Uncovering key forces shaping youth work practice in contemporary adolescent safeguarding systems
This research will explore the evolving role of youth work, focusing on professional collaborations
designed to protect children and young adults at risk of harm from violence and exploitation. The study
will examine the practices and perceptions of youth workers who aim to nurture the safety and
wellbeing of children and young adults who have been excluded from mainstream schools. It will
investigate how practitioners navigate relationships with children and young adults educated in
alternative and community settings and will also explore youth workers’ relationships with professionals
from other disciplines in collective efforts to safeguard children and young adults from risk and harm.
The research will address critical questions regarding the social and political forces shaping youth work,
and the challenges youth workers face in collaboration with teaching, healthcare, policing, social work
and youth justice. Applying institutional ethnography (Smith, 2005) as the methodological framework,
this study aims to shed light on the complexities of youth work’s role and its potential within adolescent
safeguarding. The study will examine how youth workers experience their roles, capacities, and
relationships, investigating daily youth work activities to understand broader social relations and power
dynamics coordinating youth work.
Ultimately, this study will seek to influence national practice to enhance the welfare response to children
and young adults experiencing exploitation and violence. The findings are expected to inform national
policy, improve the effectiveness of inter-agency collaboration, and promote strategies that safeguard
children and young adults at risk of falling through the gaps of education systems.