Abstract

This paper undertakes a select survey of international literature to identify the points of convergence that support common understanding – and debate – amongst youth workers, researchers and policy makers in regards to definitional commonalities in professional youth work. We find that non-formal education, framed by human rights, appears to offer definitional common ground for youth work practice globally. Drawing on the Australian context to ground the discussion, the paper considers how revision of key definitional documents to reflect the pedagogic basis of youth work could inform the tertiary level training and preparation of youth work students and the state-based codes of ethics that inform and regulate professional youth work practice. This is important for professional youth work in Australia as the only nationally agreed statement on youth work currently lacks a pedagogical definition. While precisely categorizing the practices and programs used by youth workers remains a challenge, there is much common ground found amongst the non-formal and informal education conceptualisations of youth work internationally. While there are differences in the way professional youth work is delivered across countries and jurisdictions, there appears to be an agreed underpinning pedagogical framework, often referred to as social pedagogy, which is commonly applied, and informs the practices and programs delivered to the diverse and complex young people who benefit from them.

摘要

本文对国际文献进行了选择性调查，以确定支持青年工作者、研究人员和政策制定者之间关于职业青年工作定义共性的共同理解和辩论的共识点。我们发现，以人权为框架的非正规教育似乎为全球青年工作实践提供了明确的共同基础。本文以澳大利亚的背景为基础进行讨论，考虑了如何修订关键定义文件以反映青年工作的教学基础，从而为青年工作学生的高等教育培训和准备以及以州为基础的道德准则提供信息和指导。规范青年职业实践。这对于澳大利亚的职业青年工作非常重要，因为目前唯一全国一致同意的青年工作声明缺乏教学定义。虽然对青年工人使用的做法和计划进行精确分类仍然是一个挑战，但在青年工人之间发现了许多共同点国际青年工作的非正规和非正式教育概念。虽然不同国家和地区的职业青年工作方式存在差异，但似乎有一个商定的基础教学框架，通常被称为社会教育学，它被普遍应用，并为向不同群体提供的实践和计划提供信息。复杂的年轻人从中受益。