By Nick Hudd

Back in 2019, I wrote an article about the youth work response to homelessness. At the time, Welsh Government had recently announced a bold ambition to end youth homelessness by 2027. Five years later, it seems reasonable to take time to reflect on the current situation and cast an eye to the future.

Recently, various interested parties worked collectively to plan and facilitate a national conference, ‘Working Together to Address Youth Homeless’. Perhaps this event offers a tangible illustration of the current state of play and an example of the sector doing what it does best, building partnerships, seeking to address deficits, finding ways to share examples of good practice, and working together in the interest of young people.

All 22 local authority youth services collaborated and agreed to co-fund the event, along with a third sector partner, End Youth Homelessness Cymru. Welsh Government and WLGA also played a pivotal role in helping plan and facilitate the day. With the sector sometimes being accused of navel-gazing and recognising the brokerage role that youth work plays, attendees were invited from a range of professions including social care, health, and a host of voluntary/third sector organisations, which totalled almost 200 delegates. For those who may have previously questioned why we have been afforded such a prominent role in helping to address this specific agenda, such comprehensive representation suggests we are making the case.

Youth work has always prided itself on being innovative, adapting, and modifying to meet the needs of contemporary society. Recognising and building on these strengths allow us to effectively respond to youth homelessness. However, in order to move forward, we sometimes have to look back and identify areas where more development has been required.

Practitioners need to continue to move away from an over reliance on anecdotal reflections, and instead ensure they effectively articulate the strategic and systematic methodology and pedagogy that informs, shapes, and governs our work. Whilst we see ourselves as informal/non-formal educators, there has historically been a misconception by some that there is no formal framework to our approach. By using and referring to the host of tools at our disposal, we can counter such erroneous beliefs whilst improving outcomes for young people. The more we do to service these requirements, especially when interacting with those outside of the sector, the greater the comprehension by others, and the more collaborative working opportunities, inevitably leading to better outcomes.

The Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (YEPF) provides an example where we can illustrate a systematic, strategic approach, whilst linking our work to wider Welsh Government initiatives. The six key core components of the framework, not only prescribe a clear systematic approach to our work on youth homelessness, but also enable us to offer a clear and concise narrative on our approach as well as a way to start evidencing our work. Below I reflect on just two in an attempt to illustrate these points:

Early identification

Youth work has always been needs-led. In order to identify the need and act appropriately in partnership with others, we need to ensure we develop these systems. Practitioners are well adept to profiling the communities in which they are engaged, whether this is defined geographically or as part of a specified subject, such as health, youth offending, or homelessness. Establishing these systems are a continuum of this approach.

Examples of practice

By using robust data sets across various domains in housing, social care, and education we (in my own organisation) have been able to track the common causes of youth homelessness in order to inform interventions. We can identify areas including geographical and school locations, as well as specific demographics where youth homelessness presentations are higher, so we can target communities and those who have experienced specific contributing factors, with more intensive interventions. In addition, by back-tracking these individuals through engagement with a host of services, we can establish where we or others, can intervene sooner.

Brokerage

Youth work has always adopted a proactive approach in this regard. For example, signposting young people, aiding in the process of them accessing other services, offering venues in which to host meetings, or staff to support them in their interaction with others. The contributing factors and causes of youth homelessness are varied, broad ranging, and because of this, no singular organisation, department, or sector can afford to adopt a unilateral approach to addressing it.

Examples of practice

By working with young people and other providers, we have been able to identify where obstacles exist, ascertain gaps in provision, and explore any perceived lack of understanding or challenges in processes and procedures. Our ‘Voices’ project, gives young people a chance to share their experiences of accessing and using services. This helps inform both their peers and other stakeholders. We have also established a Youth Housing and Homelessness Forum, where participants use their own experiences to identify issues and collectively work with partners to find solutions. We have developed information resources, including videos and infographics which explain where to get help and support, who from and how. Such a collaborative approach aids the brokerage agenda, ensuring we work together to establish a continuity of provision and young people receive the right support, at the right time by the right people

As previously alluded to, linking our work to other wider Welsh Government initiatives encourages Youth Work practitioners and other professional partners to develop a better strategic understanding of the role we play in this and other agendas. For example, the youth homeless element of YEPF is referred to in Welsh Government documents:

• Children and young people’s plan
• Child Poverty Strategy for Wales 2024
• Ending Homelessness in Wales: A high level action plan 2021-2026
• Housing Support Grant Guidance

Reflection on these few examples highlights how our work transcends a host of strategic initiatives and work across different domains. We, as a sector, need to capitalise on this and ensure all stakeholders are aware of our proactive function.

In my previous article, I referred to ‘In Defence of Youth Work’ who suggested the youth sector generated at least £10 for every £1 of sector expenditure. Our approach of involving young people in designing, delivering, co-facilitating, and evaluating ours and others stakeholder’s interventions, not only ensure such provisions are meeting their needs, but also adds financial value. To put it crudely, this input comes at little cost.

Locally we facilitate a furniture and equipment loan scheme which is only able to function because of the generosity of people and businesses in our community making donations that enable young people to equip and furnish their homes. All this however takes another form of investment. Time. Relationship building needs time. Effective systematic approaches require time. Local, regional, and national work takes time to develop. A long-term progressive strategy needs to be afforded appropriate time. In order to make the case for financial investment, we need to ensure all the elements reflected on above shape, inform, and steer our work moving forward.

It’s been a while since youth work was formally inspected. Work to develop a standalone form of youth work inspection by Estyn is underway and youth work inspection will be reintroduced from late 2024. The reintroduction of inspection follows the introduction of the Youth Work Quality Mark for Wales. In this blog, we will explain what inspection is and how the Youth Work Quality Mark complements it.

Youth work has been considered as part of local authority inspections, but introducing a stand-alone inspection for the whole of youth work will help to highlight the important contribution this education field is making to the lives of young people in Wales. It will also help to underline the legislative basis for youth work, including its statutory basis, and the importance of maintaining a vibrant voluntary youth work sector.

Estyn colleagues, along with representatives from across the youth work field, are in the process of refining the detail of what inspection will actually look like, a process which will continue until the pilot inspections are completed in early 2024. This collegiate approach will ensure that the inspection process is supportive and meaningful, as well as being a key driver for service improvement.

When we work with young people, the quality of our interventions are often hard to define. That moment of engagement, when a young person has turned an emotional corner, grasped an opportunity, or worked out a solution to a problem are the highs in many youth workers’ careers.

These moments are often the result of many hours of planning, reflection, development, or change. Listening and responding to young people is critical. These breakthroughs are examples of the principles and values of youth work making a real difference to a young person. Sometimes, the youth work sector itself generalises this by justifying it as ‘just part of the job’. We must not lose sight of the fact that youth workers often go that extra mile to help and support young people. These moments, and the preparation for them, should be celebrated. Understanding and evaluating the impact of the work we do is a crucial part of self-evaluation and supports organisations to further improve their youth work.

High-quality youth work has a crucial role to play in supporting many young people to achieve their full potential and successfully negotiate key transitions between the ages of 11-25. Through informal and non-formal educational approaches, effective youth work practice builds the capacity and resilience of young people, and can change their lives for the better. Through participation in youth work, young people gain confidence and competence, develop self-assurance, and have the opportunity to establish high expectations and aspirations for themselves.

The Quality Mark for Youth Work in Wales enables organisations to celebrate these moments, and the hard work and endeavour it takes to achieve them. It aids service improvement through reflection and review. The voluntary nature of this process demonstrates a commitment to excellence via a route of self-assessment and peer assessment. Achieving the Quality Mark brings many benefits to organisations. Most notably, having a badge of excellence which shows they are truly delivering a service to young people which you, your peers, and Wales can be proud of.

Youth work inspection will enhance the recognition of youth work in the eyes of those with significant influence, such as the Welsh Government, senior management of organisations, external funding bodies, and others. Inspection in particular aims to have this kind of influence on the education field, inside local authorities, schools, the FE sector, other employers, government, unions and funders. This is achieved by promoting the status of youth work alongside other education professions.

The intention is that the reintroduction of inspection provides public scrutiny and recognition. In turn, it is hoped that this will raise the profile of youth work, providing the whole field with a platform for improvement and opportunity. All statutory education services, and their governance bodies, are required to be publicly accountable via the inspection process, including local authority youth services. Voluntary sector youth work groups will also be included.

Inspection also provides public feedback on youth work for young people and the wider community about the youth work happening in their area. The Quality Mark assessment does not result in a published report, but inspection will. However, both will be focused on highlighting innovation and good practice. Any concerns arising are highlighted in a supportive and empowering way to help organisations provide the best possible services for young people.

The Quality Mark has a self-assessment element which is available for all youth work organisations in Wales to use regardless of their size, where they receive their funding, or whether they then take the step to being externally verified. Estyn will use the self-assessment and improvement planning processes that organisations already have in place as the starting point for inspection and providers won’t be expected to produce any additional documentation before an inspection.   

Because of the legislative requirement to inspect youth work, the main key difference between Quality Mark and inspection is that the Quality Mark is voluntarily applied for, whilst inspection is mandatory.  

Like the Quality Mark, the inspection process will involve uploading evidence to a virtual area. Estyn will also provide a number of guidance documents with the provider in the same way. There is no expectation that providers prepare documentation specifically for inspection, only to share their internal reporting and quality assurance reports. The process for assessing the Quality Mark and the inspection process helps to focus on the importance of effective self-evaluation. Inspection can be seen as a way of validating the types of service improvement that were prompted and encouraged by Quality Mark assessment. During an inspection, inspectors primary evidence base comes though meetings with young people, youth workers, and other key partners, and observing first hand youth work happening.  

What you see, and how you feel when you interact with us is important.

Over the past few months, you will have noticed a change in how many of our communications look – from our colours, to our typeface, to the language we use.

This is all to improve the service and experience you receive.

Why have we decided to make changes?

As an organisation, we are committed to being inclusive. We want everyone to be able understand our work and to engage with us, so have made improvements to our communications to ensure this is the case.

So, what has changed?

One of the biggest changes you will see is to our website - that’s because we have undertaken a full redesign.

The new site has a much simpler, cleaner look. We’ve changed the layout on some of our webpages and the structure of some of our menus to make sure users have the best possible journey. All of our content has been reviewed, and rewritten (where required) to make sure that what you see is accessible, consistent, and accurate. The website is also now fully responsive so will be accessible no matter the device you are using.

We have also moved our accessibility toolbar (ReachDeck) icon to a more prominent position at the top of the page. ReachDeck is a tool from Texthelp which helps us to make our online content more accessible. It provides all users with additional accessibility features including text-to-speech, picture dictionary, text magnifier, and screen masking.

Alongside the website, we have been redesigning a number of our core pieces of corporate literature including our leaflets, publications, and an all-new corporate animation. These are consistent in design, jargon free, and better represent the education workforce in Wales.

Hayden Llewellyn, our Chief Executive said “As the independent, professional regulator for the education workforce in Wales, it is vital that those who wish to engage with us can do so without limitations or restrictions.

“Our Strategic Plan and Strategic Equality Plan sets out our ambitions in terms of being a forward-looking, independent, and responsive regulator, committed to fairness, diversity, and equality of opportunity. In order to achieve this, we need to ensure that our audiences can interact with us in the manner most comfortable to them.

“I’m delighted with the work we have achieved so far, but we will not become complacent. We will continue to look for ways we can improve further, ensuring that we are able to effectively deliver our core function of regulating in the public interest.”

Want to provide feedback?

All of this has been undertaken with you, our audience, in mind, so it’s important for us to make sure we are getting things right. If you would like to feedback on the changes we have made, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Dr Russell Grigg, Director of Initial Teacher Education and Dr Helen Lewis, PGCE Primary Programme Director.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Donald Schön's influential publication, ‘The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action’, which has shaped the design of initial teacher education programmes in Wales and beyond. One of the most challenging of Schön's concepts is reflection-in-action, commonly described as thinking-on-your-feet during lessons. This is hard, even for more experienced teachers. But it matters because the ability to think flexibly and make appropriate changes during lessons can make a real difference to what, and how well, both student teachers and children learn.

At Swansea University, we have recently piloted a model among our primary PGCE student teachers to support such reflection-in-action. It is informed by Schön's seminal work, as well as a range of other theories and concepts.

PIT Stop stands for Precise, Insightful and Timely feedback (alternatively described by one of our student teachers as Pause in Teaching). Such feedback takes the form of in-lesson learning conversations between the observing mentor and mentee, each lasting 30-60 seconds and occurring twice during a lesson. One is called by the mentor focusing on an agreed or 'contracted' target beforehand, and the other by student teachers on anything which surprises or puzzles them. Finally, a post-lesson discussion reflects on the impact of these conversations.

The pilot comprised of a cohort of 20 PGCE primary student teachers and one secondary student teacher. Their practice took place in English and Welsh-medium schools, with each student teacher observed once by a trained senior mentor. The sessions were filmed and then shared for comment with both the mentors and student teachers. PIT Stop supplements, rather than replaces, two conventional, formal lesson observations.

The findings were overwhelmingly positive. All of the student teachers strongly agreed that the model added value to their practice and each summed up their thoughts in three words.

In particular, student teachers highlighted the benefits of receiving insightful, formative and actionable feedback as they teach:

‘...the thing that made it really good and helpful is that it was doable’ (Hollie).

‘I think, having that available feedback, and acting on it then, helps you absorb the information more, I think, than the traditional observation [when] you get your feedback at the end’ (Laura).

‘Because of the way that the PIT Stop model works, I think it's just something that is more natural. You do remember the feedback and action rather than the feedback after action’ (Rebekah).

Mentor feedback in PIT Stop 1 can be characterised as advice-giving, akin to coaching, which we feel is developmentally appropriate. The observers received training on the model and how to provide brief, focused feedback.

Student teachers tended to use PIT Stop 2 to 'check in' and seek reassurance that they were on the right lines. In a few cases, student teachers took the opportunity to explain their decision-making.  Rebekah was one of the few who engaged in the kind of reflective questioning and the signalling of experimenting which Schön envisaged. Surprised that her lesson was not going to plan, she called a PIT Stop to explain that she was about to change direction. It takes confidence, trust, and familiarity with a new way of working to engage with such in-the-moment reflective conversations.

PIT Stop is not without its challenges. A couple of student teachers forgot to call their PIT Stops and there was occasional misunderstanding. For example, one mentor found that although the student teacher nodded in agreement with the feedback around positive reinforcement and appeared to understand the suggestions, these were not applied. We concluded that live modelling could be included as a strategy to support student teachers in such cases.

When we brought the observers and observed together to evaluate the project, we had no shortage of further questions to explore. Some of these related to logistical issues (e.g., ‘Could we vary the number of PIT Stops?’) and others were more theoretical (e.g., ‘What is the role of emotions in reflection?’). We agreed upon some non-negotiables in moving forward (e.g., the need for mentor training, a preliminary and post-lesson meeting, and agreed target) and where we could be flexible (e.g., the order of the PIT Stops). We then formulated guidance to support the wider dissemination of the model and created outputs such as animations and posters to convey key messages in an accessible format.

There was unanimous agreement that the success of PIT Stop rests on relationships between mentor and mentee, the quality of questioning and interaction, framing the dialogue around a developmental, non-judgemental narrative, and close liaison between university and partner schools. The post-lesson discussion was key to facilitating reflection-on-action.

PIT Stop is conceived as a form of ongoing professional enquiry rather than conventional assessment of school-based teaching experiences. This aligns with our vision to develop research informed, reflective practitioners. We are currently working with our partners to explore whether the model might work for other audiences, such as teaching assistants and newly qualified teachers. If you would like to know more about the model or working collaboratively on its further development and implementation, please get in touch.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the participating ITE leads, mentors and student teacher for their participation.