Meeting the education and training needs of a professional youth and community work workforce in challenging times: Austerity Britain and the fight to survive

As we face the challenges of enforced austerity, and their cumulative effects on the most disadvantaged in society, the profession of youth and community work has never been needed more, and yet it faces an uncertain future in both the academe and publicly-funded social services. Drawing on the recent history of professional education and training for youth and community workers in England, and the validation processes that have developed to support this, the paper will offer a view on the current challenges faced by educators, practitioners and students who are looking to protect this area of professional practice and ensure it continues to be supported and valued. We will look at the lessons that can be drawn from the validation and endorsement processes for youth and community work education and training in England, and the more recent development of the Joint Education and Training Standards committee for England, Scotland, Wales and the island of Ireland. The paper will highlight the competing and contradictory messages that make for uncertainty and confusion, whilst also celebrating the opportunities that are emerging. It will explain the key agencies, policies and organisations which are shaping the current debates, and assert the need for an educated and research-informed set of professionals to work in this new and challenging environment. Using examples from youth and community work provision offered by Leeds Beckett University (both under and post-graduate) , alongside the competing expectations placed on academics, practitioners and students, the paper will seek to highlight particular curriculum developments currently underway which present interesting and exciting opportunities for those who educate and train future youth and community workers and associated social welfare professionals. Finally, in taking a more outward-looking view, the paper will discuss new and emerging areas of practice and pan-European collaborations which reflect an increasing desire to draw on a rich and diverse set of traditions that can shape the future education and training of locally active, globally connected youth and community workers who are committed to working with young people, communities and the voiceless in society