YouthHacks.net

Equality of Opportunity

Equality of opportunity is often confused with political correctness, which sorts to do away with differences, this was often counter productive to reconciliation and building healthy communities, in that individuals and communities often felt that the traditions and characteristics that made them unique were being attacked.

In contrast ‘equality of opportunity’ is not about denying differences but recognising and valuing diversity, it also seeks to ensure that discrimination is challenged and that all are given the same opportunities.In practising equality of opportunity, one could look at disability access within ones youth meetings; this could go beyond wheelchair access to looking at how a deaf young person would be given the same opportunities as a non-deaf person to engage with the youth programme. Another example would be how a non-English speaking person would feel about accessing our youth programme.

Equality of opportunity also challenges social and economic discrimination, how do we provide equal opportunities to young people from wealthy as well as poor backgrounds in the choices of activities that the group engage with, for example going paintballing or on a residential.

In exploring equality of opportunity still deeper would be to ask the question of our youth ministries: how we would treat a young person who was homosexual, would they have the same opportunities for positions of responsibilities and leadership as heterosexual young people?

The outcome of equality of opportunity, As Powell puts it :

‘…is to positively affirm the individuals capacity to bridge the gap between what they are and what they have in themselves to become.’ 10

If there is a desire within ones youth work to bring about the restoration within communities and the lives of individuals then the value of equality of opportunity must be paramount within all our work no matter who what the young persons beliefs, sex, race or sexual orientation.

Technorati Tags: Empowerment, Equality of Opportunity, Informal Education, Theology, Theory, values, Voluntary Participation, youth ministry, youth work

Voluntary Participation

According to ‘Youth & Policy Youth Work’ the principle of young people’s voluntary participation is perhaps the defining feature of youth work, it goes on to state:

‘The voluntary principle ensures that, in their dealings with the institutions which provide youth work and with the practitioners who deliver it face-to-face, young people possess and retain a degree of power which is intrinsic to the practice. Both adult and young person know that at any point the young person can just walk away, thereby leaving the adult powerless to have any influence on them.’1

In light of this, youth work is about young people and youth workers entering into a voluntary relationship, young people are then active partners in learning.

Young highlights one of the central issues for Christian based youth work in regards to voluntary participation, is not just the willingness to attend, but also for the young person to have sufficient information about the activity they are participating in so to be able to make an informed choice. For example, the young person must have the information available to them regarding an event that may make a proclamation of the Christian faith for the young person’s attendance to be truly voluntary.2

When operating from a voluntary participation bases it is imperative that one is sincere in the intention and process as well as expectations. To often in ministry there has been a felt need to almost trick young people into an evangelistic meetings, but to deceive a young person in this way only breaks down trust and ultimately destroys that relationship.

Brierley highlights another significant problem often found within church based youth work; the provider-client trap. Youth workers faced with the pressure of the employer (church), parents, community and young people adopt the role of provider and feel burdened by the pressure to attract and keep clients (young people) to an ever more elaborate programme. But in contrast to this, voluntary participation liberates both parties by enabling young people to gain satisfaction and developmental opportunities when they are given opportunities to contribute to the development and implementation of the programme. Voluntary participation ensures that the young people’s needs and aspirations are reflected in the programme.3

Praxis

• Where in our word do we manipulate young people?
• Do we always give the full facts about meetings before young people come so they can make an informed choice?

1 DAVIES, D., 2005 Youth & Policy Youth Work: A Manifesto For Our Times Leicester: The National Youth Agency
2 BRIERLEY, D., 2003 Joined up UK: SH.
3 BRIERLEY, D., 2003 Joined up UK: SH.

Technorati Tags: Empowerment, Equality of Opportunity, Informal Education, Theology, Theory, values, Voluntary Participation, youth ministry, youth work

Empowerment

Empowerment, as Youth & Policy Youth Work puts it:

‘is the practice proactively seeking to tip balances of power in young people’s favour’4.

Leading on from voluntary participation, the youth worker is forced to confront questions of power, who has it, how much, used in what ways; this is as a central feature of relations with young people5.

The document goes on to highlight that the power which young people can and do actually exercise within the youth work relationship is relative to the degree of formal power (i.e. over money, buildings and equipment) which the youth worker retains within that relationship. More significantly, it is relative to young people’s very limited formal power, sometimes coming close to powerlessness, in other areas of their lives – at home, within education, within employment, even in their leisure6.

Brierley quoting Jeffs and Smith challenges the view that a person can empower another. They suggest that this creates a dependency culture where one person or group that are thought to be more powerful then another, hands over power. Just enough power is given away so that the ‘empowered’ are indebted to the ‘empowering’. But, not so much power that the balance of power actually changes. Brierley goes on to state that this is not true empowerment and that what needs to happen is that we create an environment where we can actually enable young people to empower themselves7.

Often a young person may not be aware of the uneven balance of power within their lives, by the youth worker using informal education with young people about power and equality the empowerment process is started. Moreover, by offering power to a young person who has been disempowered in their life, the youth worker could be the first adult to ever offer that young person the opportunity to empower themselves.

4 DAVIES, D., 2005 Youth & Policy Youth Work: A Manifesto For Our Times Leicester: The National Youth Agency
5 DAVIES, D., 2005 Youth & Policy Youth Work: A Manifesto For Our Times Leicester: The National Youth Agency
6 DAVIES, D., 2005 Youth & Policy Youth Work: A Manifesto For Our Times Leicester: The National Youth Agency

Technorati Tags: Empowerment, Equality of Opportunity, Informal Education, Theology, Theory, values, Voluntary Participation, youth ministry, youth work

Informal Education

Ingram and Harris referring how society deals with the perceived threat of young people , they state that only education encourages young people to grow, develop and take control of their own lives. The authors go on to state that only youth workers are educationalists who focus on young people and advocate on their behalf. Moreover, youth work, according to the authors, is the only agency that is set up to offer education in the broadest sense in a way that:

• focuses on individuals
• works with the young person based on a voluntary basis
• seeks to work with the whole person
• starts where the young person is
• aims to work non-judgmentally
• treats young people as inexperienced adults
• seeks only to give positive constructive criticism
• works through relationships built on trust and honesty8.

This highlights, firstly the importance of youth work but also the importance of informal education. It is through relationships built on trust and honesty that a person is open to receive positive constructive criticism, and through receiving that criticism, can make the changes in their lives that are necessary to work towards becoming whole. Therefore, informal education is about enabling young people to change and develop, as Brierley puts it, education is about change and yw/m that does not result in change is deemed ineffective.9

8 INGRAM, G & HARRIS, J., Delivering Good Youth Work Dorset: RHP.
9 BRIERLEY, D., 2003 Joined up UK: SH.

Technorati Tags: Empowerment, Equality of Opportunity, Informal Education, Theology, Theory, values, Voluntary Participation, youth ministry, youth work

Have you ever thought about what really is youth work/ministry?

I think you would get loads of different answers as well as many blank faces. One of the things that really gets to me is how YW/M can be so misunderstood and therefore underrated. This is why I’m going to start off this blog with a series looking at what YW/M is. First Im going to look at how the British Youth Service answer the question and how yw/m in the Church can take their answers and use them.

I should start off by saying that I have use Danny Brierley’s book Joined Up: An Introduction to Youth Work and Ministry (Youthwork: the Resources) [ ISBN: 1850784833 ] a lot in putting this series together, its a great book that you really should read.

A little History

From its inception, statements of purpose for the youth service emphasised not only the recreational but also the educational aspects of youth work. For example, in 1951 Sir John Redcliffe Maud, the then permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education, stated that the aim of the youth service was:

‘To offer individual young people in their leisure time, opportunities of various kinds, complementary to those at home, formal education and work, to discover and develop their personal resources of body, mind and spirit and thus better equip themselves to live the life of mature, creative and responsible members of a free society.’1

The Thompson Report, Experience and Participation, expressed the view that:

‘The fundamental purpose of the Youth Service is to provide programmes of personal development comprising in shorthand terms, social and political education … The twin aims of this purpose are thus affirmation and involvement – affirming an individual in his or her proper identity and involving an individual in relationships with other individuals and institutions.’2

A number of definitions of youth work arose out of this and subsequent initiatives, including Ministerial conferences. The four core values of youth work were first defined at the 1991 Second Ministerial Conference for the Youth Service. They were termed:

• Voluntary Participation
• Informal education
• Empowerment
• Equality of opportunity.3

The youth work curriculum, Ofsted 1993, identified the four elements of the curriculum as

• Educative
• Enabling,
• Participative
• Equal Opportunities.4

The purpose of youth work is defined in the National Occupational Standards for youth work in the UK as being:

‘The Key purpose of youth work is to work with young people to facilitate their personal, social and educational development, and enable them to gain a voice, influence and place in society in a period of their transition from dependence to independence.’5

Applying the Theory

• Do you initially agree with definitions above?
• Would you have a theological problem in accepting these within your own practise?
• Are any of these values neglected in your practise?
• What are your core values that effect your work?

1 THE NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY, 2006. Young people, Youth Work and Youth Services: An introductory guide. Leicester: The National Youth Agency.
2 THE NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY, 2006. Young people, Youth Work and Youth Services: An introductory guide. Leicester: The National Youth Agency.
3 BRIERLEY, D., 2003 Joined up UK: SH.
4 THE NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY, 2006. Young people, Youth Work and Youth Services: An introductory guide. Leicester: The National Youth Agency.
5 BRIERLEY, D., 2003 Joined up UK: SH.

Technorati Tags: Empowerment, Equality of Opportunity, Informal Education, Theology, Theory, values, Voluntary Participation, youth ministry, youth work

I like this photo essay by Steve Collins called urban church.

Technorati Tags: Church, Ecclesiology, Emerging Church

I was reading this article in the Guardian Newspaper today. The Archbishop of York , John Sentamu, I have always admired since hearing about his peace vigil back in August 2006, I wanted to go and join him in his vigil but never did

Anyway, his collar cutting was as protect against the Zimbabwe president Mugabe. The Archbishop said that Mugabe “destroyed the identities” of his people through oppression and economic mismanagement. “As an Anglican this is what I wear to identify myself, that I’m a clergyman.” “Do you know what Mugabe has done? He’s taken people’s identity and literally, if you don’t mind, cut it to pieces. This is what he’s actually done to a lot of (people) - and in the end there’s nothing. So, as far as I’m concerned, from now on I’m not going to wear a dog collar until Mugabe is gone.”

Sentamu urged those who were moved by his gesture to “pray, march, protest and collect money” for Zimbabwe and Darfur - where charities say hundreds of thousands of people are facing starvation.

What a guy, just think how powerful it would be if Christians took issues such as Zimbabwe as much as Sentamu. I recently heard an interview with Brian McLaren talking about his new book Everything Must Change. He made the point that with Christianity being the largest world faith, if Christians took environmental issues (for example) to heart we really could make a dramatic change and truly this world a better place. Unfortunately, it seems to me, that Christians just seem to get into a fuss about issues are just non-issues outside the church.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Politics, TV

Its interesting that the makers have chosen to use the gimmick of WWJD and a church minister. Why the religious imagery to get across a social message, is it just the Christmas thing or is it that really we, the church, should be asking these questions and we are not? Just a thought.I like the look of this film, will have to ‘buy’ it!

Technorati Tags: Church, Ecclesiology, Film

I’v got into the The Nick & Josh Podcast recently, I really enjoyed their interview with Doug Pagitt (here) and Pete Rollins (here).

Technorati Tags: Pagitt, Podcast, Rollins

Newsround, the BBC’s children’s news programme, celebrates 35 years of broadcasting with a survey on lives of children. They surveyed 1,000 boys and girls aged 6-12 years around Britain face to face in their homes. This gives a snapshot of the young people that youth workers and the church are going to start and are already working with over the next few years.

Survey

Technorati Tags: Ideas, Ministry, News, TV, youth work