Concern over youth work training supervisors’ qualifications

The National Youth Agency’s annual audit of youth work training has highlighted concerns about the qualifications held by supervisors.

The percentage of training courses where all fieldwork supervisors hold qualifications recognised by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for youth work has fallen by around ten percentage points, although the average percentage of JNC-qualified supervisors per course has risen again following a fall last year.

Social work and teaching qualifications are the main alternative qualifications held by fieldwork supervisors.

The report attributed the fall to an increasing number of placements in non-traditional youth work settings and said courses must “clarify expectationsof the role of superiors and the minimum that must be in place to ensure a worker has the knowledge and skills to support a student and facilitate their growth as a professional youth worker”.

The researchers also found concerns that the availability of potential supervisors was falling, due to restructures of youth services, while the need for them was growing as programmes extended to three-year degree courses. From 2010 the JNC will only recognise degree-level courses.

The number of new students enrolling in youth work courses rose by 98 last year, and the percentage of male students rose to 37.7 per cent after a fall last year. There was a slight rise in the percentage of non-white students and the average age of students became younger, with a rise in students aged up to 24 and a fall in the 25- to 34-year-old category.