The Growth of Youth Work

Howard Sercombe explained how he had been a youth worker form the age of about 18, or 19. His career path involved working in remote communities in Western Australia, as a project consultant with indigenous young people with drug and alcohol related problems and lecturing at the University of Perth.

He had participated in designing a Code of Ethics for Youth Care Practice in Western Australia and the idea is spreading to other States and Territories, which has led to the setting up of a Code of Ethics Committee.

He described the growth of youth care practice in parts of Australia, from the child saving days of the nineteenth century, through the era of voluntary activity, to the present day dilemmas around consideration of establishing a mandatory Code of Ethics for Youth Care Workers.

He outlined how in the late 1970s the Government had begun funding initiatives under the Community Support Scheme. This led to a proliferation of programmes and interventions around issues such as homelessness, youth suicide, and broader concerns about general youth malaise.

However, because of the dispersed nature of Government intervention through small community based-NGOs, issues of accountability and discipline arose. There was a move towards strategic planning and state agreement, which saw the growth in planning, training and preparation for youth care work and youth care workers to the point where by the late 1980s a Degree in Youth Work was developed and there were courses in tertiary institutions across Australia.

Through the Department of Education and Training the Government then gave a strong push to train everybody in anything, including youth work. This involved competence based modules with core components for all the human services and specific components for youth work at Community College level. This has led to the solid growth of youth work as a recognised task, at a paid level, with a life-long career path.

Another cultural shift has been for the Government to decide what funding to provide and for NGOs to tender for resources.

The Professionalisation dilemma

At their 1985 Conference youth workers voted against mandatory training and qualification as a requirement of entry to the work. Existing workers were suspicious. They felt that long-standing workers without degrees would be marginalised and excluded, as those without degrees started to hit ceilings on their chosen career paths. Youth work had been prized for being marked by idiosyncratic styles of practice and youth workers, who were used to autonomy, had a resistance to being organised. In fact organising them had been described as being akin to herding cats.

Traditionally, youth workers had seen themselves and had been seen by the public as working at the edges of society, in very personally concerned and altruistic way. It was feared that professionalism, which was seen as bureaucratic and self interested would lead to them drawing back and distancing themselves from the clients. It was also felt that professionals had an investment in the system and buying into power and privilege for themselves.

Although a positive outcome of mandatory training and registration of workers would restrict entry and force up perceptions of the value of the service provided it was feared that as in the case of social work it would also mystify ordinary processes, invent language and in the long run leave clients less able to solve their own problems. The example was given that some families now feel that it is necessary to hire professional bereavement councillors, because they are unable to work through the process naturally, which supported the saying that Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity.

It was felt that youth workers were in danger of being drawn into roles of social controllers, which could involve them in processes which were against the interests of young people, such as being involved in security patrols with the police, and enforcing street control curfews. There was a huge dilemma over unemployed young people who could be fined if they were reported for not attending interviews, or work for welfare programmes. If a youth worker reported that a young person was in breach of a particular order it could have serious repercussions, including custody. This point led to the interesting question of whether wardens within juvenile prisons could be called youth workers.

One of the disadvantages of the old free spirit perception has often been that youth workers can be marginalised in consultations about a child whom they know well. They can also be excluded from schools and adolescent wards in hospitals, where their input could be appropriate, because other professionals wonder how it might impact on their own roles and responsibilities.

In order to avoid being mis-used and to gain greater recognition by other professionals
Howard suggested that a great challenge for Youth Workers is to articulate clearly what they actually do and define the kind of relationship they have with clients, which is no mean feat when they work at the point of failure of mainstream organisations with largely ungoverned and ungovernable groups of young people. He used the definition that a professional is someone who makes a pledge to a client group. In the case of youth workers the young person is the primary client, with whom they pledge to work in their social context. What they offer is to help to create a safe place in which clients can reveal their vulnerability and can be healed.

A Code of Ethics

However he also suggested that the acceptance of a clear Code of Ethics by youth workers would also advance their cause and benefit their clients. In the past there had been lots of examples of very questionable practice, when youth workers had identified too closely with the sub-culture of their clients, or dominated management committees for their own benefit.

There was also a need to regulate charismatic messiahs, who gather circles of passionate young workers and operate outside normal disciplinary structures. Without an agreed Code, which clearly articulates acceptable standards it has been difficult to deal with some individuals, who have resorted to litigation if they have been sacked for their conduct.

He felt that the way forward for youth workers in Australia is to develop a nationally agreed Code of Ethics and develop consensus among the workers, so that it becomes mandatory.