AIMS

• To enhance cultural organisations’ ability to effectively engage with young people
• To learn more about the techniques of youth participation
• To highlight the contribution of youth participation to programme planning
• To improve the confidence of both organisations and individuals
• To engage young people in decision making and programme development

WHO, WHEN & WHERE?
The two training days on offer are being delivered by the Regional Youth Work Unit North East. The first day will be an opportunity for managers and coordinators to find out more about youth participation and discuss the practicalities of developing youth participation programmes. The second day is designed for front line staff, who are currently working, or planning to work, with young people.

Managers and coordinators – Thursday 22nd April

Frontline staff – Friday 23rd April

10:15 – 4:30

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

There are limited spaces available, and they will be allocated on a first come first served basis, to avoid disappointment please book early.

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The purpose of the training is to:

• Enhance the knowledge and skills of health professionals to enable their effective engagement with young people in health service planning, delivery, assessment and evaluation.
• Enable an understanding of what things health services should be putting into place to ensure meaningful young person’s involvement around section 7 of the You’re Welcome self assessment toolkits.

Who is it for?

• Health Professionals
  • Health Providers
  • Health Commissoners
  • You’re Welcome Leads
  • Health Improvement Agencies
  • General Practices
  • Teenage Pregnancy Coordinators
  • Sexual Health Professionals
  • Other Professionals who are undertaking the You’re Welcome Criteria
• Young People
  • Any young person who is interested and would like to be involved in improving health services for young people

We are offering 4 training dates for Involving Children and Young People and Working with Health Professionals to Improve Services to Young People:

• Friday, 19 February 2010                                                                                       BOOK NOW
• Saturday, 6 March 2010                                                                                          BOOK NOW
• Wednesday, 24 March 2010                                                                                   BOOK NOW
• Thursday, 8 April 2010                                                                                            BOOK NOW

You will receive agenda and other relevant information about the training after you have booked onto the training.

At the start of the afternoon session Leon delivered a presentation on national perspectives and personal reflections which outlined some of the key issues from national partners and presented some of Leon’s personal views on current challenges and issues for the future.

As well as presentations, the event also provided a series of workshops for attendees. The four workshops were:

• Developing a World Class Youth Workforce in the North East – Ivan Wintringham
• Commissioning Youth Work – Chris Ford
• Challenges for Youth Work ‘A Managers Perspective’ – Peter Davies
• Affirming our Value Base in Youth Work: Opportunities and Ethical Challenges – Sarah Banks

The workshops were well attended and generated high level of discussion and debate. Facilitators were able to share information and also highlight issues which were later shared with the rest of the conference attendees.

In both the morning and afternoon sessions discussion areas were built into the programme. The morning session was entitled ‘Where Are We Now?’ and discussed current challenges and issues in youth work. The afternoon discussion session was entitled ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ and highlighted some of the future challenges and issues for youth work and youth work professionals. Issues from the two discussion session formed part of the discussion wall, and will be included in the final conference report.

There has never been a better time to look at how we can coordinate a representative regional voice for young people building on the past and current experience of youth participation and leadership within the region.

The proposal is to bring together young people through the creation of the Regional Voice & Leadership Network enabling them to share experiences, ideas, actions and opportunities.

The aim of the network is to:

1.    Coordinate participation and youth leadership work in the region and create a structure that young people feel gives them a representative voice at a regional level.
2.    A forum that they feel they can take their issues to in the knowledge that they will be listened to.
3.    An opportunity to work together with other young people and adults to resolve issues they have identified as regional priorities.

To ensure young people are at the heart of the network we are holding an event on:

Tuesday 16th February 2010
Darlington Football Club
11am – 3:30pm

The aim of the event is to kick start the regional network and an opportunity to run ideas passed young people to enable them to express their own views on how this could work for them.
We are currently consulting with young people to see what they would like to see on the day and we will be working with them to provide a range of fun interactive workshops. Click here for online consultation.

Following the event we will be creating opportunities for the young people to work together to take forward their own identified issues.

To launch Network, young people will plan an event for March 2010, followed by a huge celebration event in March 2011 to recognise young people’s achievements.

We have limited transport for projects/young people living in the north of the region, please indicate in registration if you would like a place. There is also a chance for participation projects to showcase their work (contact Selina or Caroline on 0191 440 4410).

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Newcastle City Library, 15th Janauary 2010, 9:15am – 1:00pm.

In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.

In the following years they replicated the experiment in other parts of India, urban and rural, with similar results, challenging some of the key assumptions of formal education. The “Hole in the Wall” project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who’s now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it “minimally invasive education”

Professor Mitra’s work inspired the 2005 book ‘Q & A’, which went on to become the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

Professor Sugata Mitra has kindly agreed to contribute and share his experience and knowledge at this event.

This event is supported by the Raising and Realising Aspirations Steering Group.

Please click the link below to book.

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WHEN?
Thursday 3 December 2009
9am—4pm
WHERE?
Marriott Hotel, Metro Centre, Gateshead, NE11 9XF

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Youth Work is at a time of significant change, the current challenges, threats, and opportunities faced by statutory and voluntary services will determine the shape of youth work over the coming years.
Do you want to contribute to this debate?
If so then this is the conference for you

Aims of the day:
• Opportunities to discuss the future direction of youth work.
• Explore the challenges, opportunities and threats to youth work in the coming years.
• Time to discuss specific issues around: ethics, commissioning, youth work management and work force development.
• Network, information sharing and discussion time with colleagues from both the youth work sector and related professions.

Speakers Include:
- Tom Wylie, Former Chief Executive, NYA
- Tony Gallagher, HMI, National Adviser, Youth Matters

Bite Size Seminars
- Developing a World Class Youth Workforce in the North East—Ivan Wintringham, Integrated Workforce Manager, CWDC
- Commissioning Youth Work—Rhiannon Bearne, Procurement and Commission Manager, VONNE
- Challenges for Youth Work “A Managers Perspective”—Peter Davies, Principal Youth Officer, Hartlepool Youth Service
- Affirming our Value Base in Youth Work: Opportunities and Ethical Challenges – Sarah Banks, Professor, University of Durham

Conference Delegate Rates:
- Voluntary Sector Rate £85 + vat (£97.75)
- Contributing Local Authority Rate £85 + vat (£97.75)
- Non-Contributing Local Authority Rate £200 + vat (£230)
- Private Sector Rate £200 + vat (£230)

As part of the Unit’s commitment to opening out our opportunities to as wide an audience as possible, the Unit will be subsidising a limited number of discounted places at our conference for students and unwaged colleagues.

Student and unwaged delegate rate: £45 +vat (£51.75), these places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

More information

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International Youth Day
12th August 2009, 10am—4pm
Riverside Suite
Durham Cricket Club
Aim of the day

For Young People
• To see what opportunities are available, including group initiatives, youth exchanges, and volunteering abroad.

For Youth Workers
• Find out more about Youth in Action programme, and the Commonwealth Youth Exchange, European Voluntary service and Platform 2.

More information

How did it go?!

9:30—13:00, Friday 10th July 2009

Great North Museum: Hancock

The Regional Youth Work Unit commissioned Michael King, MKAssociates, to undertake two regional audits in the period January to March 2009.

The first focussed on the ‘State of the Sector’; how the current developments nationally and locally were impacting on the voluntary youth sector in the North East Region. The report is structured around the Children England VCS Engage Project self-evaluation for Local Authorities and considers the position with regard to: Networking and VCS representation, the Development of Children’s Trust arrangements, the progress of the Integrated Youth Services and the engagement of the Sector, Workforce Development and Safeguarding.

The second audit report was specifically written for Children England and focussed on the progress being made by the Sector in the full implementation of safeguarding arrangements and the involvement of the sector in safeguarding initiatives in Local Authority areas.

This seminar will present the findings of the report, highlighting examples of good practice picked up from across the region and provide the sector with a composite picture of how the VCS is faring in the world of 2009.

There will also be an opportunity for participants to gather information and share experiences through a carousel of workshops focussing on the five themes covered by the main report.

Aim of the day:

To explore how the four pillars of career and transition support can be strengthened and contribute to raising aspirations of young people in transition.

In particular the seminar will examine:

• the role of partnership in building both community capacity and social capital that can inspire and support young people; especially collaborative efforts between school, youth service,  and the third sector and business/industry.
• creative ways to engage parent’s, caregivers and other significant adults in developing the awareness and instruction of young people. To create a future – a sense of vocation; enterprise (broadly defined), self belief and purpose.
• Australian and British programs that role model “positive peer support” which can boost confidence and capability to explore values to navigate career and lifestyle options, make connection and to build bridges to new resources and opportunities.
• methods and processes that are designed to assist the most vulnerable to participate in such programs.

If you would like to book a place on this seminar please contact the Regional Youth Work Unit on 0191 440 4410, or email selina@rywu.org.uk

The Raising and Realising Aspirations Conference took place at Stadium of Light on 30th January 2009, was delivered by a partnership group consisting of Government Office for the North East – Children and Learners Group including the Regional Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator,  the Learning and Skills Council, the University of Sunderland Centre for Children, Young People and Families, and the Regional Youth Work Unit – North East.

The partners came together out of a common interest in, and commitment to, raising and realising the aspirations of children and young people in the North East. The group wants to ensure that all the positive words that have been said on raising the aspirations of children and young people are translated into action.

The partnership group are committed to realising, as well as raising, the aspirations of young people in the North East.

The conference was very successful, over 200 people attended to join in on the discussions on developing and implementing effective policies for children and young people.

Below are the presentations and reports that derived from the conference:

The Role of Key People in Supporting Young People’s Aspirations: Neil Burke and Laura Wright

Supporting Vulnerable Young People

Determinants of Aspirations: John Vorhaus

Inspiring communities

Case Studies: What works

Raising Aspirations Final Report

If you would like more information about this event, you can contact us