Essays in the history of youth and community work
This book is a contribution to the emergent history of youth and community work. It aims to introduce contemporary practitioners to the richness of the knowledge gained within the past practice in a profession which can date its origins to the beginnings of industrialisation.
For over two hundred years, youth and community workers have used methods which continue to be recognisable and distinct, and leading practitioners have exercised considerable influence upon the social and organisational policies which helped shape welfare structures in Europe and the USA. This story has important lessons to reveal in terms of current policy-making. Loss of historical memory has condemned successive generations of youth and community workers to continuously recreate theory and practice, the lessons of the past in the hope that these can inform present practice. This makes an important contribution to the maintenance of the distinctive professional identity of youth an community work, helping to restore it to its place alongside the related welfare professions of social work and teaching.
All those who work with young people - youth and community workers, social workers, teachers, as well as students, researchers, lecturers, tutors.
Ruth Gilchrist is Education, Training and Development Officer at UK Youth.
Tony Jeffs teaches at Durham University, School of Applied Social Sciences, and is a visiting tutor at Ruskin College,
Jean Spence teaches in the School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University.
Joyce A Walker teaches a Center for 4-H and Community Youth Development, University of Minnesota.