Caerphilly Youth Service have been formally recognised for the quality of their provision, receiving the gold Quality Mark for Youth Work in Wales (QMYW).

The prestigious award was presented by QMYW assessor Catrin James at a special ceremony attended by local dignitaries, youth staff, community members, and young people engaged with the service.

The QMYW (which is administered by the Education Workforce Council (EWC)) is a national award which demonstrates an organisation's excellence. To receive the accreditation, youth work organisations must self-assess against a set of quality standards and pass an external assessment.

Over the last 18 months, the Caerphilly team have achieved all three levels of the QMYW – bronze, silver, and now gold.

During her presentation, Catrin summarised the team as being professional, tenacious, and caring. Elements of the assessor’s final report included how impressed they were by the commitment of the staff, volunteers, and the leadership group. They felt the professionalism of staff provided a bedrock of compliancy to the principles and purposes of youth work in Wales, and that inclusive practice and equality were ingrained in the staff’s DNA.

Speaking after the presentation, Catrin said: “It’s been lovely to celebrate the achievement of Caerphilly Youth Service here in the opening of their new youth centre in Virginia Park.

“In their report the assessors called the service wonderful, and praised the commitment of the staff, how caring they are towards the young people and volunteers, as well as each other. Everything they do, is for the benefit of the young people.”

As well as recognising the achievements of the service, the award also recognises and celebrates young people’s achievements, as well as the impact youth work and youth workers have made on their personal journeys.

Cllr Jamie Pritchard, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Prosperity, Regeneration and Climate Change said “It is fantastic to officially open the Virginia Park Youth Centre and celebrate Caerphilly Youth Service achieving the Gold Quality Mark. I send my congratulations to all those involved for this outstanding achievement.”.

For more information about the QMYW, including how your organisation can gain accreditation, or how you can become an assessor, visit the EWC’s website.

The Education Workforce Council (EWC) has published its Strategic Plan 2024-27 and Strategic Equality Plan (SEP) 2024-28.

The two documents detail how the independent, professional regulator for the education workforce in Wales will deliver its core statutory functions effectively, efficiently, and sustainably, ensuring equality and fairness throughout.

Included within the Strategic Plan 2024-27 are the EWC’s priorities and objectives for the next three-years in-line with its statutory role and remit. It also reinforces the EWC’s vision to be a trusted, independent, professional regulator, that works in the public interest to maintain professionalism and enhance standards within the education workforce in Wales.

Closely aligned to this, the SEP seeks to build upon progress achieved to date, and explains how the EWC will work to promote equality and diversity through five ambitious strategic objectives.

Launching both plans, EWC Chief Executive, Hayden Llewellyn, said “With over 90,000 education practitioners now registered with us, it’s essential our priority continues to be robust registration and regulation.  

“However, these plans go further. They detail how we will continue to promote careers in the education workforce through initiatives such as Educators Wales, provide guidance and resources to our registrants, and maintain and further strengthen our presence on key national groups and committees, providing sound advice and evidence.

“These plans are the result of extensive collaboration, consultation, and reflection, and clearly outline our vision for the future, highlighting key objectives and initiatives that will guide our efforts.”

These plans were developed in consultation with registrants, stakeholders across the wider education sector, the public, and EWC Council members and staff.

They are available to read on the EWC’s website alongside a full suite of corporate documents.

Video: Hayden Llewellyn, Chief Executive of EWC, launches EWC's Strategic Plan for 2024-2027

The Education Workforce Council (EWC), in partnership with Education Training Standards (ETS) Wales, has been re-commissioned by Welsh Government to deliver and develop the nationally recognised Quality Mark for Youth Work (QMYW) in Wales until March 2025.

The QMYW is a national award which supports and recognises improving standards in the provision and performance of organisations that deliver youth work services. In order to receive the accreditation, youth work organisations must self-assess against a set of quality standards, and pass an external assessment.

Since being first awarded the contract in 2020, the EWC has:

• completed 60 assessments
• trained 297 youth workers/youth support workers
• trained a pool of 46 assessors

Andrew Borsden, EWC’s Development Officer for the QMYW said “Developing the Quality Mark over the past four years has truly been a pleasure. During this time, the EWC has had the privilege of witnessing outstanding examples of youth work, and it's immensely rewarding to formally acknowledge these achievements through such a prestigious award”.

As the awarding body, the EWC will continue to work with both the 37 current QMYW holders, and new organisations, to continue to develop and grow the award process.

Hayden Llewellyn, EWC Chief Executive said “The Quality Mark contract has been a challenging but exciting project for the Education Workforce Council (EWC) to be involved with.

“As the independent, professional regulator for the education workforce in Wales, it’s great to be able to showcase and recognise those organisations who are demonstrating high standards of conduct and practice.

“We look forward to working with partners to ensure that the youth work sector continues to thrive and make a positive impact on the lives of young people throughout the country”.

Steve Drowely, Chair of ETS said “We are delighted that the contract for the Quality Mark for Youth in Wales has been once again awarded to the EWC.

“We at ETS have worked happily in partnership with our colleagues at the EWC over the last three years. We’ve seen the welcome growth of the Quality Mark, including both maintained and voluntary sector youth organisations, and its positive effect on promoting high standards for the benefit of the young people of Wales.

“We look forward to working closely with EWC over the next phase of the Quality Mark to ensure youth work of the highest standard is enjoyed by young people throughout Wales.”

You can find out more about the QMYW on the EWC website.

Under legislation, the annual fee for those required to register with the EWC is £46, regardless of registration category. This makes EWC registration fees amongst the lowest of any profession across the UK and worldwide, having not risen since we were established in 2015, despite significant increases in costs.

Up to and including the 2023/24 registration period, Welsh Government has provided each registrant with a contribution towards their annual fee, known as a subsidy. This has meant individuals have actually paid either £15 or £45 per year to register, depending on their registration category.

The current financial picture in Wales means that Welsh Government is having to make some difficult funding decisions. We have been informed that they will not be providing the subsidy of the registration fee for the 2024/25 financial year.

We understand the financial impact this may have on you. As such, the EWC has agreed to cover the loss in contribution to our registrants for one year, using reserves, meaning that the fee individuals pay to register will remain unchanged for 2024/25.

We must stress this is not a sustainable long-term option. We are only in a position to do this during 2024/25 as a result of the reduction in expenditure we, and many organisations, experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an independent, professional regulator, we are expected to maintain adequate reserves to cover running costs and contractual obligations should anything unforeseen happen. This is to ensure we are able to continue to deliver an effective and efficient service regulating in the public interest to safeguard learners and young people.

We will continue to share updates on this matter with our registrants and stakeholders as they become available.