Participation Works

Ofsted have launched a report Engaging Young People Local authority youth work 2005–08 which reports on the quality and impact of youth work.

The report was based on the local authority youth work inspections which took place between 2005 and 2008, part of Ofsted’s joint are review of youth services. The inspections looked at 100 local authorities across the country.

The report showed that effective youth work could make a large contribution to the practical development of young people in a number of ways including maintaining relationships, becoming active citizens, and building capacity to assess and take risk safely. Some youth workers were operating in an increasingly diverse range of settings, and were able to create a distinct role in their work across support agencies.

Amongst the findings the report found that the most effective youth workers responded well to the needs and interests of young people and developed inter-agency work well. Provision for youth services is now higher than in previous years in local authorities and initial work to integrate staff from different youth services is described as "promising".

However, managers in the weaker services need to more effectively use youth workers and support staff and quality assurance needs to be more consistent across youth services.

There were a number of recommendations in the report that include making sure that youth work managers ensure the demands and use made of youth work resources are realistic and encourage the deployment of experienced youth workers in wider settings.

Youth work managers were also advised to build on best practice in quality assurance and ensure the participation of young people and youth workers in quality assurance processes.

Wed, 01/04/2009 - 11:18