Time Out Youth Project- Breast Cancer Awareness Dance

  My young people raising money for breast cancer awareness.

Great way to deal with conflict professional or personally

http://pinterest.com/pin/444237950715101356/

Interview Questions

Here are several questions I have asked some of the young people whom I work with over the last 3months, I am sharing these questions (with a bit of tweaking) with you guys on the Bapp course to get some answers out of you!

1. Do you have a role model?
(If yes who? if no why not?)


2. Do you see youth workers as positive role models?
(Yes or no why?)


3. What do you think of when you hear the term youth worker?

4. What quality would you say is more important in a youth worker? One who has degree level in youth work qualifications? Or years of experience within a youth work environment? (one or both, explain your answer)


5. As a young person would you of felt more comfortable talking to a male or female youth worker about personal issues/problems? (male/female or both)

6. What lesson at school did you enjoy the most?
(Who ran that lesson a male/female teacher?)

7. What lesson at school grade wise did you do the best in?
(Who ran that lesson a male/female teacher?)

8. If ‘Time Out’ youth services were recruiting a new youth worker, what type of person would you prefer?
A Young professional- 18-35 (male or female?) or a mature professional- 35-65 (male or female?)

9. What personal qualities do you think you need to have to be a good youth worker?

(Comments, feedback and answers to these questions are welcome from all please)

Time Management

For me serious amounts of planning for this final module starts here due to the fact i have just got back from Vegas my head is everywhere! Before I left the UK I made sure I gave out a number of consent forms for the young people at my youth club to get their parents to sign. On my return back to work this week it has come to my attention that only a hand full of young people have handed back their signed consent forms, which is great that I have a few back and i am therefore able to start the interviewing process, while I handout more and wait to receive more back. In the meantime I intend to continue to make observations at our youth club sessions and think about my impact/involvement within these sessions and I also intend to continue reading and reviewing relevant literature over the next few weeks.

Notes on Campus session 1- 7/2/2012

Here are some brief notes on our 1st campus session module 3-
-We spoke about realistic deadlines and how we can map out our time as we don't have that long now! ( very helpful to do as you can allow time for your profession, uni work and time for yourself!)
- make an effort to blog at least six times between now and Mays deadline for submission. ( see Paula's blog for more info/help)
- touched upon briefly about gaining external professional feed back and it's benefits.
- looked at the inquiry cycle which consists of 5 steps, those of which we are advised to take in order to complete the cycle.
- to get started with our inquiry paula advised that we look at what we already have and what we still need to start our individual inquiry's.
- moving forward and making decisions is vital at this stage of the course.
- During my inquiry i will be prepared for small things to go wrong.
- We then did a short activity, mapping out where we feel we are currently at this encouraged me to set myself action plans.

Critical Refection and Summary: Digital Portfolio

This module has felt a lot like a bridge, one in which is a stepping stone to the final module. Through undertaking tasks within three main themes I feel this module has increased my knowledge in several areas. (First initial thoughts- Appendix A)

Part 4- Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry

The development of my professional questions came from areas within my place of work that I thought at that time were currently issues. (Appendix B)

Questioning my professional environment has already enabled me to begin to analyse my own practise and that of others. (Appendix C)

The more I observe and question what is happening around me the more open I become to developing new positive ideas as a youth work practitioner.

Being able to reflect on what takes place within my organisation and the outcomes of our youth work sessions has permitted me to learn from past experiences in order to improve my own practise which was a significant learning curve for me.

Part 5- Professional Ethics

At first I found ethics challenging but thankfully the penny has finally dropped for me and I now understand the importance of not harming individuals through my actions. Ethical principals only recently sank in due to a phone conversation with my academic advisor who seemed to break ethics down in simple terms for me.  

I have since learnt that Ethical principles are very important in my place of work due to the fact we work with those under 18, have members who have Special Educational needs and some of our members may be vulnerable etc.

Tasks set out in part 5 made me further analyse the code of conducts within my organisation that I must adhere by. (Appendix D )

I have found ethics as a grey area and I can now distinguish cultural problems, habits and laziness within my profession. I have learnt that morals, ethics, religion, personal belief and law are closely related and that these can often conflict with an organisations policies and procedures.  

Part 6- Tools of Professional Inquiry

In the beginning of part 6 Trailing out different tools for my inquiry often proved difficult, staff were unavailable and young people had no interest in taking part. Towards the end of term numbers at our youth club dropped dramatically. Whilst trying out surveys, most young people would take several days or even weeks to hand it back so I soon realised that interviews were more appropriate.  I have devised a parent consent form for those participants of my inquiry who are under the age of 18. (Appendix E)

Tasks within part 6 have enabled me to create and conduct pilot interviews. (An interview aimed at young people- Appendix F and aimed at colleagues- Appendix F)

Using specific tools to access data needed for my investigation has allowed me to evaluate my own practise, what is happening at our sessions but also what issues surround the behaviourisms of young people.

6a- A Pilot Interview for my colleagues (tested 14/11/11)

1.       How do staff at the LC create S.P.A.C.E (A safe, positive and caring environment) for the YP?

2.       How do you think we can improve the young people’s experiences at our sessions?

3.       How would you describe the overall behaviours shown by our young people at the LC?