Youth Work in Schools. An evidence review from across the UK

Youth work offers personal and social development, informal education
activities, agency and decision-making for young people. Alongside more
traditional forms of open access and centre-based youth work, the informal
education approach of youth workers is a growing resource being utilised by
schools. This seems an obvious synergy with schools supporting the entire
cohorts of young people that youth work aims to reach. Recent research has
demonstrated the positive impacts of youth workers in schools on attendance
and behaviour. Within the HE sector, an increasing number of youth work
graduates are being employed by formal education institutions and alternative
education organisations. However, as this review of evidence from across four
UK countries will show, there is not one uniform way in which youth workers
become an integral part of everyday schools life. This policy briefing shares
evidence of a range of good practices for implementing youth work in schools,
alongside research conducted by our Universities, within this area. Together
we show that this implementation varies depending upon the positioning of
youth work within national-level policy.