The Quality Mark is a reflective tool which enables organisations to develop a culture of learning and growth.
About Quality Mark
There is strong evidence for a link between the quality of services provided to young people and the outcomes they achieve as they transition to adulthood.
Our Quality Mark framework and awards help organisations, however large or small, to reflect upon and review the services they offer.
How does it work?
The National Youth Agency Quality Mark is a framework for development, providing a structure for organisations to work towards and measure themselves against. It recognises the great work carried out by providers across the country and builds on this by providing a reference point for what excellent practice looks like.
It is built on the National Occupational Standards for youth work and has three key Standards:
1 – Young people’s personal and social development and learning.
2 – Quality of youth work practice.
3 – Leadership and management
You can use the standards to carry out your own self-assessment process, reflecting on what works well and identifying areas of development.
Once this is complete, you can then choose to apply for our Quality Mark Award which provides external validation and recognition of your efforts.
Why Quality Mark?
The Quality Mark framework is practice driven and supports you to consider:
- Are young people benefiting from your youth work service?
- Is your the youth work practice good?
- How are your youth workers engaged, motivated, valued and supported to enable them to deliver their very best practice with young people?
As a reflective tool, it enables organisations to develop a culture of learning and growth. This is achieved by developing a supportive action plan to address areas of development and continue to improve areas of strength. It creates a dialogue for professional practice and empowers organisations to improve services and learn from others.
The Quality Mark is not a one-off checklist, but an ongoing process to embed good practice within your organisation.
Applying the NYA Quality Mark process will support you in a number of ways
- It provides a clear template to bring together your leaders, staff, volunteers and young people to holistically review and work towards high quality practice.
- Our holistic approach fosters buy in and helps you build team ownership and supports the recognition of the value of this process.
- The Quality Mark is a motivational tool – it can improve your teams’ cohesiveness, bringing people together with a shared vision to improve practice, creating the conditions that underpin best practice.
- It supports a culture of continuous learning and can help identify CPD needs.
- It provides a logical approach to identifying action points to guide your development activities.
- The Quality Mark drives the pace of development and change and leads innovation.
- It fosters the development of your practice, ultimately leading to better experiences and outcomes for young people.
- The Quality Mark can be used as evidence to support funding applications/bids and proposals to service commissioners.
Quality Mark Levels
The standards and indicators are designed primarily as a free self-assessment tool to be used by youth work organisations to assess and reflect on the quality and impact of the work they undertake.
But, for those wishing to take it further, the Quality Mark can also be used to gain external validation and recognition.
There are three levels for organisations to consider their practice against, providing different access points and a clear progression framework to meet the needs of all organisations no matter their size and shape.
These three levels are Foundation, Advanced and Outstanding. You can choose which is the right starting point for your organisation.
If your organisation would like to go for the nationally recognised award, then we have experienced assessors trained to Ofsted standards who will ensure a robust assessment that leads to recognition of good practice and provides a supportive narrative to identify where you can improve.
It is designed to be a positive and productive process.
Getting started
Download the documents you need to begin your Quality Mark journey below:
Step 1: Quality Mark Framework
Step 2: Quality Mark Self-Assessment Process template
Step 3: Quality Mark Evidence and Action Plan template
NYA Quality Mark Framework
The National Youth Agency Quality Mark enables organisations, however large or small, to reflect upon and review the services that they offer young people.
Quality Mark Evidence and Action Plan template
The National Youth Agency Quality Mark enables organisations, however large or small, to reflect upon and review the services that they offer young people.
Quality Mark Self-Assessment Process template
The National Youth Agency Quality Mark enables organisations, however large or small, to reflect upon and review the services that they offer young people.
FAQs
What does it cost?
All resources for the self-assessment are free.
If you choose to move forward in your journey and achieve a decide to go for the Quality Mark Award there is a charge for the assessment process.
We recognise that youth work is happening in a range of differing organisations, from local authorities through to small centres in the heart of communities, so the way we assess will very much depend on our understanding of your context and scale. The cost of your assessment can range between £1,500 to £6,000 depending on the size of your project and scope of work involved. This covers all models that combine desk-based assessment through to a number of days on-site to speak with teams, stakeholders and view activity and discussions with young people.
How long does the Quality Mark journey take?
Timescales for your journey will be unique to you. The length of the self-assessment depends on the size of your organisation, how much time you are able to commit to it, and the number of different services you offer.
If you decide to progress on to the Quality Mark Award we will work with you to set appropriate dates.
When can I start it?
The self-assessment can start at any point in the year. You can choose when it would suit your organisation best.
Why NYA?
As the national body for youth work, we know what excellent practice looks like and the conditions required to bring this about. We can support you at every step of the way with a team of youth work experts.
Enquiry form
Complete the form below if you would like to discuss how the Quality Mark could benefit your organisation.
Revalidation process document
Re-validation is a condensed assessment process which offers organisations that have come to the end of their award validation period an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to maintaining the same high standards for a further three years.
Organisations that have achieved the Quality Mark
Follow the links below to read about organisations that have received the NYA Quality Mark.
