Community work as a profession (Community Worker)

Member Name: Trixi

Product:	Community Worker
Date:	24/07/02 (191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rewarding , Can be fun

Disadvantages: Can be heart wrenching

I am writing this opinion, partly because I am training to be a community worker and partly because so far people have written in this category about voluntary work and volunteering and I want to clarify this.

YOU CAN ACTUALLY BE A PAID COMMUNITY WORKER.

Ever since I was young I have been in youth clubs, done voluntary summer clubs etc but when I left school I went into retail. Now retail is okay but I am not really someone who cherishes the thought of retail management.... and quite frankly if you don't like that kind of business you are quite often stuck with part time work at minimum wage (or not much more) There are full time posts of course but well retail is not for me (although I would do it for the sake of a job)

Anyway after leaving school I did retail for about 10 years (I did take a couple of 6 months gaps to do voluntary work e.g youth work) Throughout this time I also did voluntary youth work with my church.

After a time I decided that I actually enjoyed the youth work better than retail and decided to retrain. That was 3 years ago.

I am now about to go into my 4th year (Honours) in my BA Community Education. I must admit when I first started the course I was a bit "green" as my experience was voluntary youth work within church settings.

I soon found out that community work is a lot more complex.

There are 3 main areas to community work

Youth Work - running youth clubs /projects etc.

Adult Education - Providing all kinds of learning opportunities for adults (leisure classes, qualified courses, literacy and numeracy etc

Community Development - Supporting communities.

Historically, community work and politics are linked because community work has a socialogical foundation. Since I have started my study, I have become a lot more politically aware.

The current Government has been focusing on "Lifelong learning" opportunities

and "Social Exclusion/ Inclusion" and Increased "Participation within society" which obviously has meant more focus on the need for community workers.

A person with a BA Community work is qualified to work in any of the 3 areas mentioned above although my degree allowed me to specialise in one of them (I chose community development)

I am degree qualified and work for the local council doing youth work (paid).
It can be fun and rewarding. But it also has its down sides. Young people can be nice one minute then tell you where to go at other times (Politely or not so politely) Anyone that has a teenager knows what I am talking
about. Some nights I come home and think why am I doing it. I have been threatened and verbally abused but I have also been thanked for putting up with them and giving the young people a "fair go"

Community work is a up and down profession. It is not a statuatory service like social work or education, so it is often subject to council cuts (although the are many voluntary organisations that employ community workers too) It is also up and down in the sense that it is rewarding to see people grow, develop and achieve...... and hard when you see people take bad decisions.

UPDATE
I was asked for some experiences.....

My degree was 48% practical placement and I work as a youth worker so I will try to give a fair mix. The degree in Scotland is a 3 Year BA course with the option of 10 honours places a year.. (I did honours) I understand that England and Wales don't have this course... it seems they have a variety of different courses and as far as I understand their system they don't seem to have generic courses and they are not as long.

My village had no youth club and then I was employed to do a 1st and 2nd year club. The word got round and older kids wanted to join. They couldn't due to the advertising of the club. A group regularly
knocked on the door every week for 3 months, until I finally got my bosses to agree to extend the age.

"Here's quotes that swayed the arguements.

"There's nothing here for our age, we would rather be in the club doing stuff and playing footie, than wandering the streets and getting stopped by the police"

Simple things go a long way...

The kids loved the night I took in my iron and made club teeshirts with transfers. (They designed the logo themselves.

They loved a pool competition where the winners got trophy and medals

Bad points... If it is a bad night you can be sworn at, see young people high and under the influence or have to speak to the police and give statements when things go wrong.

Last year both of my clubs applied for funding to do something for the community... One ran a football tournament and the other did a community funday that raised money for more youth work resources.


Adults - Most are there because they want to be there and want to learn.

Good experiences - seeing an elderly man become more confident with his Pc and learn to send emails to his Grandson in the States.

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