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Sacred Building, Secular Club

Sacred Building, Secular Club. Negotiating acceptable youth work practice in a contested space Peter Hart 2 nd year PhD student School of Applied Social Science, Durham University Peter.hart@dur.ac.uk www.durham.ac.uk/peter.hart. Aim.

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Sacred Building, Secular Club

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  1. Sacred Building, Secular Club Negotiating acceptable youth work practice in a contested space Peter Hart 2nd year PhD student School of Applied Social Science, Durham University Peter.hart@dur.ac.uk www.durham.ac.uk/peter.hart

  2. Aim • How does a youth club as ‘contested space’ affect conceptions of ‘good’ or ‘ethical’ practice.

  3. Methodology • 8 month ethnographic study of four youth centres: • Local Authority run centre • Community run club • Church based youth ministry • Church based youth café • Methodology based on Wolcott’s (1990) ‘micro-ethnography’

  4. Methodology • Over 90 observations • 23 interviews with workers and managers • 6 focus groups with young people. • Inductive analysis, using aspects of grounded theory, aided by Nvivo.

  5. What is Youth Work? • ‘Cultivation of Gifts in all Directions’ (Forrest 2010) • (See also Young 2006, Morgan and Banks 2010, Jeffs and Smith 2010, • Batsleer and Davies 2010)

  6. What is Youth Work? Relationship • ‘Cultivation of Gifts in all Directions’ (Forrest 2010) • (See also Young 2006, Morgan and Banks 2010, Jeffs and Smith 2010, • Batsleer and Davies 2010)

  7. Contested Space: Youth Café • A contested space is (Schmelzkopf 1995, Valentine 2001):

  8. Contested Space: Youth Café • A contested space is (Schmelzkopf 1995, Valentine 2001):

  9. Ethical practice Local Authority Youth Ministry Character or Virtue approach Integrity of worker key. Incarnational. (Banks 2010, MacIntyre 1984, Hauerwas 1997) • Duty based ethics • Fairness and consistency key to perceptions of good practice. • (Banks 2010, Sercombe 2010) Different ideas of ‘good practice’, but theoretically consistent within themselves.

  10. Ethical practice: Youth Cafe • Workers use personal judgement, while management attempt to impose a rule-based ethic. • No evidence that a ‘good character’ is the basis for making judgements. • Rules used inconsistently. • Spaces within the club not used for ‘moral philosophising’

  11. Conclusion • Youth work = holistic development using relationships, therefore a moral exercise. • Differences in practice in other organisations consistent with underpinning ethical philosophy. • In a contested space differing ideologies create differences in perceptions of good practice.

  12. Selected References • Banks (2010) Ethical Issues in Youth Work, 2nd ed. London: Routledge • Batlseer, J and Davies, B (2010) What Is Youth Work? Exeter: Learning Matters • Forrest, D (2010) ‘The Cultivation of Gifts In All Directions’ in Jeffs, T and Smith, M. K. (eds) Youth Work Practice Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan • Jeffs, T and Smith, M. K. (eds)(2010) Youth Work Practice Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan • MacIntyre, A. C. (1984) After Virtue, 2nd ed. Notre Dame: Notre Dame Press • Schmelzcopf, K (1995) ‘Urban Community Gardens as Contested Space’, Geographical Review, 85(3), 364-381 • Sercombe, H (2010) Youth Work Ethics Exeter, Learning Matters • Valentine, G (2001) Social Geographies, Space and Society Pearson College

  13. Sacred Building, Secular Club Negotiating acceptable youth work practice in a contested space Peter Hart @youthworkerpete Peter.hart@dur.ac.uk www.durham.ac.uk/peter.hart

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