achieve, the political values which we
hold, the assumptions which we make
by Trudi Cooper and Rob White
There is no single practice of "youth work" but a variety of
approoches and many different mofivations for engaging in
youth wart In this O\'erview based on their own experience. the
authors present their interpretation of these approaches and the
substantially different ccnrexts for the achievement of particular
goals and obiectives in the youth work field.
y:
E REASONS why a person
engages in youth work, and the
political or ideological under-
standing they have of the social order
impinging on themselves and the
young people with whom they work,
have a major impact on the direction
and quality of their youth work
practice and the methods they adopt
in daily routines. For example, some
workers concentrate on meeting the
immediate needs of service users (e.g.
food, shelter, counselling); others are
more conscious of the longer-term
needs of young people (e.g. job
creation, land rights, affirmative
action). Some workers spend a lot of
their time in one-to-one work trying to
improve the self-esteem of young
30
of youth work intervention: the
Treatment model, the Reform model,
persons. Others may emphasise in
their work the importance of group
building, of collective rights and of
initiating programs which benefit
whole communities.
The methods adopted by youth
workers vary considerably, as does the
work context. Where youth workers put
their time, energy and resources very
much depends upon factors such as:
• their conception of the youth
worker role;
• the nature of the most pressing
service requirements at the local
level;
• the backgrounds of the young
people with whom they are
working and the young people's
Youth Studies Australia Summer 1994
working models in the sense that such
processes of typification are rarely
perceptions of what is needed to
change their circumstances;
• the funding and human resources
available to the agency; and
• the youth worker's immediate
working conditions , including
management structures and the
values of the employing agency
and its funding bodies.
Our concern in this article is to
present a set of models of youth work
practice which we hope will help to
clarify the different orientations and
practices associated with different
kinds of youth work activity. The
models are abstractions from real life
situations and activities and we note
that in practice many youth workers
do not act strictly in accordance with
any particular model of youth work.
Yet if we are to evaluate and reflect
upon our youth work practice, if we
are to ensure a consistent approach to
youth work, if we are to continually
strive to meet personal goals as shaped
by our interpretation of the aims of
youth work, then a clear understand-
ing is required of what we are trying to
and how these impact on the methods
which we choose to employ.
In describing the intervention
models which follow, we acknowl-
edge the different practical
orientations, values, skills, roles and
ideologies associated with specific
styles or forms of youth work practice.
We have identified four basic models
How are "problems" involving
young people defined?
• Young people (youth) are considered to
constitute a social problem and a threat
to social stability. From the perspective
of this model, this aspect of youth is an
inherent property: Youth have always
been a potential threat in all societies
unless their energies have been proper-
ly controlled and channelled by their
elders.
• Young people who behave in anti-social
ways should be brought into line.
• Young people who don't fit into society
are either deviant (in which case they
must be made to conform), mad (in
which case they must be treated as far
as possible to enable them to become
productive members of society) or
deficient (in which case appropriate
treatment should be offered and if this
fails, action should be taken to protect
society from these young people).
• The focus of this model is on the need
for the young person to change for the
benefit of society.
How is society viewed from the
perspective of this model?
f • Society is seen as reflecting what most
1 people want, think and feel. It is
assumed that a "consensus" exists
about values and acceptable standards
of behaviour.
Core values which underpin this
model
• Conformity to socially defined norms
• Social justice is less important than
other values . Attempts to produce
social justice by social engineering are
misguided and mischievous, undermin-
ing natural forces of competition which
Youth Studies Australia Summer 1994
the Advocacy model (two versions)
and the Empowerment model (two
versions). For ease of presentation we
have summarised each model in the
accompanying boxes. The models are
meant to be indicative of major differ-
ences and similarities of the
approaches used at the grassroots level
in youth affairs . They are, however,
t-'-nt .... 0
lead to those who are most talented
getting most power and status.
• Competition and differential status
provide incentives to self-improvement.
• Traditional (patriarchal) family roles
exist because they are the most natural
and the most useful in producing a
stable society.
• Self improvement (within conventional
value system).
Motivation for intervention
• To get young people to play "useful"
roles in supporting society as it is.
• To encourage young people to adopt
conventional lifestyles and values.
• To encourage young people to be good
citizens.
Kinds of intervention
• Discipline and structured programs
(badges and achievement awards).
• Clear messages from youth workers
about expected standards of behaviour
and the value of conformity (fixed rules
imposed by the youth workers).
• Youth workers as role models.
• Recreation designed to occupy time, to
limit potential anti-social behaviour and
to develop competitive urges which are
channelled into socially acceptable
•
forms (e.g. sports leagues).
Prepare young people for conventional
adult roles.
• Young offender programs which focus
only on changing offending behaviour.
Skills required by youth worker
• Ability to control young people.
• Ability to set a good example for them
by exhibiting high standards of person-
al conduct as judged by conventional
standards.
complete or definitive. In any effort to
abstract the main elements of youth
wor k from actual practices it is
extremely difficult to cover all situa-
tions and perspectives or to make
generalisations which do justice to the
diverse practices and issues one
actually experiences in youth work.
• Ability to provide "wholesome" recre-
ational activities for young people.
Disciplines which inform
practice
• Behavioural psychology, especially
psychiatry and principles of behaviour
modification, such as "shaping"
through tokens and punishments. The
concept of "character building".
• Functionalist sociology. Socio-biolo-
gism and Neo-Darwinism used to
justify gender, social and racial biases.
• "Heroic tales." Folk heroes who have
succeeded despite (or even because of)
poor background and adversity. These
support the character building effects
of adversity and the myths of social
mobility and personal ability overcom-
ing all odds.
Vocabulary
• Young people who do not fit into
society may be referred to as misfits,
deviants, trouble makers or as being
inadequate.
Role of the professional
• The professional is the expert who has
at her/his disposal various techniques
to diagnose what is lacking in the
young person and to design programs
•
which will remedy the deficiency.
The expert is unlikely to have shared
the life experience of the client group.
• The professional is often a "program
organiser" for young people's activi-
ties, who then monitors and polices
their behaviour.
Ideology
• ConseNative: indicated by the focus on
societal good, functionalist sociology
and the preference for the value of
competition rather than social justice.
31
 How are "problems" involving
young people defined?
• Some young people are disadvantaged
by their social environment or their
upbringing.
• Because of this they may act in ways
which are harmful to themselves and/or
to others in society.
• These disadvantages may make it very
difficult for the above young people to fit
into society.
How is society viewed from the
perspective of this model?
• Society is accepted as it is, although it is
recognised that some minor changes
might be made to improve particular
arrangements that disadvantage certain
groups.
How are "problems" involving
young people defined?
• Young people have problems obtaining
their rights because they are not knowl-
edgeable about what rights they have.
• Young people have problems because
they are not skilled in manipulating the
bureaucratic systems to ensure that
their rights are realised.
How is society viewed from the
perspective of this model?
• Society is viewed as being composed of
complex bureaucratic legal arrange-
ments.
• The injustice of these arrangements in
relation to certain groups of young
people is considered as something
which either cannot be changed, or
that it is the task of others to change.
Core values which underpin
this model
• Equality is conceived as equality of
opportunity, within a framework of
equality of access to existing rights.
• That bureaucracies should act in an
open and equitable way when distribut-
ing benefits.
• That young people deserve to get
32
• Minor reforms, but not major institution-
al changes, are sought as an attempt to
ameliorate the lot of those who are
disadvantaged.
• A consensus view of society underpins
this position.
Core values which underpin this
model
• Socio-environmental conditions affect
individuals in different ways.
• Some people are better able to
overcome adversity than others.
• Those who are not able .to help
themselves need to be offered help.
• Help should only be given to those who are
prepared to attempt to help themselves.
• Equality is defined as equality of opportu-
nity.
whatever they are entitled to, under
existing regulations.
• That part of the youth worker's role is
to assist young people in the above
process.
Motivation for intervention
• To ensure that young people are aware
of their entitlements and have support
in realising these entitlements.
• To ensure that bureaucracies operate
equitably, according to their own
regulations.
Kinds of intervention
• Welfare Rights advice and support
(Citizens' Advice Agencies).
• Legal aid support (agencies offering
case work support and representation).
• Some types of Youth Advisory Centres
(Employment and Training opportunity
advice, Education advice).
Skills required by youth worker
• An understanding of the complexities
of welfare and legal rights as they
affect young people.
• A practical knowledge of the most
effective means of ensuring that young
people receive those rights and
• No-one should be automatically exclud-
ed on grounds of race, -gender, sexual
preference, etc., but positive discrimina-
tion is unacceptable because it
undercuts the principle of meritocracy
based on individual achievement.
Motivation for intervention
• To ensure stability within society by
ensuring that none are so disenfran-
chised that they feel that they have no
stake in society as it currently exists.
• That extremes of suffering are not
morally acceptable in a civilised society.
• There is a duty to help those who have
been disadvantaged through no fault of
their own, to enable them to successful-
ly compete for the "good things" in life.
benefits which the legal bureaucratic
institutions claim to offer.
• Informal "networking" skills and
contacts within bureaucracy to
"smooth" the process.
• Case work skills
Disciplines which inform practice
• The legal and para-legal professions
• Social Welfare.
Vocabulary
• Rights of young people, social justice
Role of the professional
• To maximise the young person's ability
to benefit under the existing legal-
bureaucratic framework, by ad vocation
on behalf of individual young people
and groups.
Ideology
• State liberal to social democratic as there
is recognition of the value of state inter-
vention but no demand for radical
societal change. Focus of advocacy is on
achieving individual rights on a case by
case basis rather than on collective
pressure to change unjust laws or
regulations.
Youth Studies Australia Su=er 1994
Kinds of intervention
• Skills training and remedial education
programs which aim to increase young
people's skill levels to enable them to
compete successfully in the job market
(eg., job search skills, life skills training,
literacy schemes).
• Special services offered to help people to
overcome disadvantages which are due
to their life circumstances (eg., special
creche or child care arrangements to
enable girls with babies to continue their
education, ABSTUDY to encourage
Aboriginal young people to stay at
school).
• Personal development courses aimed at
assisting young people to find out how to
maximise their chances of success given
the options which are available to them.
How are "problems" involving
young people defined?
• Young people have problems because
their basic rights are not adequately
recognised and protected in sOciety as it
currently operates.
• Young people have problems because
they are not fully aware of their rights
• Young people have problems because
they are not able to operate effectively
the systems needed to obtain their rights.
How is society viewed from the
perspective of this model?
• Fundamentally unjust, especially with
respect to the way the laws and bureau-
cratic systems operate for the benefit of
certain groups in society and to the
detriment of other groups.
Core values which underpin this
model
• That it is part of the role of the youth
worker to help young people to trans-
form society, to expose and get rid of
the biases, including the legal and
bureaucratic biases which operate to
protect the interests of the powerful.
• That there are situations where young
people are not able to do this effectively
on their own behalf.
1.-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. _ _ ____ _ _ _.._
Youth Studies Australia Summer 1994
Skills required by youth worker
• Ability to motivate young people who
have given up trying to compete in
society.
• Ability to help young people to identify
how they can change themselves in order
to become more successful in society.
• The ability to form trusting relationships
with young people, in order to succeed
in offering encouragement.
Disciplines which inform practice
• A sociological perspective which
operates within a consensus view of
sOciety.
• Social psychology, especially techniques
for building self esteem and self confi-
dence using group work methods.
• Personal development, techniques for
• The need for equality to be defined in
terms of outcomes rather than opportu-
nity.
Motivation for intervention
• To transform society.
• To increase equality of outcomes. This
model would support positive discrimi-
nation for those from historically
disadvantaged groups.
• To achieve social justice for all.
Kinds of intervention
• Campaigning groups pressing for politi-
cal and legal changes, or pressing for
other changes in institutional arrange-
ments to remedy injustice (Some youth
legal services, some pressure groups on
particular issues, e.g., homelessness,
juvenile justice).
• Representational agencies which take
individual cases but also use these to
raise and publiCise the underlying
causes of injustice, and to press for
political or legal change.
Skills required by youth worker
• Campaigning skills
• Media Skills
• Motivational skills
• Representational skills
_.
self presentation which will improve the
chances of individuals achieving success
within society as it is.
Vocabulary
• Disadvantaged young people, victims,
deviant behaviour stemming from a
combination of personal weakness and
poor social environment, social education.
Role of the professional
• The professional is an expert who can
help assist people to make the most of
the opportunities available to them .
Ideology
• Liberal: as shown by the focus on
individual adaptation, the consensus
view of society and the concept of
equality as equality of opportunity.
Disciplines which inform
practice
• Human rights
• Critical legal studies
• Critical sociology
Vocabulary
• Rights, social justice.
Role of the professional
• To advocate on behalf of individuals
and groups. The professional may, or
may not, have been a member of the
group on whose behalf they are
working.
• To campaign for radical social change.
Ideology
• Social democratic to socialist: This model
proposes radical societal change either
through progressive . reform or revolu-
tion, while attempting to maximise the
benefits for clients under existing
arrangements. Although individual
"cases" may be represented, the need
to address the causes of social inequali-
ty are seen as paramount to achieving
a lasting solution to the problems
which young people collectively face as
members of various marginalised
groups.
33

How are "problems" involv.ing
young people defined?
• The major problem facing young
people is that they don't have enough
power or control over their own lives.
How is society viewed from the
perspective of this model?
• Society is viewed as treating young
people as if they are incapable of
making their own decisions and/or in
need of "protection" from themselves
and others.
Core values which underpin this
model
• That young people need to be given
more control over their own lives.
• That young people are capable of
making independent decision about
their best interest, provided that others
(adults, authority figures) do not
prevent them.
• That empowerment can be achieved by
helping individuals become more
Concluding remarks
In this article we have attempted to
provide a description of four different
models of youth work intervention.
These models provide abstract, one-
sided views of particular types of
practice. They distil the main features
and characteristics of specific forms of
youth work and bring into relief the
nature of particular kinds of interven-
tion at the service level.
In practice, there are many differ-
ent types of intervention and different
interpretations of the nature of youth
work. The youth affairs field is charac-
terised by conflicting expectations,
diverse values, a variety of individuals
from many social backgrounds and the
absence of consensus about the role,
function and rationale of youth work.
The challenge for each youth worker
is to develop and continually reassess
the theoretical basis for their work,
and to struggle with ways of integrat-
ing their theoretical thinking and their
34
powerful within whatever framework of
values that person chooses.
Motivation for intervention
• To help young people gain control over
their own lives.
Kinds of intervention
• Laissez faire: let young people do what
they want.
• Encourage young people to take action
of their own behalf.
Skills required by youth worker
• To be supportive to young people.
To stand back and watch young people
do anything without intervention.
• Motivational skills.
Disciplines which inform
practice
• A misunderstanding of progressive
education theory which translates it as
permissive educational theory.
immediate service activities. It will be
seen from the models described that
this is no simple task. For example,
the same vocabulary can be used by
different workers to refer to very
different types of practices.
Fundamentally, we would argue
that the specific methods used in
youth work ultimately reflect the
principles and politics of the practi-
tioner, the service agency and the
social milieu in which the youth work
is done. The key issue is not so much
the superficial aspects of what the
youth worker appears to be doing, but
the actual direction and substance of
their practice . Thus, for example ,
meeting the immediate needs of
individuals (including medical care or
personal counselling) may be a neces-
sary precondition for building the
trust and confidence which is essen-
tial to the empowerment process. In a
similar vein, the provision of "social
education" can be structured so as to
Vocabulary
• Empowerment, enfranchisement, increas-
ing young people's self esteem and self
confidence, helping young people take
control over their own lives.
Role of the professional
• Youth worker as friend and supporter.
• Laissez faire leadership style which
avoids imposing values or limits.
Ideology
• Classical liberalism: Non-intervention
with a focus on helping individuals
become more powerful. No stress on
collective action unless freely chosen
by young people. This model of
empowerment does not presuppose
any values about how young people
choose to use the power which they
may gain as result of interventions of
the youth worker, nor does it accept
that young people's choices are unrea·
sonably manipulated by the media or
their conditioning.
be, in ess ence, a form of "political
education" which attempts to raise
consciousness about such issues as
sexism, racism, heterosexism, class
division and other oppressive
practices . The use of intervention
models can provide one means of
clarifying where each of us stands in
relation to the "hows" and "whys" of
what we can do, and the style and
manner of intervention that we might,
or should, adopt for ourselves within
the context of the agency within
which we work.
Note
We would like to acknowledge the
many people over the years who have
helped shape our analysis of the
nature of youth work, and in particu-
lar Chris Brown and Meaghan
Delahunt, whose ideas have assisted
us in developing the framework
outlined in this article.
Youth Studies Australia Summer 1994
"1II~""erlft nt Iftod
How are "problems" involving • That this conditioning leads to apathy Disciplines which inform
young people defined? in people and to feelings that their own practice
powerlessness is their fault and justified
• Young people, like many other groups • Radical psychology.
(this is one of the recognised features of
in society are systematically disempow- • Critical sociology
oppression).
ered by the institutional arrangements • Some elements of liberation theology.
• The first task of the youth worker, there-
which operate to protect the privileged
fore, is consciousness raising, followed Vocabulary
position of the powerful.
by confidence building and finding ways • Empowerment, consciousness raising,
How is society viewed from the to break through feelings of apathy. increasing young people's self esteem
• Equality is defined as equality of
perspective of this model? and or self confidence, enfranchisement,
outcomes rather than equality of oppor-
• Fundamentally unjust. social education.
tunity, hence, this model supports
• Laws and institutional arrangements
positive discrimination.
operate to maintain and support the Role of the professional
inequalities in access to power which Motivation for intervention • As educator and learner.
keep it in the hands of the few. • The professional carries a remnant of
• To transform society so that no groups
"oppressor consciousness" unless
systematically oppress other groups in
Core values which underpin this he/she shares the life experiences of
society, so that access to power is
model equally shared.
the client group. Youth workers, there-
• That one of the tasks of youth work is fore, need to be aware of their own
• To enable others to overcome the
to help young people to redress these power and should aim to withdraw
effects of oppression and to act on their
power imbalances on their own behalf. from any leadership position as soon as
own behalf.
• This must be done within a framework possible.
not oppressing other groups in order to Kinds of intervention
gain power (anti-oppressive frame- • Consciousness raiSing
Ideology
work). • Confidence building • Socialist to anarchist: The focus of this
• That it is not possible to empower • Activism to help young people to see model is on changing the balances of
others by acting on their behalf, as this their true position and to help that power in society, avoiding oppression
only re-enforces their powerlessness. identify their real interests. both structurally in society and at an
• That the institutions, especially the • Helping young people in overcoming interpersonal level. Because of its
social, media and "educational" institu- apathy, feelings of unworthiness, low emphasis upon equality of power,
tions, have created, through self esteem and fear of authority. collective action and the explicit anti-
conditioning, a limited and distorted oppressive value base, the
understanding which leads people to Skills required by youth worker implementation of this model requires
believe that the existing social hierar- • To be able to help young people believe radical societal change, at both
chies are either natural (and therefore in themselves and their own abilities. personal and institutional levels.
can't be changed), or in their best inter· • To support young people in identifying Hence, it is also congruent with most
ests (and therefore shouldn't be how they can act to overcome their forms of Feminist theory.
changed). oppression without oppressing others.
_ ._ _ _ __ ..• ____ ,._.•• _ " . _ 0. _ '., _ •• _ •• _ _ _ ._ .•• ._ •.• • _ _ •. __ __.• • ... - .. _ _ • •
:rudi Cooper IS the coord!f/Otor of Youth Work
Sfvdles of Edlth Cmvar. Unlverslfy In Perth and hos
Gl(tenSI\/0 experience os a yourh wOlker and youth
\vork educator In England and Australta
Rob W/life ieclure$ III Criminology at rhe Univers/1y of
A1elbourne ana i5 a former coordmator of 't'ourh
Work Studies at Edli'h Cuwan University
Youth Studies Australia Summer 1994 35