Welcome to the Institute for Youth Work
By joining the IYW you are adding your voice to several hundred others’ who all have the interest of improving the lives of young people through the phenomenal discipline that is youth work.
As a member, you will have full access to the growing range of benefits accessible through our website and be offered opportunities to contribute to strategic discussions happening in the youth work sector, with the UK Government, the Commonwealth and the wider world. Active membership is encouraged so please do consider standing for election to the IYW Council, announced in the build-up to our AGM and annual conference.
As the current Chair of the IYW Council, I look forward to working with you to grow the Institute’s voice and influence in order to positively advance our profession long into the future.
PRIORITY 1: BUILD THE RECOGNITION OF THE BENEFITS AND VALUE OF YOUTH AND COMMUNITY WORK
- Actively promote the values and ethics of youth work
- Challenge those who confuse this with play or early years work
- Continuously advocate for youth work, present evidence-based research, publish case studies etc.
- Share good news and good practice widely
- Make the evidence agenda real for practitioners and support them with this
PRIORITY 2: RAISING PROFESSIONAL YOUTH AND COMMUNITY WORK STANDARDS
- Promote educational pathways
- Widen access to youth and community work research and journals
- Promote networking activities, best practice events and reflective spaces
- Continued investigation of the viability and impact of a License to Practice
PRIORITY 3: INCREASE MEMBERSHIP OF AND SUPPORT FOR THE IYW
- Develop robust membership communication, engagement and consultation processes
- Clarity of our professional development offer
- Publish a ‘you said, we did’ report
- Assist membership (including the IYW Council) in promoting the IYW at conferences and events