| CODE | YTH5006 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Youth Work, Youth Policy and Practice | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Youth, Community and Migration Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Youth workers need an increasingly diverse range of knowledge and skills - they must manage teams and budgets, act as informal educators and build relationships with young people. This unit will offer course participants the opportunity to critically review current youth work practice and youth policy and to develop a deeper understanding of the field at both the theoretical and practical level. It will attempt to demonstrate the relationship between theories, ideologies, codes of practice and effective, ethical practice in the world of youth. It explores a range of youth policy issues including the policy mainstreaming discourse. Study-unit Aims This unit aims to enable students meet the professional development needs of a youth and community worker involved in leading and delivering services for young people within the community. It seeks to enable students to identify new knowledge and understand the different thrusts that often permeate youth work practice and youth policies. This unit also seeks to instill in course participants an understanding of the pivotal role that that may play in informing future policy direction and to develop emerging services and practices. For this purpose, emphasis shall be made on facilitating course participants to build sound appreciation of diverse youth work and youth policy models and how these are informed by the needs and the reality imbued in the surrounding social context. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: (a) demonstrate knowledge on the salient theory, policy and practice issues relating to youth and community work; (b) understand the difference between 'reflective' and 'reflexive' youth work practice; (c) show understanding and appreciation of how divergent socio-cultural contexts have come to bear on different youth work traditions and be able to configure how the specificity of the Maltese socio-cultural milieu impacted the history and evolution of youth work practice in Malta; and, (d) demonstrate thorough understanding of crucial role youth work can play in empowering youth to develop pro-actively and critically and thus realize their potential for personal growth and social change. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: (a) be conversant with the main academic discourse on youth work and youth policy; (b) critically engage with research and current debates on leadership, professionalism and accountability in the provision and management of young people’s services; (c) be a reflective and reflexive practitioner in order to manage and lead or develop services for young people; and, (d) make applications to youth policy evaluation and the evaluation of services for young people. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings Main Texts: - Edington, C.R., Kowalski, C. L. & Randall, S. W. (2005). Youth work: Emerging Perspectives in Youth Development. Champaign: Sagamore Publishing. [available]. - Krueger. M. (ed.) (2004). Themes and Stories in Youthwork Practice. NY: Haworth.[available]. - Young, K.(2006). The Art of Youth Work. Lyme Regis: Russel House. [available]. Supplementary Reading: - Belton B. (2009) Developing Critical Youth work Theory. Rotterdam:Sense Publishers. [unavailable]. - Belton, B. (2010) Radical Youth work. Devon: Russell Publishing House. [unavailable]. - Beck, D. & Purcell, R. (2010). Popular Education Practice for Youth and Community Development Work. Exeter:Learning Matters Ltd. [unavailable]. - Buchroth, I. & Parkin C. (2010) Using Theory in Youth and Community Work Practice. Exeter: Leraning Matters Ltd. [unavailable]. - Case, S. (2003). The Youth Worker’s Big Book of Case Studies: Not Quite a Million Stories that Beg Discussion. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Press. [available]. - Luxmoore, N. (2000). Listening to Young People in School, Youth Work and Counselling. London: Taylor and Francis. [available]. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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