This online event explored the potential overlaps and intersections in services provided to children and young people in the UK, focusing on the perspectives of playworkers and youth workers. While both professions aimed to support the development and well-being of young people, they often operated within distinct frameworks, with youth work typically emphasising personal and social development and playwork prioritising the facilitation of play in safe environments.
The targeted age range for playwork and youth work could have been perceived as confusing. Play England described how play in all neighbourhoods should have places and spaces for children and young people to play. The National Youth Agency described how youth work should have been offered to 8-19 years (and up to 25 years for young adults with additional needs). This suggested there were significant overlaps in terms of who playworkers and youth workers wanted to engage with, requiring a better understanding of where the two professions shared many values and where certain aspects might have been more distinctive.
This session provided delegates with the opportunity to explore how professional roles were perceived, the boundaries of their practice, and the areas where their work intersected or duplicated. It considered where there were clear areas of collaboration and where there might have been confusion or issues due to a lack of clear role delineation. Areas of overlap led to challenges in service delivery, particularly in multi-agency settings, where coordination and clarity of roles were crucial. The session concluded with recommendations for policy and practice to better integrate these services, thereby enhancing the support provided to children and young people in the UK.
Draft Programme
10:00pm Welcome and Introduction; Fiona Cullen, Mike Seal, Tina Salter
10:15pm Playwork and Youth Work from a Youth Work Perspective; Gemma
Lockyer Turnbull, Deputy CEO at NE Youth and PhD Student at
Northumbria University
10:30pm Playwork and Youth Work from a Playwork Perspective; Dr Ali Long and
Dr Mike Wragg, Leeds Beckett University
10:45pm Discussion and questions
11:15pm Closing Remarks; Fiona Cullen, Mike Seal, Tina Salter
11:30pm Close of Event
Senior Lecturer at St. Marys University
Fin Cullen is a qualified Youth and Community worker and worked for over a decade across the UK in a variety of contexts including youth homeless provision, residential settings, day centres, school-based youth services, centre-based, outreach,...
Professor in youth and community education, professor in critical pedagogy and national officer at Birmingham City University
Operating at the nexus of practice, theory and policy making, I have worked in the multiple disadvantage, homeless and youth and community work sectors and concurrently within higher education for over 35 years My overall aim is to develop an...
Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Studies at University of Bedfordshire
Tina is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Sciences at the University of Bedfordshire. She is course coordinator for the MA in Childhood, Youth and Family Studies, which also has a JNC youth work pathway. Tina has been teaching youth and...
NE Youth
Gemma is Deputy Chief Executive of the regional youth organisation NE Youth and is also working towards a PhD in Leadership and Human Resource Management at Northumbria University Business School. Her research is focussed on the professional...
Dr Mike Wragg is a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Childhood Development & Playwork programme at Leeds Beckett University. His current research centres on the application of play and playwork to people living with advanced dementia in care...
Leeds Beckett University
Dr. Alexandra Long is the Course Director for a number Undergraduate and Postgraduate programs at Leeds Beckett University. With over 20 years of experience in playwork, she has managed various local government play projects across England. Her...