The importance of youth workers in schools has today been highlighted by Jon Yates, CEO, Youth Endowment Fund on BBC Breakfast in light of the tragic death of Holly Newton at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, and the launch of their research which reveals that 49% of teenagers in a relationship in the last year have experienced violent or controlling behaviour from their partner.
The NYA is deeply concerned about the rise in youth violence and risk of safeguarding to young people and through our Better together: Youth work with schools research report, we know that where youth work is taking place it is having a transformational impact on young people’s confidence and wellbeing and helping to keep them safe.
Youth workers are trained to use the Youth Work Curriculum to support young people to understand healthy relationships and through the level of trust they build with young people, they are pivotal as part of multi-agency approaches to identify safeguarding risk. Youth workers also play a key role in addressing problematic masculinity identities and in particular the malignant spreading of misogyny on social media.
It is imperative that the critical importance of youth work for all young people is recognised, whether in schools or more widely accessible in our communities, to ensure that all those young people who need it can access the support of a trusted adult that they deserve.”
– Abbee Mclatchie,
Director of Youth Work, NYA
