Youth participation at the heart of recent Youth Work Week
Posted on 24 Nov 2023
North Ayrshire celebrated the power of youth work during the recent national Youth Work Week – a recent annual awareness campaign by YouthLink Scotland.
The awareness week earlier this month had an #InvestInYouthWork and #YouthWorkMatters focus, had the latest Youth Cabinet meeting at Saltcoats Town Hall as a hero highlight. With a bustling atmosphere, the #youthparticipation event provided an opportunity for young people to share their thoughts and concerns with the Council Executive and other local policy makers.
Representing all of North Ayrshire’s secondary schools, over 100 young people proudly attended.
During the round-table discussions, the format included a combination of listening to the experience of young people directly and encouraging the young people to also share feedback using a QR code via the Council’s Youth Participation digital platform where all of the information gathered from the day will be collated and reviewed.
The discussions centred around: Youth Peoples Voice and Democracy, Crime and Personal Safety, Financial Literacies and Education, Mental Health and Wellbeing and secondary school life in North Ayrshire.
MSYP for Cunninghame North, Mais Al Diri, whose two-year term is now nearing its end, reflected: “Youth Joint Cabinet and our recent Youth Conference held on Friday are brilliant examples of how young people are placed at the forefront of the Council’s decision making on all polices and strategies affecting them. Thank you to the young people who showed up to give it their all.”
With clubs, events and the usual weekly running of youth clubs happening across our six localities, Youth Work Week ended with on a high with the impactful energy of the North Ayrshire Youth Conference.
Held at Ardeer Youth and Community Centre and attended by 50 young people, the action-packed day was the finale of National Youth Work Week.
This offered a chance for the team’s latest intake of Youth Work Modern Apprentices, and their current MA mentors who will be complete their qualification in March 2024.
The team used the opportunity to run four MA-led workshops with the following themes:
- Building confidence through youth work
- The dangers of vaping
- Embracing positive femininity/masculinity
- No knives better lives
Depute Headteacher, Mr Neill from Greenwood Academy shares a well done to all of the young people who recently took part:
“Thank you to the pupils from Kilwinning, Ardrossan, Lockhart, Irvine Royal and of course our talented and engaged pupils representing Greenwood, who gave it their all on the day.
“The young people were particularly moved by the 'No knives, better lives workshop' and the workshop on the worrying hidden dangers of vaping – learning first-hand from the Youth Work Modern Apprentices who really did their research and thought outside-of-the-box to create a series of memorable sessions.
“Another well-received activity was the ‘building confidence’ workshop where young people walked the plank (of wood on the floor) while immersing themselves in another world via Virtual Reality.
“Although a little scary and disorientating, for some of the more introverted students, it was inspiring to see how the youth workers encouraged everyone to come out of their comfort zone to overcome their fears, gain confidence and try out something new.
“Very proud of everyone, thank you to Youth Services for a brilliant end to Youth Work Week 2023!
"We will now take the learning and report back to our Pupils Parliament and Youth Council to further embed and increase awareness on the important issues discussed that are most pertinent for young people.”
Councillor Alan Hill, Cabinet Member for Islands and Communities added: “From youth sports clubs and dance groups, to youth-focused projects with a focus on mental health and local climate action projects, there’s a host of incredible youth initiatives on our doorsteps and investing in the power of youth work continues to be a key focus for us a child-centred and youth-led local authority.
“Investing community funding into local youth projects is crucial, especially as we approach another winter where so many people are still struggling due to the Cost-of-Living crisis.”
Youth Work Week has now come to an end, but this won’t stop Youth Services continue to share exciting updates via social media as youth work has something for everyone and has the power to really change lives…
Email: youthservices@north-ayrshire.gov.uk if you want to get involved in a youth club or #youthparticipation or send a DM to Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nayouthservices and Twitter: https://twitter.com/NAYouthServices