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There is enormous contemporary political and policy expectation and pressure on youth work to secure the 're-engagement' of young people already in, or at risk of, circumstances of social exclusion. That re-engagement is judged around issues such as 'citizenship' and 'employability', though - like youth work itself - those words have variable and flexible meanings and understandings. But even the very best of youth work practice neither has, nor is, a magic bullet. It is a professional process based on the establishment of trust and positive relationships with young people. It takes time, even more with young people who come from cultures of socio-economic disadvantage and who hold doubt and suspicion about the likely benefits of social interventions of any kind. Yet policy-making persists in asserting that youth work can provide a 'quick fix'. This paper is based on some of the more grounded realities that inform such interventions. It suggests that the political rhetoric attached to this kind of targeted youth work is based on mythical assumptions, irrelevant practice and unachievable targets. Drawing from a much-cited paper first published over a decade ago in relation to the political climate that then prevailed in the United Kingdom, this paper considers the challenges around connecting youth work to policy aspirations at the European level around social inclusion, the promotion of citizenship and labour market insertion.

Explores the relationships between young people's identity construction and the concept of citizenship in the United Kingdom. Considers how young people's need for space, and their emergent sense of place, are aspects of a citizenship identity that young people learn, work at, and negotiate in their leisure time. (CMK)

This article argues that the right of young people to participate in decisions being made about them forms the basis for professional youth work practice. The authors consider the nature of 'participation' and its relation to human rights, and introduces the concept of 'adultism' and the challenges for youth workers combatting 'adultist' beliefs and practices in the work of participation. The paper considers the benefits and limitations of youth participation models, and addresses the relationship between rights‐based participation practice, and critical pedagogy (dialogical) in youth work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospects for young people in Europe look bleak. The ‘social condition’ of young people is characterised by experiences of exclusion, and a sense of betrayal and anger at having been ‘sacrificed’ by the older generation. Many more young people, from more diverse backgrounds and perspectives, are now exposed to precarious social circumstances. Spontaneous and planned ‘riots’ and urban protest have displayed the anger and the anxieties of youth in Europe. How young people will continue to respond to these conditions is clearly a matter for conjecture and there is a range of possibilities. The democratic imperative is by no means certain. This paper advances a scenario in which historically socially disadvantaged youth may connect with newly intellectually disaffected young people to produce either more toxic or more creative alliances amongst the young. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses topics related to the youth policies in Europe. It focuses on the structural and chronological development, though there will accordingly some repetitions. It further concerns with conceptual and content issues, particularly in relation to the Council of Europe's international reviews of national youth policies. In addition, the European Commission, in its 2001 White Paper on youth, identified four priority themes on which member states should develop common objectives, the participation, information, voluntary activities, and a greater understanding of youth.

The article discusses the issues concerning the youth policy development in Europe. It is stated that the two major European institutions including European Union and the Council of Europe have developed its programs which focuses on youth. It is emphasized that the partnership between the two institutions hold the promise to developed and sustained youth work and training.

Citizenship is best understood as signifying a field of struggle: an arena in which relations linking individuals to their wider community, social and political contexts are continually discussed, reworked and contested. This paper explores the current preoccupation with citizenship in Britain, and relates this specifically to the challenges this presents for the youth service. The idea of active citizenship, first promulgated by the Conservative government in its attempt to mitigate the then triumphal New Right ethic of individual self-interest, has been seized on by the new Labour government as a central component of 'Third Way' politics-as a means of renewing civil society. How this may be communicated to, and engendered in young people remains, however, as contested an issue as the idea of citizenship itself. The 'tacit learning' for citizenship which takes place within youth work practice holds much promise, but for exactly this reason is also problematic because it cannot demonstrably project outcomes which are clearly formulated and measurable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the potential of mark-recapture methods as a relatively powerful innovative research method for estimating the prevalence of "hard-to-reach" human populations in the social welfare field. We outline the development of mark-recapture methods, illustrating some recent applications. The body of the paper reviews the main methodological and practical questions raised by the method. We suggest, by way of illustration, how it might be applied to estimating the prevalence of rough sleepers in a given geographical region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an evaluation of a rural activity project for people with learning difficulties. The project is situated in (but not a regular part of) an agriculture college. Both statutory and voluntary interests are represented in the management of the scheme, which is funded by the All Wales Strategy for the Mentally Handicapped through the local authority. Despite the widespread presence of ideas about normalization and carer participation, key stakeholders in the project appeared to draw on various aspects of three different models in describing, assessing and participating in the work of the scheme: a training for work model, a personal and social growth model, and an education for life model. We explore the question of whether such contrasting views can be tolerated in a single project, and their implications for policy and practice decisions. Each model has its distinctive consequences for project aims, selection, programme planning, staffing requirements, future development objectives and desirable project outcomes. The debate has implications for the way in which policies of normalization are operationalized in and beyond the field of learning difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable concern has been expressed over the plight of those young people who, on leaving school, fail to enter a training programme or a job. However, very little systematic research has been carried out on these jobless — or, as we put it, ‘Status Zero’ — school‐leavers. This paper begins to report the results of a study, carried out in a single TEC/LEA area in industrial South Wales, which aims to fill this gap. On the basis of extended interviews with a small group of young people, it shows that, even amongst a group of 16‐ and 17‐year‐olds who experienced extremely disadvantaged post‐school careers, the reasons for their not being in education, training or employment are rather complex. Whilst there are clear continuities between earlier family and educational disadvantage and their post‐school experience, there is no inevitability about these relationships: diversity and contingency are also key elements. Moreover, although there is clear evidence that these young people are distanced from conventional forms of education, training and employment and they ‘make out’ by adopting forms of economic activity which prioritize short‐term rewards and the particularities of the local context, this does not imply the emergence of an ‘underclass’, wholly cut off from the mainstream of social institutions and the social relations they make possible. This, in turn, has important implications for the development of more effective policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mini‐enterprise in schools is the most tangible manifestation of ‘education for enteprise’. Despite its growing presence in schools, and diverse views about its potential impact, little is known about how pupils experience such activity. Findings suggest that interpersonal learning objectives are achieved effectively through mini‐enterprise but more narrow economic goals (such as fostering positive attitudes towards self‐employment) may not be. This paper sets out the pupils’ perspective on mini‐enterprise in schools and raises questions about current models of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the relationship between citizenship and young peoples’ social identities. The concept of social citizenship is explored in the context of contemporary debates about the transition to adult status. In the light of recent calls for an education for citizenship, at both compulsory and post‐compulsory levels, the paper makes a timely contribution to the ongoing discussion of what constitutes social citizenship, by whom and to what end. The paper has three main sections. In the first, Marshall's (1950) contribution to our modern‐day understanding of citizenship is examined. In the second section the paper particularly addresses the connections between young people, adulthood and citizenship. In the final section attention is turned to the problems of combining citizenship with other, complex, aspects of young peoples’ social identities. In doing so the paper offers a critique of the concept of active citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]