The everyday and the remarkable: Valuing and evaluating youth work

TY - JOUR

T1 - The everyday and the remarkable

T2 - Valuing and evaluating youth work

AU - Doherty, Louise Margaret

AU - de St Croix, Tania

PY - 2019/11/18

Y1 - 2019/11/18

N2 - Drawing on participant observation, interviews and focus groups in youth work settings, the article highlights tensions in measuring and evaluating youth work and argue that the way practice is recognised and valued by young people and youth workers is disconnected from the way it is measured, monitored and evaluated. The article begins by summarising the methods of the study and providing our definition of ‘open youth work’. It then discuss the tensions in measuring and evaluating youth work in the current political, economic and social context, before proposing three questions that should be considered when designing evaluation. It concludes by advocating for a grassroots democratic approach that centres on creating the conditions for youth work to flourish.

AB - Drawing on participant observation, interviews and focus groups in youth work settings, the article highlights tensions in measuring and evaluating youth work and argue that the way practice is recognised and valued by young people and youth workers is disconnected from the way it is measured, monitored and evaluated. The article begins by summarising the methods of the study and providing our definition of ‘open youth work’. It then discuss the tensions in measuring and evaluating youth work in the current political, economic and social context, before proposing three questions that should be considered when designing evaluation. It concludes by advocating for a grassroots democratic approach that centres on creating the conditions for youth work to flourish.

KW - youth work

KW - evaluation

KW - impact

KW - accountability

KW - policy

M3 - Article

SN - 0262-9798

JO - Youth and Policy

JF - Youth and Policy

ER -