Anchors

The Youth Development industry is composed of four core anchors, Purposeful Play, Care, Community, Social Justice.  Today i will explain two of these concepts, Purposeful Play and Social Justice.

Purposeful Play is the concept of using play as a method of teaching. The games utilized in this method can be educational or they can explore new and difficult topics. For example games like Where the wind Blows can be used to learn about each other and build a sense of teamwork. Games like ZIP ZAP ZOP ( a game where children get into a circle and have to pass the words zip, zap or zop, through gestures) can be used to improve focus. Games like Step into the circle ( a game in which students step into the circle if the relate to a statement being read) can be used to introduce difficult topics like poverty, racism and more. This can all be achieved while the kids are having fun with their peers and youth workers.

Social Justice really refers to advocacy. Youth workers will advocate for youth to address topics like oppression, injustice, and inequality. This is further explained in the          article, " Most youth work takes place in the context of social justice, often with young people and others who are on the margins, excluded by a number of personal, cultural and structural barriers".  This means that youth workers may work with populations that are influenced by structural barriers such as poverty, unequal policies regarding individuals who are disabled, unequal policies regarding individuals who identify as LGBT, unequal policies regarding immigration status, or dealing with structural racism. We will work with those who have been labeled as "other" who are somehow perceived as less than or different from everyone else.This on occasion can be done concurrently with youth at our side as partners. In this form, youth workers act as mentors and youth really take the lead in planning and executing methods of advocating for change. This allows for the opportunity for youth to build skills such as public speaking, writing formal documents to elected officials and becoming overall active citizens. 

These two concepts or frameworks are important for upcoming youth professionals to understand practice, in order to be truly successful. 

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 14, 2017 at 11:54 AM


    One of my favorite industry is purposeful play because the endless possibilities it brings children. I like the different games you mentioned and how each one and the examples of how they can help the child. Play is very important in a child and games and fun activities can help a child do this without the stress of being drilled constantly by an adult.

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