Issue Based Youth Work
Training Topics
Exploring Prejudice and Discriminatory Attitudes
Working with Young Women, Developing positive relationships
Working with Young Women, Exploring career, education & future aspirations
Exploring Positive Relationships with Young People
Based on Vanessa’s highly acclaimed resource books, these courses offer ideas for activities and projects across the youth work curriculum.
Exploring Prejudice and Discriminatory Attitudes
This training tasks youth workers, Connexions PA's and other professionals to consider effective ways to bring diversity issues into the youth work curriculum in a way that is meaningful, challenging but still fun for young people.
The training offers a toolkit of creative practical activities to use with young people that explore attitudes and values, promote inclusion and challenge stereotypes within a framework of the legislation that governs anti-discriminatory practice.
Learning outcomes
Participants will:
- Explore relevant legislation & consider implications for practice
- Consider effective ways to challenge discriminatory attitudes
- Introduce practitioners to a range of activities that look at issues including racism in sport & sexism
- Share good practice examples
Working with Young Women
Developing positive relationships
Engaging, motivating and exploring friendship and relationship issues with young women is an important part of the youth work curriculum. Based around Vanessa’s book ‘Working with Young Women – activities for exploring personal, social and emotional issues’ published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, this interactive day is specifically for youth workers, and other professionals, planning to work with young women within a single gender environment.
The training introduces a range of activities that encourage young women to celebrate growing up as a female, promote healthy lifestyles and build positive relationships. Issues explored include relationship and sexual bullying, as well as ways to build confidence and assertiveness to raise self-esteem.
Learning outcomes
Through the workshop participants will:
- Look at ways to build emotional resilience and raise self esteem
- Offer ideas to explore motivation, build confidence and develop assertiveness skills
- Consider the media and the impact it has on young women’s relationship expectations
- Try out activities that define and promote positive friendships as well as personal relationships
- Share good practice examples
Working with Young Women
Exploring career, education & future aspirations
For many young women their hopes and dreams are shaped by the celebrity culture around them, and this impacts on their life choices. This training day offers ideas to motivate and inspire young women by exploring gender stereotypes, raising self-esteem and building confidence to enable them to fulfill their potential and reach achievable goals.
Based on Vanessa’s book ‘Working with Young Women – activities for exploring personal, social and emotional issues’ published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, the day provides a framework for small groupwork with young women aged 13-19.
Learning outcomes
Participants will:
- Explore family and cultural expectations for young women
- Consider the impact that the media has on aspiration and expectations
- Explore gender stereotypes in the workplace and ways to challenge them
- Try out a range of activities to use within a groupwork context
- Promote good practice examples of gender empowerment
Cyberbullying
Helping young people to stay safe in a digital age
As the use of cyber technology has increased, so has the misuse of technology both in and outside of schools. One recent study by the Anti-Bullying Alliance reported that 22% of young people have been the target of cyber bullying, and concerns are that as technology develops this figure will continue to rise.
This training has been developed as a response to these concerns and is based on ‘Cyberbullying - Activities to Help Children and Teens to Stay Safe in a Texting, Twittering, Social Networking World’ by Vanessa Rogers and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Learning outcomes
This training day will:
- Raise awareness about cyber-bullying
- Offer practical activities to use with young people to explore the issue and stay safe online
- Set out the legal context
- Look at ways that professionals working with young people can support victims
Young People & Alcohol
The issue of young people's alcohol consumption is one that has attracted wide publicity and is a major concern for anyone working with young people. In particular the risks related to 'binge' drinking. Interactive and based on the NYA publication, 'The Little Book of Alcohol', this workshop is packed with activities to use with young people that raise awareness, give knowledge, build resilience skills & promote discussion.
Learning outcomes
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Explore attitudes and values around alcohol
- Try out a range of activities to use with young people in a range of social education environments
- Consider binge drinking and risky behaviours
- Look at gender issues
- Share good practice
Exploring Positive Relationships with Young People
Encouraging young people to talk about sensitive issues and open up about their emotional hopes fears and dreams for successful relationships can be challenging.
This training day, based on Vanessa’s book, ‘Let’s Talk Relationships’ published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, focuses on building positive personal relationships. It offers participants the opportunity to explore relationships bullying, aspirations, staying safe and boundary setting through a wide range of activities and ideas that can be used in with young people in an informal education setting. Additionally it includes ideas to promote discussion and self-reflection in young people aiming to equip them to feel more confident, develop respect for themselves and others and hopefully make healthy relationship choices.
Learning outcomes
This training day will:
- Equip participants with a wide range of resources to use with young people to explore love and relationships
- Consider what a positive relationship is
- Share good practice examples of successful projects
Green Thinking
Switching young people on to environmental issues
Environmental issues form a key part of the citizenship and participation agenda and provide opportunities for young people to get involved in shaping the world around them at a local, national and global level.
From political campaigns to local environmental projects this training offers ideas and activities to engage and motivate young people in both a statutory and voluntary youth work setting. This training includes ideas from ‘Young People and Citizenship’ by Vanessa Rogers, published by the National Youth Agency.
Learning outcomes
Participants will:
- Try out activities that raise awareness about local and national environmental issues
- Look at Fair Trade and economic issues
- Offer ideas to stimulate discussion amongst young people and develop creative programmes
- Share & promote good practice
