Climbing Career Ladders

Youth Today
Martha Nichols
September 2008

Opportunities for college-level education in the field of youth work have been increasing steadily over the last several years, and many colleges now even offer degree programs in youth work. These programs are helping to professionalize the field of youth work and often provide participants with greater confidence in their work, but the education programs are not tied to government qualification mandates or to financial incentives. Thus, "you may have made an investment in your own education, but it doesn't change your paycheck," says Ellen Gannett, Director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellesley Centers for Women.