandardscouncil.org.uk/

Education and Training Standards WALES

ETS Wales professionally endorses programmes of training for Youth Workers to ensure they are of a suitably high quality, relevant to the needs of employers, youth workers themselves and the young people they work with. It undertakes this work on behalf of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth & Community Workers (JNC). The Welsh ETS is represented on the Association’s Secretariat and by Welsh members. Find our more at: https://www.etswales.org.uk/

The National Youth Council of Ireland provide administrative and development support to ‘The North South Education and Training Standards Committee for Youth Work’ (NSETS). NSETS is responsible for the professional endorsement of youth work programmes on the island of Ireland. It was established on a cross-border basis in 2006 by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland and the Youth Affairs Unit of the Department of Education and Science (now the Department of Children and Youth Affairs).

Full details for NSETS are available from the National Youth Council of Ireland website via this link.

The Endorsement and Quality Standards Board for Community Development Learning (ESB) was established in 1997 to provide a professional system of endorsement of quality for all types of training and learning in community development work. The role of the ESB is to ensure the standards in training and learning for community development work and workers through the professional recognition of learning. ESB contributes to a professional community development workforce accessing high quality learning through the endorsement of different learning opportunities. Find our more at: https://www.esbendorsement.org.uk/

British Educational research Association

The Association works closely with the BERA Special Interest Group (SIG) for Youth Work and Informal Education. The special interest of the SIG is in research and scholarship relating to theory, policy and practice issues in Youth Studies, Youth and Community Work. BERA strives to be inclusive of the diversity of educational research and scholarship and from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, theoretical orientations, methodological approaches, sectoral interests and institutional affiliations. It also encourages the development of productive relationships with other associations within and beyond the UK. . Find out more at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/group/youth-studies-and-informal-education

Youth and Policy

Youth & Policy offers a critical space for the discussion of youth policy and youth work theory and practice. Its aims are to: highlight and critically debate contemporary issues relevant to young people in society, with particular reference to youth and community work and related professional interventions; provoke dialogue between policy-makers, academics and practitioners; and encourage high-quality contributions to debates around young people’s issues. It publishes regular online articles and host events that contribute to the currency of sector debate: Find out more at: https://www.youthandpolicy.org/

The Institute for Youth Work (IYW) is a membership organisation for Youth Workers and those that espouse youth work methodologies and ethics in their work with young people. The Institute for Youth Work speaks up for youth work and advocates for the profession and professional identity in a context of continued change and challenge, seeking to represent youth worker concerns at a strategic level. It also hosts a code of ethics for youth workers (that all members are required to subscribe to) and provides information on qualifications, events and sector jobs.

The Centre for Youth Impact

The Centre for Youth Impact is a community of organisations that work together to progress thinking and practice around impact measurement in youth work and services for young people. The Centre’s small core team builds and supports this community, creates space for organisations to come together to understand and increase their impact, and undertakes focused projects that allow us to help develop, test and learn from particular approaches to impact measurement. It aims to work in collaboration with others to test, learn and build momentum behind the impact agenda, across organisations working with young people. Find out more at: http://www.youthimpact.uk/

In Defence of Youth Work

The impetus for In Defence of Youth Work came from the circulation of an Open Letter defending the role of youth work . At heart, the Campaign seeks to defend and extend youth work as a distinctive educational practice founded on a voluntary relationship with young people and shaped by their agendas. IDYW argue against approaches to youth work that involve the imposition of predetermined targets and outcomes. Since 2009 its has been a reference point of support for all those sympathetic to its definition of the cornerstones of democratic youth work practice. Find out more at: https://indefenceofyouthwork.com/