WCW's Women Change Worlds Blog

Font size: +

Creating and Supporting Pathways to Sustained Careers in Youth Work

Man leading afterschool program

Below is an excerpt by Nancy Peter, Ed.D., director of the McKinney Center for STEM Education at the Philadelphia Education Fund, from the book The Heartbeat of the Youth Development Field: Professional Journeys of Growth, Connection, and Transformation. The book was co-edited by NIOST Director Georgia Hall, Ph.D., Jan Gallagher, Ph.D., of Clear, Effective Communications, and NIOST Research Associate Elizabeth Starr, M.Ed. Here, Peter talks about the many pathways people take into youth work, and the need to support them with clear entry points, opportunities for advancement, fair compensation, and continuous professional development—no matter how they arrived in the field.


Youth workers are often described as “passionate.” They feel called to do the work, have a strong desire to serve or give back to their communities, and are committed to building positive relationships with youth. Most likely a conversation with a youth worker will quickly reveal their passion. This is corroborated by the research: surveys consistently show that this passion for the work is a strength of the field. The practitioner essays that make up this book give voice to this hard-to-describe quality—a passion, a calling, an artistry, the heart work. It is part of what makes this workforce unique. Moreover, it is part of what makes this workforce impactful. It is a true strength that can and should be articulated, celebrated, and leveraged. The aim of this book is to shine a spotlight on this strength.

This passion, though, is only one part of the picture of a strong workforce, and elevating it is only one part of our work as field-builders and leaders. It also needs to be supported. Critical foundational workforce supports—clear entry points, opportunities for advancement, fair compensation, and continuous professional development—are needed to sustain the energy and commitment the workforce brings.

Whichever pathway they take into the field, youth workers are similar to workers in any other field: they need to be supported with opportunities for professional growth and continual professional development

As the field struggles with recruitment, a longstanding issue exacerbated by the pandemic, we need to better understand the mechanisms by which people currently enter youth work. Like many of the youth practitioners in this chapter’s essays, I did not set out to become a youth work professional. In college, I majored in animal behavior because I loved animals. That love led me to volunteer at the local environmental education center—where I discovered a passion for education that has guided me ever since. I worked in environmental education, then in museum education, and then in a large city park. That’s when I realized I was also interested in work that affected people. I moved into children’s policy, out-of-school time programming, and positive youth development. Today, as director of the McKinney Center for STEM Education at the Philadelphia Education Fund, I no longer work directly with youth. Instead, I focus on professional development, curriculum development, and organizational capacity-building.

Whichever pathway they take into the field, youth workers are similar to workers in any other field: they need to be supported with opportunities for professional growth and continual professional development. A strong system is needed to provide this support, including the option of academic pathways, both access to credentials and higher education; career pathways tying experience, professional development, and formal education to advancement; and increases in compensation and benefits commensurate with experience and training.

Professional development is one specific workforce support that enables youth workers to develop their skills and knowledge and advance in the field. The practitioner authors in this book talk about their ongoing, meaningful professional development to scaffold growing competence and confidence, whether that means attending workshops and conferences, being mentored, or coached by a supervisor or colleague, participating in a peer learning community, or—for most—some combination of these.

In these essays, mid-career youth workers present their own compelling stories of their entries into the profession, their journeys up the career ladder, their successes, and the obstacles they have overcome. Several essayists emphasize how their own participation in youth programs influenced their eventual choice to work in such programs. Three of the five describe circuitous routes into the field. Only one entered college with the intention of getting a degree to support a career in youth work, though others mention college work along the way. For all five, their professional pathways took unanticipated twists and turns. Every one of them experienced on-the-job learning and professional development that ranged from formal opportunities to informal mentorships and coaching.

As a field, we must explore the ways in which career pathways are more available to some potential youth workers than to others. Then we can integrate ongoing research with our individual and collective stories to find ways to redress these fundamental inequities.


Nancy Peter, Ed.D., is the director of the McKinney Center for STEM Education at the Philadelphia Education Fund. The above excerpt appears in the book The Heartbeat of the Youth Development Field: Professional Journeys of Growth, Connection, and Transformation.

×
Stay Informed

When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.

 

Comments 1

Guest - Dwayne Bryant on Tuesday, 21 March 2023 00:08

I was thrilled to come across your blog post on youth development online learninghttps://dwaynebryant.com/parent-student-workshops/. As a strong believer in the transformative power of education, I wholeheartedly agree that online learning has opened up exciting new possibilities for young people to enhance their knowledge and skills. One of the most significant benefits of online learning is its accessibility. Thanks to the proliferation of online learning platforms, young people from all backgrounds can now access quality educational resources regardless of their geographical location or economic status. This democratization of education is a game-changer, and it has the potential to empower an entire generation of young people who might have otherwise been left behind. I also appreciate your emphasis on the importance of fostering a growth mindset among young learners. In my experience, instilling a growth mindset is essential to cultivating a love of learning and empowering young people to reach their full potential. By encouraging young people to embrace challenges and view setbacks as opportunities for growth, we can help them develop the resilience and determination necessary to succeed in today’s rapidly changing world. Overall, I found your blog post to be insightful and thought-provoking, and I look forward to reading more of your work in the future.

I was thrilled to come across your blog post on [b]youth development online learning[/b][url=https://dwaynebryant.com/parent-student-workshops/][/url]. As a strong believer in the transformative power of education, I wholeheartedly agree that online learning has opened up exciting new possibilities for young people to enhance their knowledge and skills. One of the most significant benefits of online learning is its accessibility. Thanks to the proliferation of online learning platforms, young people from all backgrounds can now access quality educational resources regardless of their geographical location or economic status. This democratization of education is a game-changer, and it has the potential to empower an entire generation of young people who might have otherwise been left behind. I also appreciate your emphasis on the importance of fostering a growth mindset among young learners. In my experience, instilling a growth mindset is essential to cultivating a love of learning and empowering young people to reach their full potential. By encouraging young people to embrace challenges and view setbacks as opportunities for growth, we can help them develop the resilience and determination necessary to succeed in today’s rapidly changing world. Overall, I found your blog post to be insightful and thought-provoking, and I look forward to reading more of your work in the future.
Already Registered? Login Here
March 29, 2024
In WCW's Work in Liberia, Sustainable Development ...
We Need Data to Ensure Equity on Boards of Eds and...

Related Posts

WCW Blog

Subscribe to receive Women Change Worlds blog updates!
 

Views expressed on the Women Change Worlds blog are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Wellesley Centers for Women or Wellesley College nor have they been authorized or endorsed by Wellesley College.

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience. By continuing to use our site, or clicking "Continue", you are agreeing to our privacy policy.
Continue Privacy Policy