A Snapshot of Our History – Youth Work in Australia

Associate Professor Robyn Broadbent Victoria University

Introduction Currently there are a number of debates that aim to define Youth Work across the globe. Often these professional debates grow out of new entrants to the profession who are not fully aware of the history or those that have not got the specific professional training wanting to redefine the boundaries to enable them access to the profession. Coupled with the vagaries of Government policy it is important that the Youth Work profession protect its history and ensure that the professional framework that guides practice is preserved. This article seeks to ensure that the rich history of the Australian Youth Work sector and the work that has been undertaken to define Youth Work is written so that there is a part of history that can never be lost.

Defining Youth Work

Youth Work in Australia has a rich history whereby workers having had the opportunity to define the parameters of their profession have done so. It would seem that little is known or understood about the history of the profession and the previous work that has been done to establish a national framework.

Australia has a national vocational training system which in its establishment undertook extensive work to establish a shared understanding of the skills, knowledge values and attitudes that were required to be (in this case) a good practice youth work practitioner. This work is preceded by the fifty years of formal youth work training that had been implemented in Universities and Colleges of Advanced Education in Australia. This paper will provide a definitive history of the work by Youth Workers and the Youth Work profession in the nineties to establish a national framework of Youth Work vocational education that was underpinned by a clear set of definitions of what is Youth Work. Robyn Broadbent Victoria University

The formal training of Youth Workers began in 1944 when Melbourne University began a Diploma of Youth Work. According to Maunders, (1990) the Diploma was extended to a three year degree in 1947 and so began the unbroken connection to Universities and College of Advanced Education of the formal education of Youth Workers.

Until the nineties the systems of governance in those institutions provided the framework that would provide the guiding principles for the courses. They were also responsible for staffing, student selection and accreditation of the various courses. All of that was to change with the release of the Carmichael report (1992) and a string of other work on Competency Based Training.

In the early nineties the Carmichael report (1992) was commissioned by and subsequently reported to the Minister for Employment, Education and Training. The report outlined a staged strategy for meeting Australia’s training needs.

The

Carmichael Report which proposed a new system of entry-level training in Australia and showed how the key competencies could form a bridge between general education and vocational education and training as the core component of the proposed Australian Vocational Certificate.

LeDuff (1994) summarised the need for competency based training in Australia by saying that the common theme associated with all the recommended changes is the need to increase the skill level of the population to generate economic activity, improved productivity, innovation and responsiveness to technological and social change. It was evident through the work commissioned by Government and the support of the union movement for a reform of industrial policy that linked award restructuring and vocational education and training that there was broad acceptance of the connection between training, work and economic productivity in Australia. The UK, according to Rutherford, had begun developing the concept of a qualification in the mid 1980's for the achievement of workplace competencies.(Rutherford, 1994) European countries had also embarked on a similar journey. Their direction on vocational training reform policy was based on the workbased training concept called Competency Based Training (CBT). Robyn Broadbent Victoria University

In 1994 the Australian Federation of Youth Sector Training Councils was contracted by the then Community Services and Health Training Advisory Board to develop competency standards for Youth Work as a part of the national reform. So though formal Youth Work training had been available now for 50 years with considerable input from educators, the industry, youth workers and a Professional Association this project was to provide an opportunity for the Youth Work sector as a whole to define the skills and knowledge of their profession.

According to the report competency standards are a complex combination of skills, knowledge and attitudes and no part of the standards components should be seen in isolation form the combination picture of the full competency described. Competency standards are limited to the work actually performed and demonstrated by the workers (Community Services and Health Training Australia, 1996).

The project team undertook consultations across the country in 17 forums and with specific industry groups. An industry panel of thirty people reviewed the consultation material to frame the final set of standards. A final set of forty standards was agreed in the categories of; 

Research and Policy



Service Delivery



Community Development



Workplace Management (Australian , 1996)

Those competencies defined the work of a youth work practitioner. CD1:

Participate In Networks

CD2:

Support Young People to Take Collective Action

CD3:

Provide Community Education Related to Young People

CD4:

Contribute to the Community Provision of Services for Young People

CD5:

Collect and Prepare Information

CD7:

Develop Community Programs

CD8:

Develop Information and Education Resources

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CD9:

Establish and Develop Youth Organisations

RP1:

Identify the Needs and Rights of Young People

RP2:

Participate in Policy Development

RP 3

Contribute to the development of policy

RP4:

Research the Needs and Rights of Young People

RP5:

Develop Policy

RP6:

Initiate and Coordinate Research

RP7:

Coordinate Policy Development

SD1:

Provide Information

SD2:

Assist Young People

SD3:

Support Group Activities with Young People

SD4:

Assist Young People in Responding to Crisis

SD5:

Plan and Conduct Group Activities with Young People

SD6:

Manage Programs

SD7:

Support Young People to Address their Circumstances

SD9:

Manage Service Response to Young People in Crisis

SD8:

Respond to Young People at Risk of Violence

SD10:

Coordinate Programs and Strategies

SD11:

Develop Agency Response to enable young people to address their circumstances

SD12:

Manage a diverse range of services

WM1:

Participate in the Management of the Work Environment

WM2:

Provide Administrative Support Services

WM3:

Maintain and Effective Work Environment

WM4:

Implement organisations information strategies

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WM5:

Undertake team/staff planning and recruitment

WM6:

Provide training

WM7:

Manage Finance and Resources

WM8:

Manage information strategies

WM9:

Manage Staffing

WM10:

Manage and Support Staff (Community Services and Health Training Australia, 1996)

In 1996 the second stage of this project which was to develop the learning materials that would support the delivery of the competencies was tendered and won by a team led by Robyn Broadbent from Victoria University. This second consultation was to gather advice and information from workers with young people on a range of matters concerning their work with young people, their workplace, the policy context they work in and training issues.

This advice was gathered to inform the

development of the competency based youth work learning materials. Again in 1996 and 97 workers would be provided with the opportunity to explicitly outline the contextual knowledge, values, skills and attitudes that were essential to good youth work practice.

In 1996 all Australian States and Territories were visited. Sixteen general meetings, ten workplace visits and nineteen industry visits were held in capital, regional, rural and remote locations through out Australia. Approximately two hundred and eighty five sector representatives were consulted. The majority of these were direct service workers with young people, others included network representatives, peak and policy workers, managers, trainees, trainers and volunteers.

The National Youth Work Project Report, (Broadbent, 1997) outlines the following issues that were raised by consultation participants in response to the following question:“....please identify critical and discrete areas of training that workers with young people require to work effectively within a changing social, economic and policy environment.”

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These issues were identified as critical in underpinning Youth Work.  Understanding the social, economical, and political context that young people live in, was identified as necessary in ensuring quality service outcomes to young people.  Professionalism, values, ethics and codes of conduct are considered fundamental to good practice in the youth work sector.

This included understanding what

values are, one’s own values, young people’s values, community values, agency values, the values of other organisations and the impact of values on determining the approach to working with young people.  Crosscultural training was identified as essential in underpinning all aspects of youth work practice.

This included the employment of appropriate practice

techniques applicable to different communities and locations. It was identified that these approaches be determined by and negotiated with, specific communities. Most often mentioned were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and also communities from non-English speaking background.  Adapting work practices in changing policy environments was also identified as significant to youth work.

In particular the skills required in working in a

competitive and increasingly a climate whereby community services were being contracted as opposed to being operated by public providers. Research and policy  Participants identified action research as the preferred method in working with young people and communities.  Understanding policy, the policy development process, and working in the context of organisational and goverment policy was identified as a high training priority.  Workers also raised the importance of the need for appropriate methods to measure, evaluate and report on the outcomes of their work, that recognises and reflects human services, and accommodates current policy and funding criteria.

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Workplace Management The emergence of the current industrial landscape has highlighted the need for specific training in a range of areas concerned with workplace management. The impact of privatisation and competition requires workers to deal with the application of new employment relations legislation, including contract and short-term tenured staff and managing change. Community Development The current political environment presents new challenges for the community development aspect of youth work. Community development work underpins all aspects of service delivery for young people. The most significant challenge arises in the fact that the process outcomes of community development work are difficult to measure

and

rationalise,

than

other

more

concrete

service

outcomes.

Consequentially current trends show a reduction in the value and attention given to community development, therefore jeopardising the best outcomes for young people. Transcribing process outcomes into identifiable value-rated service delivery outcomes requires new and specific skills for workers with young people

In the current policy environment, managing the dichotomy of working in collaboration and in competition with other agencies was raised by workers as a significant issue for skill development. This issue was particularly of concern to smaller agencies, and agencies in isolated and remote areas that rely on interagency and cross-discipline collaboration.

Furthermore, in the current environment of changing locational and funding boundaries, skills are required to define community, identify what community means, and how to locate and access resources in response to community needs. Service delivery Overwhelmingly workers advocated for the need to develop appropriate case management models and skills, that incorporates youth work principles and practices, that meet funding and policy requirements and also realistically reflects the process and resources needed to work with young people presenting with multiple disadvantages.

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The issue of working appropriately with Aboriginal young people in the context of Aboriginal custom, law, and community structures was raised, in particularly in regional, rural and remote areas. Workers identified the need for appropriate training to guide work practices.

Due to the small, and often diminishing community infrastructure, rural, remote and isolated workers are required to respond to the full range of needs of young people. In order to adequately respond to these day to day demands, workers have identified the need for training on a range of specialised issues. In general this reflected their need to offer a ‘one stop shop’ to young people.

Further more workers were able to identify a number of issues that were explicit to youth work. Listed in approximate order of priority. 1. Ability to undertake political and social analysis 2. Counselling and case management approaches 3. Developing and analysing policy 4. Professionalism: values, principles and ethics 5. Cross-cultural issues: working with Aboriginal young people and young people from non English speaking background. 6. Research and evaluation skills 7. Referring and working with other agencies 8. Networking 9. Ability to mediate, negotiate and resolve conflict 10. Ability to identify and understand the needs of young people 11. Organisational culture and change management 12. Working with young people in the context of families 13. Program planning 14. Communication and interpersonal skills. 15. Working with groups of young people. 16. Understanding youth culture. 17. Gender issues. 18. Competitive tendering at local, state and federal levels. 9. Ability to work as part of a team. 20. Report writing. 21. Understanding industrial relations and productivity. 22. Strategic planning and goal setting. 23. Community development. 24. Advocacy. 25. Information technology. 26. Literacy. 27. Bench marking and quality assurance. 28. Self appraisal. 29 Evaluation methods and skill. 30. Collective action and lobbying.

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31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43.

Funding Issues. Volunteers. Mental health issues. Legislation and legal issues. Understanding confidentiality and privacy. Peer education. Substance abuse & harm minimisation. Grief counselling. Service delivery Issues of homelessness. Accountability. Suicide prevention. Sexual abuse

(Broadbent, 1997)

From this work individual learning materials was developed for each competency. A change of Government happened in this period and the direction of vocational education changed forever. Nevertheless, this set of work is still valid today because though the language may change the issues and challenges for workers do not neither does the necessary skills and knowledge required to be a professional youth worker.

Bibliogpraphy Broadbent, R., 1997 National Consultation Report, National Youth Work Training Project, Victoria University, Melbourne. Community Services and Health Training Australia, Youth Work National Competency Standards, 1996, Community Services and Health Training Australia, Sydney. Maunders, D., 1990, Professional Education for Youth Work. Expanding Field or Anachronism? Australian Association for Educational Research conference, Paper No. 474, Sydney, 27-30 November. Carmichael, L 1992, The Australian Vocational Certificate Training System [Carmichael report], National Board of Employment, Education and Training, Canberra. LeDuff, Garry, 1994, Employment related key competencies and the vet sector, Department for Employment, Training and Further Education, March, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service.

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