Presentation to “Building Tomorrow’s Europe” Conference Bonn, Germany

1. Presentation to “Building Tomorrow’s Europe” Conference Bonn, Germany James Doorley, Deputy Director NYCI May 7th 2013

2. Overview of Presentation • Intro-National Youth Council of Ireland • Youth Work in Ireland • National Quality Standards Framework • Activities of Irish EU Presidency

3. Introduction • National Youth Council of Ireland representative body of youth sector-over 50 member orgs • Designated social partner organisation-NESC • Prescribed national representative youth work organisation • Represents voluntary youth sector to Government and other stakeholders on youth work issues • Runs programmes on the arts, health, child protection supporting youth work sector • Advocates on youth issues, unemployment, emigration, mental health, alcohol misuse etc

4. Youth Work in Ireland • Youth work provision largely provided by voluntary youth organisations • Underpinned in law by Youth Work Act 2001 • Youth Work defined as "a planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation, and which is complementary to their formal, academic or vocational education and training; and provided primarily by voluntary youth work organisations."

5. Youth Work in Ireland • 383,000 or 43.3% of population aged 10 to 24 years participating in youth work activities • 53% from economic/socially disadvantaged areas • 1,400 full time staff equivalents • 40,145 adult volunteers • Funding cuts to youth services of 30% since 2008-big impact on provision

6. Development of Quality Standards • Voluntary (providers) and statutory (funders) jointly recognised need for NQS. • Both parties wanted to enhance services • In voluntary sector-desire for recognition of work/profession because it was both volunteer led & voluntary. (lack of recognition for NFE) • In statutory sector-desire to ensure that resources were being well spent and also effective • 2001 YW Act-Appointment of YW “Assessor”

7. Quality Standards (NQSF) • Emerged from 2003 National Youth Work Development Plan • “To put in place mechanisms for enhancing professionalism and ensuring quality standards in youth work” • Model was developed by Dept with NYWAC • Pilot of NQSF conducted in 2009 • National Quality Standards Framework (NQSF) for Youth Work launched in 2010 • NQSF commenced January 2011

8. The What-Quality Standards (NQSF) • To provide a support and development tool to organisations and projects • To establish standards in the practice and provision of youth work • To provide for an enhanced evidence base for youth work • To ensure resources are used effectively in the youth work sector • To provide a basis for “whole organisational assessment”

9. The Why-NQSF • To structure and support youth work “stand over and stand up for effective youth work • To recognise the ethic and duty to commit to and provide effective youth work for young people • To move away from the anecdotal to the empirical • To provide a structured framework for youth work providers to articulate and assess practice through a common language

10. Process-NQSF • Looks at what you do, why you do it, who is it for and with, how you do it and where you do it. • 5 Core principles • Young person centred • Ensuring and promoting safety and well being • Developmental and educational • Ensuring and promoting equality and inclusiveness • Dedicated to quality youth work and continuous improvement • Reflective and self assessment with external assessment-continuous improvement plan and progress report-12 month process

11. Irish EU Presidency • 2010 EU Council Resolution and Youth Work convention added further impetus • Promotion of quality standards one of the priorities of Irish Government in the youth field • “Promote understanding of contribution of quality youth work to young people’s development, well-being and social inclusion” • Priority fed into the Structured Dialogue process for the Irish EU Presidency

12. Irish EU Presidency • National consultations feeding into structured dialogue process addressed “quality youth work” • Irish Presidency Youth Event-One of seven workshops was entitled “Assuring Quality in Youth Work to Ensure Social Inclusion” • Irish Govt proposing “Council Conclusions on the contribution of quality youth work to the development, well being and social inclusion of young people”-May 16th

13. Conclusions • Collaborative approach in developing the standards important. • Deliberative & reflective-bottom up, recognising the input of young people & experience & expertise of youth workers • Commitment from the sector to engage with and respond to findings to enhance services • Challenge to deliver “quality” at time of cuts and austerity • Overall very positive process

14. Links • Contacts/info james@nyci.ie & www.youth.ie • National Quality Standards Framework http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/NQSF_Publication_ENGLISH_270710.pdf • Conclusions of the Irish Presidency Youth Event, March 2013 http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/publications/JointConclusions.pdf • Assessment of the Economic Value of Youth Work http://www.youth.ie/sites/youth.ie/files/Economic_Beneifit_Youthwork_2012.pdf