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Ethical Issues in Youth Work Conference

13th July 2010

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The place of ethics in youth work:between the personal & the public

Sarah Banks

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Ethics: is about principles and norms of behaviour relating to right and wrong action; the good and bad qualities of people’s character and relationships that are relevant to human, animal and planetary flourishing.

This includes matters of rights, duties, needs, interests, relationships, motives and the maintenance or transgression of prevailing norms.

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Youth work as a specialist occupation

Work with young people with an informal educational and/or developmental approach and purpose that is carried out by people who are qualified as youth workers, or who consciously adopt the identity of ‘youth worker’ within an organisational setting (this includes volunteers and part-time workers).

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Approaches to working with young people

Youth social workCare, education & control, including advice, counselling, compulsory youth programmes (individual & group work).Youth trainingFormal education & training to prepare for jobs, enhance life skills (individual & group work)

Youth leisure work – Recreat-ional activities, often in groups, voluntary engagement, may have informal educational process & outcomes e.g. sports teams.

Youth workInformal education, usually with group work; often based on voluntary engagement of young people.

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Where do we find ethics in youth work?

1. In practice - no shortage of stories of ethical challenges from youth workers.

2. In statements of principles – e.g.‘Ethical Conduct in Youth Work’ (NYA, 2000).

3. In textbooks - three books on youth work ethics in one year (2009-10).

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1. Practice example, stealing: everyday perennial

While out on a trip with a group of young people, I [a female youth worker] saw one of the participants, a young woman, stealing sweets from a shop. Nobody else seemed to have noticed. The young woman had recently returned to the youth club after a long absence and her behaviour was often challenging. I felt I was just beginning to develop a relationship of trust with her, and therefore decided not to mention the theft.

Afterwards I wondered if I had done the right thing: by not mentioning the incident, I was condoning the theft and passing on the value that it was acceptable.

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Practice example, surveillance: Specific, current

Two youth workers based in a school but with an area remit had been working in a youth work project in a seaside village. The project was a response to political pressure ‘to do something’ about a large group of young people who gathered by the beach in the evenings. The young people generally behaved well. Although there were a few instances of drinking, mostly the young people just wanted to be together, in a large group as they were accustomed to do at school. Youth workers established good relationships with group members, whom they felt were in danger of becoming unreasonably criminalised. A minor incident with one young man drinking led to images of members of the group being captured on surveillance cameras. Youth workers were asked to meet with police and school leaders, shown video images of the group and asked to identify the young people. They felt little understanding of, or respect for their role as youth workers from the other agencies.

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2. NYA ethical principles

• Treat young people with respect. • Respect and promote young people’s rights to make

their own decisions and choices • Promote and ensure the welfare and safety of young

people• Contribute towards the promotion of social justice for

young people and in society generally. • Practise with integrity, compassion, courage and

competence

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3. Textbooks

Three books on youth work ethics in one year (2009-10).

Is this indicative of the individual turn in social and political life, locating rights and responsibilities in individuals and seeing public issues as private troubles? (Tony Taylor, In defence of youth work conference, Manchester, Feb 2010)

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How valid is this critique of ethics?

1. Practice – distinguish individual decision-making and responsibilities in relation to ethical dilemmas and problems from individual and collective responses to ethical issues. Ethics encompasses all.

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Ethical issues – pervade youth work practice in that it takes place in the context of state-sponsored systems of welfare and control where matters of needs, rights, duties, interests, relationships, motives and the maintenance or transgression of prevailing norms are at stake. Ethical problems – arise when the worker faces a difficult situation, where a decision has to be made, but where there is no dilemma for the person making the decision – that is, it is clear which course of action to take. Ethical dilemmas – arise when the youth worker faces a decision-making situation involving a difficult choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives and it is not clear which choice will be the right one. Any decision leaves a ‘remainder’ or ‘residue’ (e.g. remorse or regret).

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2. Principles and guidance – distinguish statements that encourage mindless rule following (e.g. detailed codes of ethics) from those that promote informed critical reflection and action (e.g. statements of values and general principles).

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3. Textbooks - distinguish those that offer a traditional Anglo American version of professional ethics focusing on abstract principles, codes, conduct and individual rational decision-making, from those that take a broader approach to ethics in professional life and include also the context of politics and policy, commitment, character, collective responsibility.

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The place of ethics in youth work?

Practical and personal

Political and public

Ethical

Youth work as a set of activities(passion and enthusiasm for the work)

Youth work as a professional practice(integrity and responsibility in the role)

Youth work as a social movement (commitment to a cause)

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Ethics work:Negotiating between the personal and the public;

the practical and the political

• moral perception or attentiveness to the salient moral features of situations; empathy; care; compassion.

• recognition of the political context of practice and the practitioner’s own professional power (reflexivity);

• the moral struggle to be a good practitioner– maintaining

personal and professional integrity while carrying out the requirements of the agency role.

• the moral courage to challenge unethical or oppressive behaviour by young people and colleagues; and to challenge poor, bad and unjust practices and policies.

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Ethics and Social Welfare journal, www.informaworld.com/esw

Ethics and Social Welfare Network – to join, e-mail:Ethicsandsocialwelfare@tandf.co.uk

Conference: Good practice in Challenging Times, 12th November, 2010, London, UK. Contact:

Ethicsandsocialwelfare@tandf.co.uk