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Hillingdon Youth Offer
Curriculum
Policy
Author: Hillingdon Youth Offer Management Team
Date: 1st October 2024
Version:
Version number: Edited by: Date:
Version 1 Hillingdon Youth Offer
Management Team
01/10/2024
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Contents
Youth Offer Statement of Purpose ....................................................................................... 3
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5
Principles ............................................................................................................................. 9
Preparation Tasks .............................................................................................................. 12
Learning Process ............................................................................................................... 19
Evaluate ............................................................................................................................. 20
Target Groups .................................................................................................................... 22
Environments ..................................................................................................................... 38
Outputs .............................................................................................................................. 44
Glossary of Terms ............................................................................................................. 45
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Youth Offer Statement of Purpose
Hillingdon’s Youth Offer vision is to support and enable children and young people to realise
their full potential, to empower and support them with their personal and social development,
to help them have a positive transition to adulthood and make worthwhile contributions to
their communities.
Our Youth Offer co -produced with children and young people, is underpinned by
relationship-based practice that is informed by contextual understanding and cultural
awareness. Incorporating both universal and targeted teams that work in collaboration with
the community and voluntary sector to provide locali ty-based work, detached street -based
work, outreach youth work, outdoor learning, digital youth work and other activities such as
residentials and volunteering. Utilising spaces and places across the borough to ensure a
dynamic and responsive integrated ea rly help offer that encourages children and young
people to access services that seek to improve their life opportunities.
Vision:
Our vision is to facilitate
the realization of the full
potential of children and
young people in the
London Borough of
Hillingdon. We aim to
empower and support
them in their personal and
social development,
ensuring a positive
transition to adulthood.
Purpose:
Our purpose is to provide
flexible and dynamic
services that offer early
and targeted support. By
doing so, we empower the
children and young people
of Hillingdon, promoting
resilience and diverting
from statutory intervention.
Mission:
We will deliver services
across Hillingdon, utilizing
spaces and places that are
accessible to our children
and young people. Our
services will be responsive
to their needs, ensuring
timely delivery of the right
services when needed.
The Youth Offer aligns with the Council Strategy 2022 -2026 commitments to residents
namely: safe and strong communities and; thriving, healthy households. It seeks to deliver
a modern youth offer that meets the needs of young residents by providing accessible,
contextually and culturally aware services. It has a clear focus on community engagement
and providing opportunities for young residents to engage in a distinct educational process
adapted across a variety of settings to support a young person’s personal, social and
educational development.
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Our Service aims to provide a curriculum programme of activities, services and facilities to
support children and young people to:
Be safe;
Be healthy;
Be active citizens;
Develop life skills;
Achieve their full potential; and
Be happy and valued for who they are
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Introduction
The aim of the Hillingdon Youth Offer curriculum
Children and Young people are many and varied in their backgrounds, abilities and interests.
All, irrespective of their circumstances, are engaged in a natural process of personal and
social development towards adulthood. During their adolescence, young pe ople are
developing the social, emotional and academic skills required to become active and
engaged adult citizens.
Although most children and young people progress effectively towards adulthood, some
experience barriers to their progression due to their personal or social circumstances. A
minority adopt anti-social or ‘at risk’ attitudes and behaviours. Both groups require additional
support to overcome the barriers to their social inclusion. However, all young people benefit
from opportunities to partici pate in informal learning experiences through which they can
widen their horizons, develop new abilities and understandings, and experience success.
Effective youth work supports young people’s development and progression by addressing
the issues that impact upon their lives. Youth workers engage with young people to develop
informal learning opportunities through which young people can acquire the skills,
knowledge, values, and abilities that will assist their development into responsible and
fulfilled adult citizens, living their lives to their fullest potential.
This process, known as ‘informal education’, enables young people to learn through their
own experience in informal environments with their peers. Informal education has
identifiable principles, inputs, process and outcomes that are described in detail within the
curriculum policy.
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The curriculum is a key youth service policy statement that:
Describes our unique service offer.
Shares concepts of effective practice;
Benchmarks standards of practice; and
Justifies our work to key stakeholders.
The curriculum policy provides a detailed manifesto for effective youth work. It describes,
guides and informs the work of youth workers who work for Hillingdon Youth Offer.
The curriculum aims to enable all people that are impacted by youth work including children
and young people, youth workers, parents, elected members, and members of the wider
community, to understand the principles, practice and outcomes of informal education.
The curriculum model, as seen below, will be broken down and discussed throughout this
document.
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Objectives
The key areas of learning that youth workers support young people to achieve.
Youth workers need to have an understanding of what the curriculum seeks to achieve if
they are to be effective in the delivery of high-quality youth work. The curriculum is designed
to enable children and young people’s personal and social development, so that they can
be supported to become socially included adult citizens.
Children and young people are supported in this process through the acquisition of key:
Skills;
Knowledge;
Values; and
Abilities.
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Principles
The ‘4 E’s’: Education; Equalities; Engagement; and Empowerment
Effective youth work is based on a core set of principles, known as the ‘four E’s’. These
are:
1. Education
Effective youth work has defined educational content and measurable learning outcomes
for participating children and young people. In the context of education, effective youth work
requires youth workers to:
Ensure that youth work programmes respond to children and young people’s
evidenced developmental needs and social concerns;
Develop planned programmes of activity that enable children and young people to
achieve learning outcomes; and
Create opportunities for children and young people to develop new abilities, skills,
knowledge and values that support their transition to adulthood
2. Equality
Youth work supports children and young people in the establishment of a fair and just society
Effective youth work has at its heart an understanding that all people, irrespective of their
backgrounds or circumstances, have the right to equal access to services, opportunities and
support. In the context of equality, effective youth work requires youth workers to:
Proactively raise and address equality issues in their practice, and support children
and young people to understand and commit to the values of social justice and
equality of opportunity;
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Support children and young people to recognise and constructively challenge the
prejudice, discrimination and inequality that they and their peers encounter; and
Create targeted opportunities for children and young people who experience
inequality, disadvantage or social exclusion to participate in informal learning
opportunities.
3. Engagement (Co-production)
Youth work requires children and young people to be active partners in the learning process.
Effective youth work engages children and young people fully in the design, delivery,
evaluation and reporting of informal learning opportunities, and encourages children and
young people to participate in the life of their communities, and the wider society. In the
context of engagement, effective youth work requires youth workers to:
Encourage children and young people to be active in the planning, management
and evaluation of the informal learning programmes in which they engage;
Create opportunities for children and young people to become engaged in the
governance of youth and community-based services, through involvement in local,
regional and national democratic fora; and
Support children and young people to become active and democratically engaged
citizens, knowledgeable about their civic rights and responsibilities, and actively
contributing to the quality of life in their communities.
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4. Empowerment
Youth work empowers children and young people with the competencies required for adult
life. Effective youth work supports children and young people’s personal and social
development through enabling the acquisition of key skills, values, knowledge, and abilities.
In the context of empowerment, effective youth work requires youth workers to:
Respond to children and young people’s evidenced developmental needs and
social concerns;
Deliver programmes through which children and young people can develop the
skills, values, knowledge and abilities required for adulthood; and
Support children and young people to identify and accredit their progression and
personal development.
The four curriculum principles form the foundations of effective practice and must be
integrated within the curriculum process to ensure the delivery of high-quality youth work.
Youth workers must implement the four curriculum principles throughout their practice to
ensure the delivery of effective youth work.
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Preparation Tasks
The key tasks that youth workers manage to prepare for curriculum delivery
Children and young people engage with the youth work curriculum on a voluntary basis, and
so youth workers must ensure the management of key tasks that will engage children and
young people and support their involvement in the informal learning process. Youth workers
must successfully build constructive relationships with children and young people and create
a positive youth work environment.
1. Build Constructive Relationships with Children and Young People
The youth work curriculum cannot be delivered unless youth workers have constructive
relationships with children and young people, based on positive regard, trust and empathy.
Youth workers need to be skilled in the befriending of children and young people and be
able to be seen as trustworthy and supportive in the eyes of children and young people .
Youth workers must be able to communicate to children and young people that they give
value to their prior experience and be willing to share power and control in the learning
process.
Youth workers also need to be able to maintain professional boundaries in their relationships
with children and young people and be able to manage the challenge of inappropriate
behaviour and attitudes in a manner that enables children and young people’s personal
development, without damaging their self-esteem. Youth workers need to honest and explicit
with children and young p eople about any constraints that may impact upon their
relationship, including limits to confidentiality in the context of disclosures regarding Child
Protection or illegal activity.
In both aspects of their relationships with children and young people, youth workers must
be able to demonstrate that they are trustworthy, be consistent in their approach, and non -
judgemental in their regard for the children and young people’s worth if they are to develop
relationships that have a depth suffi cient to enable the delivery of effective informal
education programmes.
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2. Create a Youth Work Environment
An effective youth work environment encompasses both physical and emotional
characteristics. Although the youth work curriculum can be delivered in a variety of settings,
it requires a specific environment to facilitate children and young people’s involvement in the
informal education process.
In terms of physical characteristics, children and young people need to be offered an
environment in which th ey are safe from harm and protected from inappropriate levels of
risk, and in which they have access to a variety of curriculum activities. However, the key
attributes that identify an effective youth work environment relate to its emotional
characteristics. Youth workers need to create an environment in which opportunities exist
for children and young people to:
Exercise democratic decision-making and take increasing levels of responsibility in
the management of the learning environment;
Identify and act upon their developmental needs, social concerns and recreational
interests;
Undertake new experience and social opportunities;
Access information and signposting to specialist support agencies; and
Encourage appropriate risk taking and undertake challenges that result in
achievement and increased self-esteem.
The creation of an effective youth work environment is dependent upon youth workers
being skilled in the development of constructive relationships with children and young
people, with youth workers continuing to develop relationships and negotiate the learning
environment with young people throughout the curriculum delivery process. If youth
workers can successfully create such an environment, then they are able to undertake the
specific curriculum delivery tasks that will result in children and young people’s emotional
growth and development.
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Delivery Tasks
The key tasks that youth workers manage to enable curriculum delivery.
1. Assess Children and Young People’s Interests, Needs and Concerns
Through the developing relationships being built between youth workers and children and
young people, an assessment of children and young people’s recreational interests,
developmental needs, and social concerns can be undertaken, through two key processes.
Youth workers need to encourage children and young people to share information about
their recreational interests, developmental needs and social concerns, so that relevant
programmes of activity can be devised. At the same time, you th workers must also make
professional judgements about the ir developmental needs and social concerns that they
may not have self-identified as a learning priority. For example, children and young people
using illegal substances may not identify their drug use as being an issue of concern, but
youth workers may still make a professional judgement that results in the issue being
addressed in the activity programme.
The process of assessing children and young people’s needs and wants is one that is
ongoing throughout the curriculum process but is a key focus when working with new groups
of children and young people or devising up new programmes of activity. On most occasions,
youth workers will work in direct partnership with children and young people in the design of
the curriculum, on the understanding that children and young people come to the process
with their own range of experiences, views and understandings.
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2. Plan Informal Education Programmes
Equipped with an understanding of children’s and young people’s aspirations and for the
forthcoming curriculum programme, and with a second frame of reference arising through
professional judgements regarding the children and young people’s developmental needs,
youth workers need to plan programmes of activity that will respond to the identified
aspirations, issues and concerns.
Youth workers must give reference to the curriculum principles to ensure that programmes
have:
Relevant and appropriate educational content;
Children and young people’s input to the planning and design process;
Reference to issues of equality of opportunity and social justice; and
Practical learning outcomes that can be recorded or accredited.
Within the planning process, youth workers need to work with children and young people
to identify specific learning objectives for participants that are ‘SMART’:
Specific;
Measurable;
Achievable;
Realistic; and
Time-specific
The agreed learning objectives form the basis for ongoing formative assessment during the
delivery phase, and for the formal evaluation at the completion of programme delivery, when
the actual learning outcomes achieved can be compared to the pre-set learning objectives.
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At the completion of the planning process, youth workers are required to formally report the
proposed learning programmes and related objectives to curriculum stakeholders including
line managers, young people’s fora and local advisory committees for scrutiny and approval.
3. Deliver Informal Education Programmes
Once approved by relevant curriculum stakeholders, youth workers need to begin the
process of delivering the programme structure so as to enable the achievement of the
agreed learning objectives.
During the process of programme delivery, youth workers need to ensure that they are
regularly assessing the effectiveness of the programme design with children and young
people and professional colleagues, with reference to young people’s engagement and
progression towards the agreed learning objectives.
Effective curriculum programmes are ones that deliver the agreed learning outcomes in the
context of a multi -faceted service offer that combines fun, challenge and stimulation for
participating children and young people, within the scope of the curriculum principles.
4. Evaluate Informal Education Programmes
At the completion of the programme delivery, youth workers identify the learning outcomes
that have been achieved by children and young people, in the context of the agreed learning
objectives, and make a judgement as to whether the programme has successfully
addressed their developmental needs and social concerns. Such judgements are made in
partnership with children and young people, who ar e encouraged to express their views
through verbal and written feedback.
At the completion of the evaluation process, youth workers are required to formally report
the achieved learning outcomes to curriculum stakeholders including line managers, young
people’s fora and local advisory committees for scrutiny and approval.
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The Curriculum Delivery Cycle:
The described cycle of curriculum delivery tasks apply to all youth work programmes from a
single session of activity, to a termly programme of activity, and needs to ensure children
and young people’s involvement throughout the process.
Effective youth work also requires youth workers to manage unintended learning processes,
in response to any indicators of need that children and young people may present without
previous notice. In such circumstances, youth workers must also be able to re spond
immediately to develop curriculum activities that will lead to unplanned learning outcomes
for children and young people. Such a response will still take place within the prescribed
delivery cycle but may involve the youth worker and child/young per son completing the
process within a single contact session.
Young
People
1. Assess
3. Deliver
2. Plan
4. Evaluate
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Learning Process
How children and young people learn through their involvement in the curriculum
A key element in the curriculum learning process is the emphasis placed upon children and
young people’s natural ability to learn through their own experience. Effective youth workers
use this process, known as the ‘Experiential Learning Cycle’, to enable children and young
people to learn through a learning model routed in an ongoing cycle of activit y, reflection,
learning inputs and repeated activity incorporating new understandings.
This four -stage learning model enables children and young people to acquire new
competencies and understandings through the youth worker facilitating a process of informal
reflection and learning inputs that examines and adds to the child/young person’s
experience that may have happened within the youth work process, or in the child/young
person’s wider experience:
1. Concrete Experience - ‘The chlid/young person undertakes an activity or has an
experience’
2. Reflective Observation - ‘The child/young person critically reviews the activity or
experience with support from the youth worker’
3. Forming Abstract Concepts - ‘The youth worker supports the child/young person
to develop new understandings, awareness and abilities through informal learning
inputs’
4. Active Experimentation - ‘The chlid/young person applies their new
understandings, awareness and abilities to the original activity or experience’
The Experiential Learning Cycle can begin at any one of the four points, but usually begins
with the child/young person carrying out a particular action and seeing the effect of their
action.
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The youth worker’s role in the learning process is critical within stages two and three of the
learning cycle, when they are required support the child/young person to reflect upon the
effects of their activity, and to facilitate informal learning inputs that results in the
chilc/young person being able to undertake the action again, but now with added
knowledge or awareness that will improve their understandings or abilities.
The Experiential Learning Cycle:
Using this model, effective youth workers are able to use a wide variety of children and
young people’s experiences to facilitate an informal learning process. The chlid/ young
person, whose own experience creates the learning opportunity, participates in the process
as an equal partner, and has the right to apply the learning as they see fit.
Young
People
Assess
Deliver
Plan
Evaluate
1. Concrete Experience
‘Do it’ (again)
2. Reflective
Observation
‘Review it’
4. Testing in new
Situations
‘Incorporate new
understanding to
practice’
3. Forming Abstract
Concepts
‘Develop new
understandings’
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Children and young people’s learning takes place through their completion of the full learning
cycle, but different individuals and groups may progress through it at different speeds, and
some children and young people may not complete the learning tasks in the prescribed
order.
The model may be seen in application within the context of informal education initiatives
regarding alcohol education, within which youth workers may aim to reduce children and
young people’s level of risk or harm arising due to their lack of knowledge about the
physiological, social and legal implications of their consumption. Youth workers will work in
a non-judgemental manner to encourage children and young people to reflect u pon their
usage, to identify what aspects of their consumption may place them at risk of harm, and to
identify gaps in their knowledge and understandings in the context of their alcohol
consumption.
Through this enquiry, an informal learning programme th at responds to the children and
young people’s developmental needs can be planned and facilitated, so that the risk factors
can be managed and the potential for harm reduced if children and young people choose to
use alcohol again in the future.
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Target Groups
The groups of children and young people that youth workers seek to engage in the
curriculum
Hillingdon Youth Offer works with children and young people on the basis of their age, and
their need for curriculum input to address issues of social exclusion.
1. Age-specific Target Groups
With reference to age-specific criteria, curriculum activities are developed with children and
young people aged between 8 and 24 years old, . Effective youth workers engage with age-
specific target groups with an aim to deliver personal and social development opportunities
that enable children and young people’s progression towards socially engaged adulthood.
To ensure that informal learning programmes are developmentally appropriate, three age -
specific target groups are defined:
Senior Age-range – children and young people in school years 10 to 13;
Intermediate Age-range – children and young people in school years 7, 8 and 9;
and
Junior Age-range – children and young people in school years 4, 5 and 6
Informal learning programmes that are age-specific generally provide open access provision
to local children and young people within the specified age -ranges. Such programmes
provide ‘generic’ and ‘specialist’ curriculum initiatives.
2. Need-specific Target Groups
With reference to need-specific criteria, curriculum activities are developed with children and
young people who are at risk of social exclusion, as evidenced through their belonging to
socially excluded groups in society, or through their propensity to anti -social or offending
behaviours. Effective youth workers engaged with need -specific target groups with an aim
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to support them to overcome the barriers to their social inclusion, so that they can proceed
towards socially engaged adulthood.
Young people identified as being at risk due to their belonging to socially excluded groups
include:
Young People from Black and Minority Ethnic Communities may experience
disadvantage due to their belonging to socially excluded communities, and benefit
from support to overcome culturally derived prejudice and discrimination that they
may experience in their lives;
Young People from Hard-to-reach Communities may experience disadvantage
due to their limited access to social, education and welfare services, and benefit
from support to overcome limited opportunities for constructive leisure time
activities.
Young Parents may experience disadvantage due to their having dependent
children at young ages, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and
enable re-engagement in education, employment and training opportunities.
Young People in Local Authority Care may experience disadvantage due to their
not having supportive family relationships to support their personal and social
development, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and enable
increased opportunities for constructive leisure time activities;
Young People who are Lone Asylum Seekers or Refugees may experience
disadvantage due to their not having supportive family relationships to support their
personal and social development, and benefit from support to overcome culturally
derived prejudice and discrimination that they may experience in their lives.
Young Carers may experience disadvantage due to their having responsibilities to
care for dependant relatives, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation
and enable increased opportunities for constructive leisure time activities;
Young People who are Care Leavers may experience disadvantage due to their
not having supportive family relationships to support their personal and social
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development, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and enable re-
engagement in education, employment and training opportunities;
Young People who are not in Employment, Education or Training may
experience disadvantage due to their disengagement from education, employment
and training opportunities, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and
enable re-engagement in education, employment and training opportunities;
Young People from the LGBTQIA+ may experience disadvantage due to their
belonging to socially excluded communities, and benefit from support to overcome
social isolation and developing positive identity and self-worth;
Young Women may experience disadvantage due to their belonging to socially
excluded communities, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and
developing positive identity and self-worth;
Young Men may experience disadvantage due to their belonging to socially
excluded communities, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and
developing positive identity and self-worth;
Young People who are School Excludees and Non-attenders may experience
disadvantage due to their disengagement from employment and training
opportunities, and benefit from support to overcome social isolation and enable re-
engagement in education, employment and training opportunities;
Young people who have Physical Disabilities may experience disadvantage due
to their belonging to socially excluded communities, and benefit from support to
overcome social isolation and enable increased opportunities for constructive
leisure time activities;
Young People who have Cognitive Disabilities may experience disadvantage
due to their belonging to socially excluded communities, and benefit from support to
overcome social isolation and enable increased opportunities for constructive
leisure time activities; and
Young People who have Learning Difficulties may experience disadvantage due
to their belonging to socially excluded communities, and benefit from support to
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overcome social isolation and enable increased opportunities for constructive
leisure time activities;
The two other groups of children and young people who are identified as being at risk of
social exclusion are:
Children and young people who are at risk of engagement in anti-social
behaviours may experience social exclusion due to their anti-social behaviours and
attitudes, and benefit from diversionary activities that prevent them from continued
at risk activities;
Children and young people who are at risk of engagement in offending
behaviours may experience social exclusion due to their anti-social behaviours and
attitudes, and benefit from diversionary activities that prevent them from continued
at risk activities;
Hillingdon Youth Offer prioritises the establishment of informal learning programmes with
socially excluded groups of children and young people in order to support them to overcome
the barriers to their inclusion, and to enable them to meet their full potential as socially
included adults.
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Curriculum Themes
The key issues addressed and explored within the curriculum
The curriculum enables children and young people to explore the issues and interests that
impact upon their lives, promotes their personal and social development, and supports them
to make a positive contribution to their communities. In Hillingdon, these key issues have
been encapsulated into ten curriculum themes:
Theme 1: Citizenship and Democratic Engagement
Theme 2: Creativity and Expression
Theme 3: Employment, Education and Training
Theme 4: Environment and Ecology
Theme 5: Health and Well Being
Theme 6: Personal Development and Life Skills
Theme 7: Personal Identity and Culture
Theme 8: Relationships and Interpersonal Skills
Theme 9: Social Justice and Equalities
Theme 10: Spirituality and Ethical Values
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Theme 1: Citizenship and Democratic Engagement
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to become active adult citizens who are
politically informed and engaged, and benefit from being engaged in local, regional and
national democratic processes.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will
have:
Explored their own, and others, political views and understandings (Values);
Developed a commitment to the democratic process (Values);
Developed understandings of political structures and processes in society
(Knowledge);
Understood their civic rights and responsibilities (Knowledge);
Been engaged in democratic decision-making processes (Skills);
Advocated on behalf of themselves and others (Skills);
Been involved in the management of local youth services (Abilities); and
Had local, regional and national representation to key community service providers
including the council and central government (Abilities).
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Theme 2: Creativity and Expression
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to express themselves through performance and
creative arts, and benefit from opportunities to develop their creative confidence th rough
performance and expression.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Developed an appreciation for arts and performance media (Values);
Explored issues of personal and social significance using creative media (Values);
Developed an understanding of the range of artistic opportunities available in the
community (Knowledge);
Developed an awareness of art forms that different cultures, including children and
young people’s sub-cultures, contribute (Knowledge);
Developed new performance and creative arts competencies (Skills);
Developed a range of techniques and applications for self-expression (Skills);
Developed competency to communicate through a variety of media (Abilities);
Developed the confidence to express themselves through performance (Abilities).
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Theme 3: Employment, Education and Training
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to be engaged in appropriate and fulfilling
employment, and benefit from education and training opportunities that make effective use
of their abilities, interests and talents.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Recognised that employment and education opportunities are central to the
development of a fulfilling adult life (Values);
Explored the value of personal development through training and education
(Values);
Developed a positive understanding of their personal talents and vocation
(Knowledge);
Had access to information, advice and guidance regarding relevant education and
employment opportunities (Knowledge);
Developed a portfolio of skills and aptitudes that are sought by employers, and
education and training providers; (Skills);
Attained accredited learning outcomes in literacy, numeracy and communication
technology skills (Skills);
Developed ability to present effectively to employment, education and training
providers (Abilities);
Developed ability to undertake sustained involvement in employment, education
and training opportunities (Abilities)
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Theme 4: Environment and Ecology
Policy Statement
Children and y oung people have the right to express their appreciation for, and concerns
about, the environment, and benefit from opportunities to become active in the conservation
of the local, national and global ecology.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Explored their own, and others, environmental understandings and concerns
(Values);
Developed a commitment to environmentally sustainable lifestyles (Values);
Gained an understanding of environmental and conservation issues (Knowledge);
Understood their environmental rights and responsibilities (Knowledge);
Been engaged in relevant decision-making processes (Skills);
Made informed decisions about environmental and conservation matters in their
lives (Skills);
Developed the ability to engage in and influence local, national and global
environmental issues (Abilities); and
Developed the ability to participate in environmental projects and campaigns
(Abilities).
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Theme 5: Health and Well Being
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to maintain and improve their health and well-
being, and benefit from the receipt of accurate and up -to-date information and learning
experiences regarding their physical, emotional and sexual health.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Explored their own, and others, attitudes to healthy living (Values);
Made a commitment to sustaining their own, and others, health and well-being
(Values);
Had access to sources of accurate and up-to-date information, advice and guidance
(Knowledge);
Developed an awareness of local specialist health and support services
(Knowledge);
Been able to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy lifestyle choices (Skills);
Been able to assertively communicate personal decision-making in the context of
peer pressure (Skills);
Developed an ability to make informed decisions based on accurate understandings
(Abilities); and
Developed the practical ability to lead and sustain a healthy lifestyle (Abilities).
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Theme 6: Personal Development and Life Skills
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to develop to their fullest potentials, and benefit
from the acquisition of interpersonal, social and key skills through which independent living
can be managed.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Explored their own personal potential and scope for development (Values);
Developed a sense of increasing self-worth through personal achievement and
success (Values);
Developed an increasing understanding of how to effectively achieve personal
goals and ambitions (Knowledge);
Developed increasing understandings of social systems and processes concerning
personal and social well-being (Knowledge);
Developed a range of competencies that enable sustainable independent living
(Skills);
Been able to make positive and informed choices regarding current and future life
choices (Abilities); and
Developed the confidence to undertake new experience that provides challenge
and opportunities for personal development (Abilities).
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Theme 7: Personal Identity and Culture
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to define and celebrate their individual identity and
cultural heritage, and benefit from increased understanding regarding their own, and others,
cultural backgrounds.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Understood and valued their own, and others, identity and individuality (Values);
Committed to the concepts of freedom of expression and social tolerance (Values);
Developed a growing sense of personal identity and self-awareness (Knowledge);
Developed an understanding of the key influences upon the construction of
personal identity (Knowledge);
Developed the competencies required to express their personal identity (Skills);
Developed the competencies required to express their cultural identity (Skills);
Developed an ability to positively engage with others outside their own cultural and
peer groups (Abilities); and
Developed the confidence to express their own identity in the context of their self-
defined culture and sub-culture (Abilities).
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Theme 8: Relationships and Interpersonal Skills
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to engage in meaningful and fulfilling relationships
with their peers, family members, and associates, and benefit from opportunities to practice
the skills required for successful relationships with themselves and others.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Recognised the importance of maintaining positive relationships with others
(Values);
Developed an ethical approach to the management of their relationships with others
(Values);
Acquired an understanding of verbal and non-verbal communications (Knowledge);
Developed an understanding of the range of emotions that occur in the context of
relationships (Knowledge)
Developed effective communication and social skills (Skills);
Developed the skills required to effectively manage interpersonal conflict (Skills);
Learnt how to initiate and maintain positive intimate relationships (Abilities); and
Developed competence in the management of wider social relationships (Abilities).
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Theme 9: Social Justice and Equalities
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to be socially included members of a pluralistic
society, and benefit from an understanding and commitment to the concepts of equal
opportunities and social justice.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Understood and valued their own, and others, identities in the context of culture,
gender, ability, and social circumstance (Values);
Committed to the concept of a socially inclusive society in which all people are of
equal value and status (Values);
Learnt about the beliefs and values of various cultural groups in society
(Knowledge);
Developed an understanding of the negative impact of prejudice, discrimination,
inequality and oppression on the lives of groups in society (Knowledge);
Learnt how to constructively challenge prejudicial and discriminatory behaviours
and attitudes in others (Skills);
Developed an ability to positively engage with others outside their own cultural
group (Abilities); and
Developed an ability to contribute to the establishment of social justice and
equalities in society (Abilities).
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Theme 10: Spirituality and Ethical Values
Policy Statement
Children and young people have the right to explore and express their spiritual and ethical
values through which they lead their lives, and benefit from the understanding of other
philosophies regarding life and its higher meanings and purpose.
Learning Objectives
Through their involvement with Hillingdon Youth Offer, children and young people will have:
Developed a growing sense of the ethical values by which they wish to live their
adult life (Values);
Learnt about the beliefs and values of various spiritual ideologies and value-
systems (Knowledge);
Learnt about the predominant ethical values that inform society (Knowledge);
Learnt how to communicate with others regarding their personal viewpoints about
the higher meanings of life (Skills) and
Developed a sensitivity in their conduct and presentation to other people’s spiritual
and ethical values and customs (Skills).
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Environments
The locations in which youth workers deliver the curriculum
The youth work curriculum provides a flexible learning process that can be delivered in a
wide range of locations, spaces and places across the Borough. The curriculum identifies
sixteen specific settings in which informal learning programmes can be delivered:
1. Centre-based - using buildings as locations for programme delivery, within
purpose-built centres, or being delivered in hired premises in the community
2. Community Placement - providing children and young people with opportunities to
undertake accredited voluntary activity within the community
3. Conference – creating formal opportunities for large groups of children and young
people to convene to discuss key issues of concern, often in partnership with youth
service providers
4. Counselling Service – providing formal counselling support to children and young
people in a confidential setting
5. Cyber Café – enabling children and young people’s access to electronic
information and communication technology
6. Forum – creating opportunities for small groups of children and young people to
convene to participate in programme and service governance activities, using a
range of informal and formal methods
7. Information, Advice and guidance Service – providing children and young people
with accurate sources of information regarding issues of concern, and signposting
to specialist support services
8. Mobile Provision – creating peripatetic outreach services for children and young
people that cannot access fixed site provision
9. Outdoors – using natural environments to deliver outdoor learning activities,
programmes and expeditions
10. Public Space - using parks and green spaces as settings to develop detached
work programmes with children and young people
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11. Recreational Setting - using commercial recreational activity locations as venues
for off-site learning activities and programmes
12. Residential Setting - delivering learning programmes with children and young
people away from their normal youth work environment, often involving overnight
stays
13. School-based - delivering informal learning programmes to children and young
people in classrooms and assemblies
14. Studio-based - delivering creative arts and music-based learning programmes with
children and young people using multi-media applications
15. Theatre - developing performance-based youth work programmes with children and
young people, including opportunities for public performance
16. Training Environment - delivering structured learning programmes with children
and young people in a formal learning setting
The wide range of learning environments deployed within the curriculum enable effective
youth workers to devise learning programmes that are appropriate to children and young
people’s interests, needs and abilities.
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Methods
The activities through which youth workers deliver the curriculum.
The youth work curriculum provides a flexible learning process that can be delivered using
a wide range of activities, in partnership with groups and individual children and young
people. The curriculum identifies twenty key methods of activity through which informal
learning programmes can be delivered:
1. Arts and Crafts - offering children and young people opportunities to undertake
craft activities through which they can develop creative skills and new recreational
interests
2. Association - providing a range of voluntary activity opportunities, including
informal sports, discussion and arts activities, usually deployed within centre-based
settings
3. Campaign Management - developing children and young people-led and managed
initiatives regarding issues of concern or interest, sometimes linked to wider public
promotions or established in a local context
4. Counselling – formal therapeutic support service provided for individual children
and young people who face challenging dilemmas and issues of concern, although
counselling skills may be used by appropriately-trained youth workers in an informal
context
5. Cultural Exchange – offering groups of children and young people opportunities to
engage with an exchange cultural experience with young people from other
communities and cultures, usually taking place in an international context but can
also be delivered in a regional context
6. Detached Work - developing curriculum activities with children and young people
where they are found, with full programme delivery taking place away from
buildings, using parks and street corners as impromptu settings
7. Electronic Media - offering children and young people opportunities to use
information and communication technology for recreational activity and learning
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8. Event Management - developing children and young people-led and managed
events, usually enabling public performance opportunities using creative arts
9. Expedition – pre-planned outdoor activity programme, providing participants with
intense outdoor activities-based learning opportunities, often delivered in context of
overarching accredited learning programmes
10. Groupwork - providing youth worker-facilitated learning activities, with chlidren and
young people undertaking pre-planned learning activities and exercises with
specified learning outcomes
11. Mentoring/One-to-one Support - formal mentoring support service provided for
individual children and young people who require intensive support to overcome
issues of concern.
12. Off-site Activity – providing children and young people with opportunities to
undertake learning activities outside of the normal learning setting, often using
commercial recreational provision or sports facilities
13. Information, Advice and Guidance – providing children and young people with
access to electronic and paper-based information, support and signposting to
specialist support agencies, can be accessed by young people with or without youth
worker facilitation
14. Outdoor Activity –delivering youth work programmes through activities located in
the outdoors.
15. Outreach - youth workers reach out to children and young people who do not use
centre-based services, to enable young people’s access to curriculum activities,
with aim to encourage young people to have access to existing services and
provision
16. Performance – offering children and young people opportunities to participate in
creative activities to enable acquisition of activity and communication skills, and
providing opportunities to showcase acquired skills through public presentation
17. Residential Activity – providing children and young people with opportunities to
undertake learning activities away from the normal youth work setting, often
involving overnight stays
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18. Sport - offering children and young people opportunities to participate in team
sports to enable acquisition of activity and communication skills, and providing a
continuum of recreational and structured leagues
19. Structured Learning Programme - providing children and young people with
classroom-based formal learning programmes, usually enabling acquisition of key
skills or development of specialist competencies through undertaking pre-planned
learning activities and exercises with specified learning outcomes
20. Volunteering Placement – offering children and young people opportunities to
undertake meaningful community-based placements, through which they can
develop employment-related competencies and recreational experience, usually
accredited through national volunteering initiatives
The wide range of learning methods deployed within the curriculum enable effective youth
workers to devise learning programmes that respond to children and young people’s
interests, needs and concerns.
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Outputs
The immediate developments in children and young people’s understandings and
competencies arising through their involvement in the curriculum
Through their participation in informal learning programmes, children and young people
develop a range of competencies that will support their developmental process to adulthood.
Although the full range of learning outputs that children and young people can achieve is
complex, the competencies can be characterised through four overarching criteria:
Acquisition of certificated or accredited learning;
Receipt of information and signposting to specialist agencies;
Evidence of enhanced self-esteem and confidence; and
Evidence of new or developing understandings, competencies, beliefs.
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Glossary of Terms
What do we mean by ‘Values’?
‘Values’ describe the overarching beliefs and principles by which
a person lives, and define what is important to them. Young
people naturally evolve value-systems that will inform their future
attitudes and beliefs about themselves and the wider society.
Effective youth work supports young people to define the value-
systems that they hold, and to consider the principles that will
guide their future decision-making in the context of a democratic
and multi-cultural society.
What do we mean by ‘Developmental Needs’?
Developmental needs describe the competencies that young
people need to acquire to become effective adults. In order to grow
into effective and fulfilled adults, young people need to develop a
range of skills, knowledge, values and abilities that will enable
them to participate in the personal, social, political and economic
spheres of their lives. Effective youth workers work in partnership
with young people to deliver programmes of activity that respond to
their developmental needs.
What do we mean by ‘Citizenship’?
‘Citizenship’ describes a range of positive social attitudes, values and behaviours through
which people act in accordance to their civic rights and responsibilities. All people are
citizens, co-existing in and contributing to our society.
Effective youth work encourages young people to regard themselves as citizens, to
explore the associated rights and responsibilities that citizens hold, and to behave
as good citizens in their daily lives.
What do we mean by knowledge?
Knowledge is the understanding of information and facts that a person acquires
through their involvement in learning activities either within formal e duction or
through their own life experience During adolescence, young people are in the
process of acquiring the knowledge required for adult life
‘Effective youth work seeks to equip young people with accurate and relevant
knowledge through which thy can make informed decision in their lives.
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