Mapping Routes into both accredited and non accredited training for the Youth Sector
Introduction
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By Kevin Jones, Head of Workforce and Professional Development at the National Youth Agency
This paper sets out the policy and funding trends shaping youth work, outlining that since the pandemic many services recognised the value of qualified youth workers drawing on their unique principles and ingenuity to build relationships with young people. ‘Youth Work offers the opportunity to journey alongside of young people, building confidence and life skills they need to live, learn work and achieve, consistent and long lasting support that makes an impact and stays with them throughout their lives.’ Please read more here
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Youth Work Career and Training Pathway infographic click here.
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Type of Training
Partnership for Young London
General information and programmes can be viewed by the website https://www.partnershipforyounglondon.org.uk/ and to sign up to the weekly newsletter please click here
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Youth Work Bursary Scheme - We are working with the NYA and other partners to cascade out the youth work bursary scheme. Round 3 is now full but please register your interest for any future rounds with zoe.nation@cityoflondon.gov.uk
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Wider Training Offers - The free training programmes include mental health and wellbeing, peer research practice, trauma informed practice, intersectionality and social justice. For more information on the latest offers please see this link
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Peer Research Training - Sign up to join our training and network meetings on peer research here
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London Policy Network - Bi-monthly policy network meetings focusing on national and regional policy, for more details or to be added to the mailing list please contact rianne.williams@cityoflondon.gov.uk​
London Youth
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Rise Up - A leadership programme strengthening London’s youth sector by investing directly in frontline youth practitioners and their organisations. Rise Up builds on a youth worker’s existing knowledge and expertise to develop a new generation of sector leaders across our communities. More information can be viewed here
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Funded Youth Work Apprenticeships - Utilising the apprenticeship levy to train and upskill youth workers from member organisations, through fully funded accredited apprenticeship training. London Youth are working with UCAN on the Youth Support Worker L3 Apprenticeship and Let Me Play on the Community Sports and Health Officer L3 Apprenticeship. We will be recruiting for a new cohort on the Youth Support Worker L3 and others in the coming months. All information from recruitment of the first cohort is here.
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Training - London Youth offer a wide range of training sessions from the basics to the advanced. We aim to support youth work and organisation development, offering them the opportunity to attend all our training as part of their member benefit. You can see all our trainings on our website https://londonyouth.org/events/
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Networks - London Youth offers various networks – spaces for youth organisations to come together and discuss the key issues affecting their work with young people. We bring together those from Government, the voluntary sector and policy makers to exchange ideas, debate the issues and influence decision-making. Our networks are open to all, not just to members of London Youth. https://londonyouth.org/what-we-do/our-networks/
National Youth Agency
National Youth Agency is the sector body on youth work and it offers a Continued Professional Development Site for a range of training programmes and courses https://www.nya.org.uk/academy-cpd/ , and to enrol on the NYA Academy please go here https://www.nya.org.uk/skills/academy/. For general details on the NYA please go to the website https://www.nya.org.uk/
NYA Curriculum
The new National Youth Work Curriculum will enable a greater understanding of youth work practice, provide an educational framework and act as a reference tool to be used by decision makers, policy makers, commissioners, youth workers and young people.
https://www.nya.org.uk/quality/curriculum/
Safeguarding and Risk Management Hub
The Safeguarding and Risk Management Hub (The Hub) is a freely accessible online resource providing guidance, support, advice and access to training resources in relation to safeguarding and risk management for organisations and individuals working with young people. The Hub provides a comprehensive risk management framework that can be applied to the diverse activities across the youth sector, and is intended to be a ‘go-to’ place with content drafted and maintained by safeguarding and risk experts.
The Hub aims to promote good safeguarding and risk management practices across the youth sector. The Hub relates directly to the delivery of youth programmes and services and does not cover occupational health and safety considerations. Organisations should ensure they have access to separate competent advice regarding occupational health and safety matters. https://www.nya.org.uk/skills/safeguarding-and-risk-management-hub/
Federation for Detached Youth Work
The Federation for Detached Youth Works offers training, advice and guidance on detached youth work and youth work training, courses and consultancy. More details about the Federation for Detached Youth Work can be viewed here The offer includes an introduction to detached youth work, bespoke training on detached youth work, detached management training, partnership working, exploring themes and issues in communities, community profiling, consultancy.
For more details please contact info@fdyw.org.uk
Institute for Youth Work
The Institute for Youth Work (IYW) is a membership organisation for Youth Workers and those that espouse youth work methodologies and ethics in their work with young people. They aim to create a collective voice for youth work and advocate for the profession and professional identity in a context of continued change and challenge, giving opportunities to represent practice, policy and future needs at a strategic level.
More details about IYW can be viewed here
Centre for Youth Impact
The Centre for Youth Impact works collaboratively with partners across the UK Youth Sector to develop shared approaches to learning and evaluation, aiming to ensure that all young people have access to high quality services that support their social and emotional learning. Details on the offer from the Centre for Youth Impact can be viewed here.
The Resources Hub offers a range of resources for the youth sector on impact and quality please view them here.
To book any training with the Centre for Youth Impact please email hello@youthimpact.uk
Training and Development Opportunities Include:
Context Mapping – Understanding Assets and Needs
By the end of this programme session, you will be able to:
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Understand the meaning of context mapping and other key terms
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Understand the choices to be made when context mapping
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Understand how a context map can be used to inform a theory of change.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area one of our resource hub.
An Introduction to Theory of Change
This short course will familiarise you with the purpose and uses of a Theory of Change and how they can be constructed. A theory of change helps you, and other people, to be really clear about what you do with young people and the reasons for your design decisions.
By the end of the session participants should:
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Familiarise yourself with ‘theory of change’ – how they’re constructed and used
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Understand how to use a Theory of Change as a tool for developing your approach to evaluation
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Begin to consider how you might draft a Theory of Change for your project or organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two of our resource hub.
Writing Your Theory of Change
This is a practical half day course walking you through all the stages of a Theory of Change. At the end of this course you will leave with a draft Theory of Change for a project or service. If you are not familiar with theories of change you may wish to do our introductory course before joining this practical workshop.
By the end of the session you will:
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Refresh your understanding of Theory of Change models and how to use them
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Draft a Theory of Change for your project or organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two of our resource hub.
Measuring Socio-emotional Skill Development
The Centre for Youth Impact understands the importance of socio-emotional skills as the fundamental building block of all human development. As such, they are fundamental to our outcomes framework. This half day course will enable you to understand socio-emotional skills, the importance of quality and how to measure both using readily available tools.
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Understand what socio-emotional skills are
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Understand the importance of quality environments to promote socio-emotional learning
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Understand how to measure both the quality of environment and the development of socio-emotional skills over time.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area two of our resource hub.
Asking Good Questions
This training course will familiarise you with the Centre for Youth Impact’s ‘Asking Good Questions Framework’. The primary aim of this framework is to help you reflect on your approach to evaluation, and explore how to improve it by building evidence and insight across your work. The framework also explains why it is not enough just to gather data on one part of your provision – participation, for example, or outcomes. You need to build a bigger picture.
By the end of this training you will be able to:
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Understand six good questions to reflect on the quality and impact of your work
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Understand the practical ‘Asking Good Questions’ framework
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Plan to embed the framework within your organisation.
An Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation in the Youth Sector
Monitoring and evaluation is a fundamental aspect of delivering provision for young people. This day-long course will equip you with a basic understanding of how to plan and undertake monitoring and evaluation in order to evidence impact.
By the end of the day you will:
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Understand terms related to Monitoring and Evaluation
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Have a basic knowledge of how to measure change
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Have a basic knowledge of how to conduct an evaluation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our resource hub.
Fidelity Monitoring
Fidelity monitoring is a system which allows organisations to show if their project has been implemented as intended. This is a short course designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who would like to learn more about why fidelity monitoring is important and how they can introduce it into their organisation.
By the end of the session you will:
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Understand why fidelity in relation to monitoring is important
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Have considered how to introduce fidelity monitoring into your organisation’s processes.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our resource hub.
Formative Evaluation
Formative evaluation refers to the learning aspect of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and allows organisations to modify projects and activities in order to improve outcomes and impacts. This short course is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to use their evaluation work to learn and adapt the work of their organisation.
By the end of the session you will:
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Understand what formative evaluation is
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Use this knowledge to make changes as needed in your organisation.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our resource hub.
Sharing Your Impact
This short course is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to learn more about the different ways in which you could share your impact and the story of your organisation.
By the end of the session you will:
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Be comfortable taking a measured approach to telling your organisation’s story (to make them accessible to your readers)
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To know what information should be included in an evaluation report
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To be confident in making appropriate and proportionate claims about the impact of your work.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our resource hub.
​​Understanding Different Types of Data
This course is designed for people with some understanding of monitoring and evaluation who want to learn more about the different types of data they might use and how to choose between them.
By the end of the session you will:
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Understand the strengths and limitations of the different data and data collection tools used in evaluations
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To consider what data and data collection tools may be meaningful in your context
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Be confident in the rationale behind the choices you make
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Understand the importance of quality data.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area four of our resource hub.
Youth Voice in Impact Evaluations
This half day course will enable you to understand how to gather evidence from young people and how to tell the story of their work equitably and ethically.
By the end of the session you will be able to:
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Understand how and when to involve young people’s feedback into your evaluations
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Discuss the benefits of involving young people in building an evidence base for your theory of change
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Understand the benefits of adult led, co-design and youth led service and evaluation design
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Use Equitable Storytelling.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area five of our resource hub.
Youth Voice
This training will help you to understand how to gather evidence from young people and ensure that you are telling the story of your work equitably and ethically.
By the end of the session participants should:
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Understand how and when to involve young people’s feedback into your evaluations
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Discuss the benefits of involving young people in building an evidence base for your theory of change
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Understand the benefits of adult led, co-design and youth led service and evaluation design
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Know how to tell stories equitably.
Creative Data Collection and Analysis Workshop
This day's workshop will equip you with a firm understanding of when to use a range of different creative data collection tools and how to analyse the data they produce.
By the end of the day you will be able to:
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Understand why and when you might use creative data collection tools
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Develop awareness of the breadth of creative data collection tools
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Understand the benefits and limitations of creative data collection tools
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Understand the benefits and limitations in analysis of creative data sets.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area six of our resource hub.
Shared Measurement
Understanding impact across a range of services can be a challenge. Equally, understanding the impact all youth provision has in an area seems daunting as they may each have different theories of change and evaluation plans. This short course will help you to think through ways to demonstrate collective impact through shared measurement.
By the end of this course you will be able to:
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Understand what shared measurement can look like
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Understand where your organisation could contribute to shared measurement in the youth sector currently and moving forward.
You can find more resources to help you with this area of work in area seven of our resource hub. This is an advanced training – MEL and Impact Measurement knowledge is essential.