#space #youthwork #informaleducation #youngpeoplesgeographies #contextbasedyouthwork #placebasedyouthwork #communityprofile
In a conversation at a training event with youth workers I facilitated recently, the idea of understanding young people’s world views relayed the importance of considering the ways in which young people experience and navigate their physical, social and cultural spaces. I reflected on the discussion and created a data gathering method (SPACE) to use to develop practitioner understanding and organisational responses.
To inform contemporary youth work, it can be valuable (particularly for the centre based youth worker) to gain insight into the unique challenges and opportunities that young people face in different contexts. This promotes a clearer identification of the physical, social and cultural interactions within a community and develops the practitioner view in subsequent discussions with young people about the landscapes and terrains in which young people exist. From urban, suburban, coastal, rural, tourist, isolated, mobile experiences, the type of environment will have specific codes and cultures and dominant ideologies about ‘the way things are’ this will be both internally represented and externally applied in many cases.
Context Elements
An awareness of the local context dynamics or ‘SPACE’ (social, political, appraisal, cultural, economic) that shape young people’s experience forms a depth of understanding on how the specific social contract with young people operates and where the opportunities and challenges may lie. A fundamental understanding of exclusion or inclusion of young people and how often morally contested spaces that young people take and how this is perceived from a generational perspective.
SPACE MODEL
This gives the youth worker or leader in organisations an ability to tailor programmes, funding and interventions to address the unique needs and challenges of young people in those areas. Developing inclusive spaces within young people’s geographies are enhanced by factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability and considering each of the SPACE elements against the nature of diversity and inclusion criteria to recognise and celebrate diversity (particularly in the appraisal focus) taking young people experiences from different backgrounds into account as a unique experience.
The SPACE model aims to give insight into the interactions between each of the elements and creates opportunity for developmental dialogue with young people about their local area and how this experience functions well or requires improvement.
Engaging with young people in their own spaces at times when young people are there and socialising in the community can create an understanding of the type of relationships that may develop based upon the variety of options or limitations that young people experience in their area. Using the SPACE model, opens up a data set that can be used to inform conversations and potential funding streams and values young people’s voice and appraisal as part of the process.
Ask questions, as this is key to developing the data set and capturing the voice and experiences on how the social environment welcomes young people, how much space young people have access to or limitations on open space accessibility, how the political terrain consider the needs and aspirations of young people, how young people and the community appraise their space, how the existing culture functions and if there are cultural norms at play that may cause impact for minority groups, Is the economic ‘value’ of the community representative and what ‘value’ does the community place on young people. These types of questions create opportunity for dialogue and action, advocacy and enabling approaches.
If you are interested in learning more on applying the model to your organisation/environment, drop me a line for a chat.
I wonder what techniques you use to develop your community profile and understanding of young people’s geographies, share your ideas on this thread.
Never understood the logic of this.If a space is identified as ‘our space’ it will be underpinned by rules,value based and a common understanding of ‘our space’. Now the space must be defended from ‘rule breaking’. So how do you deal with a space that is in conflict with other groups perceived ‘our space’ and theif inherent values? When does any intervention of those conflicts become policing?