In Massachusetts, a 12-year-old girl delivering newspapers is killed when a car strikes her bicycle. In Los Angeles, a 14-year-old boy repeatedly falls asleep in class, exhausted from his evening job. Although children and adolescents may benefit from working, there may also be negative social effects and sometimes danger in their jobs. Protecting Youth at Work looks at what is known about work done by children and adolescents and the effects of that work on their physical and emotional health and social functioning. The committee recommends specific initiatives for legislators, regulators, researchers, and employers. This book provides historical perspective on working children and adolescents in America and explores the framework of child labor laws that govern that work. The committee presents a wide range of data and analysis on the scope of youth employment, factors that put children and adolescents at risk in the workplace, and the positive and negative effects of employment, including data on educational attainment and lifestyle choices. Protecting Youth at Work also includes discussions of special issues for minority and disadvantaged youth, young workers in agriculture, and children who work in family-owned businesses.

This authoritative text is a must-read for anyone working, or training to work, with young people. It considers how theory, policy and practice intersect and influence one another in today’s challenging and rapidly changing social, economic, and political contexts. Offering a timely contribution to the debate, it covers key themes and developments, including the principles that underpin work with young people, the policy and practice in a wide range of contexts, both national and international, the key concepts currently high on the policy and practice agenda, and how we understand the lives of young people, in particular investigating their ‘real worlds’ and understanding their social construction.

′The book covers a fascinating range of theory, policy and practice research not covered elsewhere in one text. The editors are to be congratulated′ - Marian Charlton, Leeds Metropolitan University ′The book offers a broad overview of the issues and literature, and will be of immediate use. It enables students to bring themselves up to date with contemporary concerns and changes in the field of community and youth work′ - Jean Spence, University of Durham This authoritative text is a must-read for anyone working - or training to work - with young people. It considers how theory, policy and practice intersect and influence one another in today′s challenging and rapidly changing social, economic and political contexts. Offering a timely contribution to the debate, it covers key themes and developments, including: - how we understand the lives of young people - the principles that underpin work with young people - the policy and practice in a wide range of contexts, both national and international - the key concepts currently high on the policy and practice agenda. An essential companion for the professional training of youth workers, this core text will also be of interest and value to students in a wide range of fields such as education, criminology and youth justice, social work, sociology and social policy.

Youth Work Process and Practice provides an overview of the central concerns in youth work today, exploring what youth work actually consists in and developing an authentic theoretical framework for practice. This accessible textbook places the role of the curriculum and idea of practice as a process at the centre of youth work. Exploring important aspects of practice – such as empowerment, participation and choice, group work, experiential learning and the importance of relationship building – Jon Ord explains how the idea of curriculum can be used to communicate, legitimate and develop youth worth practice, as well as help to articulate its value and importance. The book includes a detailed and up-to-date analysis of the policy climate, looks at the implications of its focus on measurability and outcomes and discusses the impact of devolution in the UK on youth work practice. It contrasts dominant contemporary perspectives of youth and youth culture and argues that, rather than competing, ‘informal’ and ‘social’ education are twin aspects of an educational practice which must emphasises both individual development and wider social change. Youth Work Process and Practice is an essential read for all students of youth and community work and will also be an important reference for practising youth workers.

Youth Work in the Commonwealth: A Growth Profession establishes a baseline to inform the planning and implementation of initiatives to professionalise youth work in Commonwealth member countries. The study was conducted in 35 countries in the Africa, Asia, the Caribbean/Americas, Europe and Pacific regions. It catalogues the extent to which the youth work profession is formally recognised in these countries and examines the qualities and rights-based ethos of the various forms of youth work promoted and practised in the Commonwealth. The report aims to help countries learn from good practices, and assess gaps in establishing youth work as a recognised profession in diverse contexts.

Challenging dominant discourses in neoliberal marketized societies about working with disconnected young people, this book argues that alternative, radical approaches to formal and informal education are necessary to challenge repressive practices, and to help build a more equal, socially-just society.

With the proposed development of the ′youth professional′ and the consolidation of graduate professional qualifications, this is an important time for youth work. This book sets out the current state of debate about youth work for those considering, or about to embark on, a degree course. Contemporary debates in youth work are explored, and help to give students a sense of its history and its future contribution. By combining the experience of its editors and the contemporaneous experience of the voices of contributors, this book provides an excellent introduction to work as a youth worker in the twenty-first century.