Editorial

4 pages, 156 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

by Pam Alldred and Frances Howard

Educ. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 301; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12050301 - 25 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1600

As Youth and Community Work courses in Higher Education dwindle across the UK, following years of austerity and cuts to Youth Services, the diverse pedagogies of informal education are more needed than ever [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

Research

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14 pages, 250 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Re-Imagining Approaches to Learning and Teaching: Youth and Community Work Education Post COVID-19

by Sheila Curran, Sinead Gormally and Christine Smith

Educ. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030201 - 11 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2879

Abstract

This article draws on research undertaken by the Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work (PALYCW) in collaboration with the Open University, University of Glasgow and the University of Hull. The authors are all part of a community of practice of [...] Read more.

This article draws on research undertaken by the Professional Association of Lecturers in Youth and Community Work (PALYCW) in collaboration with the Open University, University of Glasgow and the University of Hull. The authors are all part of a community of practice of lecturers teaching in higher education on Community and Youth Work (CYW) degree programmes. These CYW programmes are professionally endorsed by Youth Work and Community Development professional bodies across the UK. They adopt informal methodologies and have a strong focus on preparing students to work as informal educators with young people and communities. The unique contribution of this paper is highlighting the experiences, issues and challenges presented and exploring creative approaches that have been developed by programmes that adopt these approaches to educate professional practitioners. Looking forward in a context of great uncertainty, the research also set out to consider what the future might look like for CYW programmes, located in the neoliberal university. Questions explored included the extent to which the pandemic might lead to longer term changes in learning and teaching methodologies in CYW in higher education (HE) and how CYW programmes should be preparing students for navigating practice in the society that unfolds post COVID-19 as the basis for taking action in communities in response to new formations of social injustice and inequality with conscious intent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

13 pages, 284 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Student Collaboration in Action: A Case Study Exploring the Role of Youth Work Pedagogy Transforming Interprofessional Education in Higher Education

by Tim Howell

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(12), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11120761 - 25 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2321

Abstract

The College of Health, Psychology, and Social Care at the University of Derby has transformed its Interprofessional Education (IPE) offer from a top-down standalone event into a five-year strategy designed and delivered in genuine collaboration with students. Across the higher education sector, IPE [...] Read more.

The College of Health, Psychology, and Social Care at the University of Derby has transformed its Interprofessional Education (IPE) offer from a top-down standalone event into a five-year strategy designed and delivered in genuine collaboration with students. Across the higher education sector, IPE has been a struggle, tokenistic at best, with limited buy-in from students. When academic-led it prevents deep learning; however, by utilising an informal education approach students bring their life, programme, and practice learning together to genuinely break down barriers between professional disciplines. This paper will use an autoethnographic case study to explore the challenges and opportunities of genuine collaboration based on youth work principles in the creation of a ‘value-added curriculum’, not aligned to modules or assessments. It found that buy-in from academics and students comes when students are empowered to take the lead. This is based on youth work pedagogical principles of group work, relationships with shrinking professional distance, critical pedagogy, genuine agency, and an emotional connection made between the professionals and service users. It suggests the potential is considerable as youth workers bring their pedagogical practice to a broader range of spaces within and beyond higher education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

15 pages, 763 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pedagogies of Discomfort and Care: Balancing Critical Tensions in Delivering Gender-Related Violence Training to Youth Practitioners

by Fin Cullen and Michael Whelan

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 562; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090562 - 19 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2801

Abstract

This reflective paper explores the emotions, ethics, and challenges of facilitating training for youth practitioners to tackle gender-related violence (GRV). This paper draws on insights from a training intervention that emerged from an EU-funded feminist project (UK GAPWORK project), which sought to bring [...] Read more.

This reflective paper explores the emotions, ethics, and challenges of facilitating training for youth practitioners to tackle gender-related violence (GRV). This paper draws on insights from a training intervention that emerged from an EU-funded feminist project (UK GAPWORK project), which sought to bring together approaches to tackle violence against women and girls with challenging heteronormativity and homophobia. Drawing on accounts from facilitators and participants, the aim of this paper is to identify tensions, opportunities and strategies in developing training to support critically engaged practice around sensitive topics such as GRV, and to consider the significance of working with discomfort within any such training intervention. We reflect on how discomfort presented within the training space and the challenges presented. This paper examines how Boler’s theoretical work on pedagogy of discomfort can be operationalised to think productively about designing and delivering training for informal educators on sensitive issues with ethical integrity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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14 pages, 737 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Idealistic Assertions or Realistic Possibilities in Community and Youth Work Education

by Sinéad Gormally, Annette Coburn and Edward Beggan

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 561; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090561 - 18 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2235

Abstract

Community and youth work (CYW) practice has been articulated as striving towards a more socially just and equal society and is theorised as a catalyst for social change that seeks to overcome power differentials. Yet, despite these claims, there is limited empirical evidence [...] Read more.

Community and youth work (CYW) practice has been articulated as striving towards a more socially just and equal society and is theorised as a catalyst for social change that seeks to overcome power differentials. Yet, despite these claims, there is limited empirical evidence to inform knowledge about the extent to which ‘equality work’ is featured and practiced in CYW programmes in higher education. This article draws on perspectives from current and former CYW students in the UK which routinely claim critical pedagogy as the bedrock of professionally approved degree programmes. Utilising a survey approach, our aim was to examine the experiences of students to find out if teaching, learning and assessment practices in professionally approved CYW programmes can be argued as helping students to articulate practice as emancipatory. The findings indicate that there was coherence and a strong understanding of core theories that confirmed CYW programmes as helping students to articulate emancipatory practice. In relation to teaching and learning, programmes were not as aligned with critical pedagogy, inclining more towards traditional and formal methods than alternative or informal methods. Finally, an imbalance between the persistent use of standardised assessment methods over more flexible and creative assessments suggested a reluctance to seek, or develop, more emancipatory sustainable assessment alternatives. The article concludes by arguing that informal education and, specifically, CYW programmes are well-placed to drive institutional and social change forward. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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13 pages, 228 KiB

Open AccessArticle

(Re)Assembling Anti-Oppressive Practice Teachings in Youth and Community Work through Collective Biography (2)

by Rick Bowler, Steph Green, Christine Smith and Liz Woolley

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 497; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090497 - 03 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2632

Abstract

This article draws on research undertaken as part of a Collective Biography project generated by a group of activists and lecturers teaching and researching in youth and community work (YCW). Collective Biography (CB) is an approach to research in which participants work productively [...] Read more.

This article draws on research undertaken as part of a Collective Biography project generated by a group of activists and lecturers teaching and researching in youth and community work (YCW). Collective Biography (CB) is an approach to research in which participants work productively with memory and writing to generate collective action orientated analysis. The emphasis on collectivized approaches to CB work acts as a potential strategy to disrupt and resist the reproduction of power in academic knowledge-making practices and the impact of powerful policy discourses in practice. The article explores the current context and contemporary challenges for teaching anti-oppressive practice in UK based universities before briefly scoping out the methodology of CB. Extracts from a memory story are used as an example of the process of collective analysis generated through the process of CB in relation to racism, the role of anti-oppressive practice, and as the basis for YCW educators to think collectively about implications for teaching going forward. The article goes on to explore the role of concepts that were worked with as part of the CB process and considers the potential significance for teaching anti-oppressive practice in YCW. The article concludes by starting to scope out key considerations relating to the potential role of CB as a grass roots strategy to open spaces of possibility alongside young people and communities in reassembling the teaching of anti-oppressive practice in YCW. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

15 pages, 951 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Education of Informal Educators

by Tony Jeffs and Mark K. Smith

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090488 - 01 Sep 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3939

Abstract

No undergraduate or postgraduate programmes currently exist for the professional education of informal educators. The authors outline the development of previous programmes and consider the emergence of informal education as a discrete concept. The article then highlights some key failings in the professional [...] Read more.

No undergraduate or postgraduate programmes currently exist for the professional education of informal educators. The authors outline the development of previous programmes and consider the emergence of informal education as a discrete concept. The article then highlights some key failings in the professional education of informal educators and outlines some changes in the orientation and content of programmes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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21 pages, 322 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Educating Informal Educators on Issues of Race and Inequality: Raising Critical Consciousness, Identifying Challenges, and Implementing Change in a Youth and Community Work Programme

by Jess Achilleos, Hayley Douglas and Yasmin Washbrook

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(8), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080410 - 06 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4168

Abstract

The debate regarding institutional racism and White privilege within higher education (HE) remains prevalent, and higher education institutions (HEIs) are not exempt from the racial equality debate. Youth and Community Work is underpinned by anti-oppressive practice, highlighting a need to educate informal educators [...] Read more.

The debate regarding institutional racism and White privilege within higher education (HE) remains prevalent, and higher education institutions (HEIs) are not exempt from the racial equality debate. Youth and Community Work is underpinned by anti-oppressive practice, highlighting a need to educate informal educators on the structural underpinnings of Race and inequlaity, so that they can be challenged in practice to bring about social change. For Youth and Community Workers, this is primarily done through informal education and critical pedagogy. The research aimed to unearth race inequality within the Youth and Community Work programme at Wrexham Glyndŵr University (WGU). Critical reflection methodology was used to deconstruct departmental processes of recruitment, learning and assessment, student voice, and support. Research data was analysed using thematic analysis, determining three themes: critical consciousness, challenge, and change. These are discussed within the framework of Critical Race Theory and critical pedagogy. The research concludes that oppression, and therefore inequality, occurs in the Youth and Community Work programme. Further reading of issues reported in HEIs across the United Kingdom shows that more analysis and deconstruction is needed through CRT. Educating informal educators on issues of race and inequality to raise critical consciousness is one way this can be achieved. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

11 pages, 1464 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“It’s Like Being Back in GCSE Art”—Engaging with Music, Film-Making and Boardgames. Creative Pedagogies within Youth Work Education

by Frances Howard

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(8), 374; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080374 - 22 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3427

Abstract

Creative pedagogies within youth work practice are well established. Practitioners working with young people are often called upon to utilise their own personal and professional ‘toolboxes’, as a way of supporting ‘Creative Arts Youth Work’. However, within Higher Education (HE), creative methods for [...] Read more.

Creative pedagogies within youth work practice are well established. Practitioners working with young people are often called upon to utilise their own personal and professional ‘toolboxes’, as a way of supporting ‘Creative Arts Youth Work’. However, within Higher Education (HE), creative methods for teaching and learning within the university context are often overlooked. The problem posed by this article is: how can HE ‘catch-up’ with more advanced pedagogies in the field of practice? Despite a recent focus on the personalisation of learning within HE, how can arts-based pedagogies, including digital storytelling, be drawn upon to enhance the learning experience? This article reports on three areas of pedagogical innovation engaged with by students undertaking the Youth Studies degree at Nottingham Trent University. Three experimental initiatives are explored, which assisted in educating informal educators, through creative learning techniques. Engaging with music, film-making and boardgames are given as examples of creative pedagogy, reporting on both my own practical experience in organising these activities and student feedback. Results showed that the symbiosis of creative pedagogies with relational and experiential learning, key tenets of youth work practice, offered expressive and authentic conditions for learning that are based upon student’s experiences. Therefore, there is much to learn from youth work courses within HE, not only in terms of engaging and encouraging students through creativity, but also setting the scene for the future of creative youth work practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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27 pages, 17073 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Education and Heritage of Medieval Warfare. A Study on the Transmission of Knowledge by Informal Educators in Defensive Spaces

by Darío Español-Solana and Jesús Gerardo Franco-Calvo

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 320; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070320 - 28 Jun 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2909

Abstract

Historical reenactment is becoming a top-tier teaching tool in the countries of Southern Europe. In Spain specifically, this discipline is experiencing a boom as a heritage education method, particularly in informal settings. This article is the outcome of a qualitative research study of [...] Read more.

Historical reenactment is becoming a top-tier teaching tool in the countries of Southern Europe. In Spain specifically, this discipline is experiencing a boom as a heritage education method, particularly in informal settings. This article is the outcome of a qualitative research study of the results obtained from one hundred and fifteen educators from historical reenactment groups. The study analyses the methods used by the exponents of this discipline to teach war in the Middle Ages, specifically in three Spanish castles dating from the 11th to the 12th centuries. It has made it possible to analyse how the educational discourses are organised in relation to Medieval war within military spaces from this period, and how historical reenactment is a coadjutant in the construction of teaching/learning spaces from a heritage education perspective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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Review

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16 pages, 1325 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Contested Terrain of Critical Pedagogy and Teaching Informal Education in Higher Education

by Alan Smith and Mike Seal

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 476; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090476 - 30 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 7873

Abstract

This review explores how critical pedagogy, often cited by educators of informal educators as a key influence, actually informs teaching of informal educators in higher education and assesses its potential to do so. It explores the background to critical pedagogy, its principles, aims [...] Read more.

This review explores how critical pedagogy, often cited by educators of informal educators as a key influence, actually informs teaching of informal educators in higher education and assesses its potential to do so. It explores the background to critical pedagogy, its principles, aims and approaches and examines its worldwide influence on the teaching of informal educators. The authors argue that critical pedagogy is crucial for the teaching of informal educators, enabling lecturer and practitioners to interrupt the hegemony of neo-liberal and neo-managerial thinking in their practice and in higher education, and re-orientate themselves and examine their positionality within their institutions. It will focus on practical examples of enabling critical pedagogy in the teaching of informal education in higher education institutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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Other

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19 pages, 807 KiB

Open AccessViewpoint

Informal Education Pedagogy Transcendence from the ‘Academy’ to Society in the Current and Post COVID Environment

by Ian David Jones and Geraldine Brady

Educ. Sci. 2022, 12(1), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12010037 - 08 Jan 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3295

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to consider the following two notions; (1) that the use of ‘informal education pedagogies’ within teaching and learning in the ‘academy’ can both support the learning process within the ‘classroom’ but also transcend to society via students; [...] Read more.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the following two notions; (1) that the use of ‘informal education pedagogies’ within teaching and learning in the ‘academy’ can both support the learning process within the ‘classroom’ but also transcend to society via students; and (2) that synergies exist between informal education and social pedagogical concepts. The discussions are situated from the perspective of an experienced practitioner and academic who is currently teaching youth related degree courses within a Higher Education Institution. This experiential learning has informed knowledge acquisition, understanding and skills application from professional practice to the teaching environment. An experiential learning perspective will be the primary method adopted; the value of this paper lies in its potential to re-affirm that degree courses which embed a ‘practice the practice’ approach in their teaching methodology support the embedding of core values of the said discipline. The paper argues that the ethically value-based principles and practice of informal education pedagogy, and social pedagogy, are relevant for the current and post COVID-19 pandemic environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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13 pages, 249 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Re-Assembling Anti-Oppressive Practice (1): The Personal, the Political, the Professional

by Janet Batsleer

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 645; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11100645 - 14 Oct 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2247

Abstract

This essay offers a broken narrative concerning the early history of anti-oppressive practice as an approach in the U.K. to youth and community work and the struggles over this in the context of UK higher education between the 1960′s and the early 2000’s. [...] Read more.

This essay offers a broken narrative concerning the early history of anti-oppressive practice as an approach in the U.K. to youth and community work and the struggles over this in the context of UK higher education between the 1960′s and the early 2000’s. Educating informal educators as youth and community workers in the UK has been a site of contestation. Aspects of a genealogy of that struggle are presented in ways which link publicly available histories with personal memories and narratives, through the use of a personal archive developed through collective memory work. These are chosen to illuminate the links between theory and practice: on the one hand, the conceptual field which has framed the education of youth and community workers, whose sources lie in the academic disciplines of education and sociology, and, on the other hand, the social movements which have formed the practice of informal educators. Six have been chosen: (1) The long 1968: challenging approaches to authority; (2) the group as a source of learning; (3) The personal and political: experiential learning from discontent; (4) Paolo Freire and Critical Praxis; (5) A critical break in social education and the reality of youth work spaces as defensive spaces; (6) New managerialism: ethics vs. paper trails. The approach taken, of linking memory work with present struggles, is argued to be a generative form for current critical and enlivening practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

13 pages, 547 KiB

Open AccessViewpoint

Teacher-Student Reflections: A Critical Conversation about Values and Cultural Awareness in Community Development Work, and Implications for Teaching and Practice

by Louise Sheridan and Matthew Mungai

Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090526 - 09 Sep 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4322

Abstract

This reflective, autoethnographic piece provides some insights into our involvement with a program that promotes a value-driven approach to community development work. As a ‘conversation’ between a lecturer and a graduate, or Educator of Informal Educators and Informal Educator, we discuss the process [...] Read more.

This reflective, autoethnographic piece provides some insights into our involvement with a program that promotes a value-driven approach to community development work. As a ‘conversation’ between a lecturer and a graduate, or Educator of Informal Educators and Informal Educator, we discuss the process of teaching and learning about values within day-to-day community development practice. We emphasise that a value-driven approach enables informal educators to celebrate cultural diversity, which can be complex in community settings. As the educator of informal educators (Louise), I reflect on the need to explore and demonstrate what value-driven practice looks like in day-to-day practice within community work and not simply state that values are important. This was prompted by self-reflection and the realisation that my teaching failed to illuminate how to bring values to life in all aspects of community work to achieve anti-discriminatory, inclusive and empowering practice. As an informal educator (Matthew), I consider how community development theories and values translate into meaningful practice that celebrates cultural diversity. Reflections are influenced by theories from Paulo Freire, with a focus on his notion that ‘educators should respect the autonomy of the students and respect cultural identities’. An example of Freirean dialogue, the article discusses our critical consciousness through praxis as educator and informal educator. Acknowledging that we are never fully complete—we are always ‘becoming’—we hope the article will be of interest to both Educators of Informal Educators and Informal Educators alike. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Educating Informal Educators)

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