Professionalism in Youth Development Work: What Youth Workers and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other Monica R. Howell

The Problem: Silos  Disconnect between areas of youths’ lives  School – Home – Community  Disconnect between services to youth  Education – Caring – Social and personal development  Who are the adults in different areas of kids’ lives?  Teachers, administrators, staff members – Family – Friends, neighbors, youth workers

The Problem: Professionalism  Formal educators – teachers, administrators  Bachelor’s degree required at minimum  Certification/licensure required  “Highly qualified” requirements must be met  Informal educators – youth workers  Degree and certification/licensure requirements vary widely by profession or role, e.g.:  Social workers must have bachelor’s degree at minimum plus certification/licensure  Camp counselors may not even have high school diploma

Teachers  Recognized as professionals  Widely respected for knowledge, skills, abilities  Content knowledge  Child development knowledge  Curriculum, instructional material design skills  Instructional delivery skills  Classroom management skills

Challenges Teachers Face  Lack of time and community connections  May not be able to address non-school needs or interests of youth  School constraints  Achievement and testing demands  Large classrooms with variety of student needs  Lack of training and experience  Adult-youth relationship-building  Youth voice and participation

Youth Workers  Not always recognized as professionals  May not be respected for knowledge, skills, abilities  Content knowledge (depending on program)  Youth development knowledge  Recreation, informal development activity skills  Instructional delivery skills  Relationship-building skills  May be more able to focus on whole child

Challenges Youth Workers Face  Discomfort or unfamiliarity with academic research  Discomfort with enacting authority  Keeping adequate distance between adults and youth  Understanding child development at different ages  Increased pressures to make out-of-school time programs more traditionally academic

Recommendations  For teachers  Continual, collaborative, practical on-the-job professional learning relating to youth development and relationship-building  For youth workers  Increased and more formalized professionalism for many jobs/roles  Consensus on youth development definitions, research base, core competencies

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