Youth Work Qualifications
(Levels 4 – 7)  

Youth workers build voluntary, trusted relationships with young people, away from many of the other pressures they may be facing in their lives. They usually work with young people aged between 13 and 19 but may support young people from 11 to 13 and young adults up to the age of 25 depending on their needs.

People who have achieved a professional level qualification have been through a robust learning programme which at its heart is the interaction of theory and practice. Graduates from such programmes have the knowledge, skills, and experience to practice as professional youth and community workers in a range of contemporary settings.

The brings together representatives from across the Youth Work sector including Higher Education, Unions, and practitioners from local, regional and national youth work organisations. The collaborative process of the Education and Training Standards Committee ensures professional youth work degrees are scrutinised by sector specialists from academia and youth work practice.  A validated degree is recognised through the Joint Education and Training Standards Committees in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. Other benefits to offering a validated programme include:

• Ensuring the programme is promoted through the to prospective practitioners wishing to undertake professional development in youth and community work
• Demonstrating the programme meets the standards required by the recognised professional, statutory, and regulatory body (The NYA) for best practice in youth and community work
• Demonstrating that your programme is in line with the used in Higher Education across the UK
• Enabling practitioners to progress in their career with a professional programme of learning that combines theory and practice
• Clearly demonstrating that the programme subscribes to nationally recognised, ethics, values and principles for youth and community work education
• Confers professional status for graduates and confirms they are competent with regards to the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work
• Connects programme leaders to supportive colleagues and national organisations that can help enhance learning provision through co-operation, networking, and collaboration.
• Recognition by the Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers as a professionally qualified youth worker.

The Professional Validation Information Sheet provides full details of the validation process including the outcomes from a validation event.

Degrees seeking validation must meet the Professional Validation Requirements created by the Education and Training Standards committee of the NYA.

There are four stages to the process for achieving professional validation. At any stage, the process may be halted, paused, or progressed. The whole process will take a minimum of eight months with some validations taking longer.

The purpose of this stage is for the provider to share their interest in seeking validation and detail what progress has been made. If you are interested in validating a new degree or wish to revalidate an existing degree, please use this form.

The Higher Education Provider will submit documents to demonstrate how they are planning to meet the Professional Validation Requirements [update version to be written, include link].  The validation fee will be charged at this stage. Professional Validation fees are detailed below.

At this stage the Higher Education Provider will submit all documents to demonstrate meeting the Professional Validation Requirements.

The validation event is both a rigorous and celebratory event, and the outcome of the validation will be decided at the end of the event. The validation panel is led by a Chair who is a member of the ETS committee, the remaining members of the panel represent academia and youth work practice.

The NYA produces an annual monitoring report on validated degree programmes for professional youth workers to map any learner trends.  The survey is completed by Higher Education Providers offering a validated undergraduate or postgraduate degree.