1st Edition
Advancing Youth Work Current Trends, Critical Questions
This path-breaking book brings together an international list of contributors to collectively articulate a vision for the field of youth work, sharing what they have learned from decades of experience in the training and education of youth workers. Carefully designed evaluation and research studies have legitimized the learning potential of youth programs and non-school organizations over the last twenty years, and recent attention has shifted towards the education, training, and on-going professional development of youth workers. Contributors define youth work across domains of practice and address the disciplines of knowledge upon which sound practice is based, reviewing examples of youth practitioner development both in and outside of academia. Raising critical questions and concerns about current trends, Advancing Youth Work aims to bring clarity to the field and future of youth work.
Advancing Youth Work will help youth work practitioners develop a common language, articulate their field in one voice, and create a shared understanding of similarities and differences. This book is also an invaluable resource for higher educators, researchers, and students involved with youth work.
Foreword, Shep Zeldin
Preface
Introduction
1. A Conversation with Ellen Gannett, Dana Fusco and Ellen Gannett
I. Competencies and Credentials
2. Embedding and Sustaining Youth Worker Core Competencies in Out-of-School Time Programs, Sarah Jonas
3. Assessing Youth Worker Competence: National Child and Youth Worker Certification, Dale Curry, Andrew J. Schneider-Muñoz, Frank Eckles, and Carol Stuart
4. Establishing Expertise in an Emerging Field, Joyce Walker and Kate Walker
5. Youth Work and the Education of Professional Practitioners in Australia, Judith Bessant
II. Curriculum
6. A Decade of Educating Youth Workers at an Urban Community College, Pete Watkins
7. A Chicago Story: Challenge and Change, Michael Heathfield
8. The Journey to Becoming a Youth Worker, Camille Williamson
9. On Becoming an Academic Profession, Dana Fusco
10. Preparing the Next Generation of Professoriate in Youth Studies: Mapping the Contested Spaces, Ross VeLure Roholt and Michael Baizerman
11. Youth Development Network: A Site for the Professional Development of Youth Workers, Jacqueline Davis-Manigaulte
III. Contexts of Youth Work
12. Youth Work Practice in England, Helen Jones
13. Youth Work as Engagement, Ross VeLure Roholt and Judie Cutler
14. Youth Work across Two Diverse Domains of Practice, Jim Sibthorp, M. Deborah Bialeschki, Carol Stuart and Jack Phelan
15. A Community Education Approach to Youth Work Education, Joel Nitzberg
IV. Conclusion
16. Advancing Youth Work: Opportunities and Challenges, Jane Quinn
17. Framing Trends, Posing Questions, Dana Fusco
About the Authors
Biography
Dana Fusco is Professor of Teacher Education, York College, City University of New York.
"At last we have an anthology that includes writings from across the youth work field! Leaders identify trends and raise critical questions related to competence, standards, education, practices, professional organization, and administration of after school, youth development, and child and youth care programs."
—Mark Krueger, Professor of Youth Work, School of Continuing Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"Dana Fusco has brought together an expert group of scholars and practitioners who write with clarity, feeling, and understanding. The authors are adept at integrating research, practitioner wisdom, and observation. In reading this volume, one walks away with vivid images of exemplary youth work, and equally important, with cogent analyses and case examples of effective strategies for youth work education. It raises the bar, and helps set new standards for excellence."
—From the foreword by Shepherd Zeldin, Bascom Rothermel Professor of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin- Madison
"Youth work is a noble endeavor, but now it is time to build a skilled profession that can support all young people. This volume introduces the creative thinking of leading researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers. It is a must-read!"
—Gil G. Noam, Associate Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School
