Ethnicity data published by Stats Wales in 2023 shows that around 5.2% of people in Wales identify as black, Asian, or minority ethnic. This is higher than the number of registrants who identify as such on our Register. Diversity within the education workforce, as well as within our own organisation, is extremely important to us, so that they both reflect the diverse makeup of our communities in Wales.

We are steadfast in our efforts to help create a more diverse workforce, but recognise there is a long way to go. These past few years, alongside registrants and partners, we’ve taken several small, yet purposeful steps. They include developing an ambitious Strategic Equality Plan (SEP) which reinforces our commitment to anti-racism and inclusion, sitting on a steering group to oversee the implementation of Welsh Government’s anti-racist Wales action plan (which features specific actions designated to us), and signing Race Council Cymru’s Zero Racism Wales pledge. This pledge means that, amongst other things, we commit to stand against racism, and promote a more inclusive society for all.

In November 2021, we welcomed esteemed guests, Professor Charlotte Williams and Sathnam Sanghera, to what would be the first in our webinar series on moving from a non-racist to an anti-racist Wales. This well attended event sparked the need for three more similar events, with contributions from various schools across Wales talking about their experiences of becoming anti-racist, and sharing good practice. You can watch all four of the webinars on our YouTube channel.

From the series of webinars came the chance to work with various groups and organisations to advocate for our black, Asian, and minority ethnic registrants. One of those partners is DARPL (Diversity and Anti-Racism Professional Learning), whom we have continued to work with closely over the past several years. This has included an invaluable contribution from DARPL Director and founder, Chantelle Houghton, in our podcast on diversifying the workforce, and supporting the delivery of their national conferences.

DARPL, alongside several other key partners, also helped us to shape our SEP 2024-28. It features two key actions based around increasing diversity within both our own workforce, and the education workforce as a whole, through recruitment and promotion.

To support the delivery of objective five of our SEP, ‘help develop an education workforce that is representative of the diverse population of Wales’, we created a new position within our promotion of careers team (the team responsible for delivering Welsh Government funded, Educators Wales). They have a specific responsibility for promoting jobs in education  and supporting people from black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities to join the workforce. The person appointed identifies as being from these communities, and has been key to getting more people entering the education professions in Wales. They have attended over 50 different events targeted at minority ethnic communities since 2022, including a mixture of small community events, large national events, and drop-in one-to-one sessions. They have also set up popular open evenings with the various initial teacher education (ITE) programmes across Wales, growing from one event in 2022, to a target of seven this year.

As well as these activities, we have created several different resources to support our registrants to promote ethnic diversity, tackle racism, and work towards an anti-racist Wales. One of the resources is a good practice guide on tackling racism, endorsed by BAMEed Network Wales and Show Racism the Red Card. Created for all registrants, it aims to help them ensure their behaviours and practice are inclusive, and to create an environment where learners, young people, and colleagues feel welcome, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

And yet, whilst we are extremely proud of the steps we have taken so far, we acknowledge that real change requires sustained and committed support from the whole education sector. Our SEP, and continued partnership working, demonstrates our commitment to continuing to do better, and we remain open to new ideas, feedback, and partnerships that can help us support further progress.

By working together, we believe we can build an education workforce that’s truly inclusive, empowering all registrants, learners, and young people to feel valued, safe, and respected.

If you’d like to learn more about what we’ve mentioned here, or would like to contribute to our work in any way, please visit our website, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Did you know that we have the ReachDeck Toolbar on our website?

But, why is this important?

Globally, one in every seven people have a disability. For many, they experience barriers when they’re on the web. For example, people with visual impairments might struggle if information is only available in text format. And those with cognitive disabilities might find it difficult to read information on a crowded web page. This can impact their ability to browse, buy, and access online content or services.

What's more, only one in ten people in need have access to assistive technology.

By adding the ReachDeck Toolbar to our website, we're giving extra support to people that might need it. Our visitors can choose to have our content read out loud, remove distracting content, or add a screen tint with a reading pane to help them focus.

Try it out for yourself

To launch the ReachDeck Toolbar, just select the icon at the top of the EWC website (a blue rectangle with a white body inside). To hear text read out loud, simply select on the first icon and hover your mouse over any text. From a touchscreen device you’ll have to select the text to hear it.

Now, apply a screen tint by selecting the eye icon. To explore more, select the question mark (?) icon to discover what each feature on the toolbar does.

We This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. you have on our website, including its accessibility.

By Nick Hudd

Back in 2019, I wrote an article about the youth work response to homelessness. At the time, Welsh Government had recently announced a bold ambition to end youth homelessness by 2027. Five years later, it seems reasonable to take time to reflect on the current situation and cast an eye to the future.

Recently, various interested parties worked collectively to plan and facilitate a national conference, ‘Working Together to Address Youth Homeless’. Perhaps this event offers a tangible illustration of the current state of play and an example of the sector doing what it does best, building partnerships, seeking to address deficits, finding ways to share examples of good practice, and working together in the interest of young people.

All 22 local authority youth services collaborated and agreed to co-fund the event, along with a third sector partner, End Youth Homelessness Cymru. Welsh Government and WLGA also played a pivotal role in helping plan and facilitate the day. With the sector sometimes being accused of navel-gazing and recognising the brokerage role that youth work plays, attendees were invited from a range of professions including social care, health, and a host of voluntary/third sector organisations, which totalled almost 200 delegates. For those who may have previously questioned why we have been afforded such a prominent role in helping to address this specific agenda, such comprehensive representation suggests we are making the case.

Youth work has always prided itself on being innovative, adapting, and modifying to meet the needs of contemporary society. Recognising and building on these strengths allow us to effectively respond to youth homelessness. However, in order to move forward, we sometimes have to look back and identify areas where more development has been required.

Practitioners need to continue to move away from an over reliance on anecdotal reflections, and instead ensure they effectively articulate the strategic and systematic methodology and pedagogy that informs, shapes, and governs our work. Whilst we see ourselves as informal/non-formal educators, there has historically been a misconception by some that there is no formal framework to our approach. By using and referring to the host of tools at our disposal, we can counter such erroneous beliefs whilst improving outcomes for young people. The more we do to service these requirements, especially when interacting with those outside of the sector, the greater the comprehension by others, and the more collaborative working opportunities, inevitably leading to better outcomes.

The Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (YEPF) provides an example where we can illustrate a systematic, strategic approach, whilst linking our work to wider Welsh Government initiatives. The six key core components of the framework, not only prescribe a clear systematic approach to our work on youth homelessness, but also enable us to offer a clear and concise narrative on our approach as well as a way to start evidencing our work. Below I reflect on just two in an attempt to illustrate these points:

Early identification

Youth work has always been needs-led. In order to identify the need and act appropriately in partnership with others, we need to ensure we develop these systems. Practitioners are well adept to profiling the communities in which they are engaged, whether this is defined geographically or as part of a specified subject, such as health, youth offending, or homelessness. Establishing these systems are a continuum of this approach.

Examples of practice

By using robust data sets across various domains in housing, social care, and education we (in my own organisation) have been able to track the common causes of youth homelessness in order to inform interventions. We can identify areas including geographical and school locations, as well as specific demographics where youth homelessness presentations are higher, so we can target communities and those who have experienced specific contributing factors, with more intensive interventions. In addition, by back-tracking these individuals through engagement with a host of services, we can establish where we or others, can intervene sooner.

Brokerage

Youth work has always adopted a proactive approach in this regard. For example, signposting young people, aiding in the process of them accessing other services, offering venues in which to host meetings, or staff to support them in their interaction with others. The contributing factors and causes of youth homelessness are varied, broad ranging, and because of this, no singular organisation, department, or sector can afford to adopt a unilateral approach to addressing it.

Examples of practice

By working with young people and other providers, we have been able to identify where obstacles exist, ascertain gaps in provision, and explore any perceived lack of understanding or challenges in processes and procedures. Our ‘Voices’ project, gives young people a chance to share their experiences of accessing and using services. This helps inform both their peers and other stakeholders. We have also established a Youth Housing and Homelessness Forum, where participants use their own experiences to identify issues and collectively work with partners to find solutions. We have developed information resources, including videos and infographics which explain where to get help and support, who from and how. Such a collaborative approach aids the brokerage agenda, ensuring we work together to establish a continuity of provision and young people receive the right support, at the right time by the right people

As previously alluded to, linking our work to other wider Welsh Government initiatives encourages Youth Work practitioners and other professional partners to develop a better strategic understanding of the role we play in this and other agendas. For example, the youth homeless element of YEPF is referred to in Welsh Government documents:

• Children and young people’s plan
• Child Poverty Strategy for Wales 2024
• Ending Homelessness in Wales: A high level action plan 2021-2026
• Housing Support Grant Guidance

Reflection on these few examples highlights how our work transcends a host of strategic initiatives and work across different domains. We, as a sector, need to capitalise on this and ensure all stakeholders are aware of our proactive function.

In my previous article, I referred to ‘In Defence of Youth Work’ who suggested the youth sector generated at least £10 for every £1 of sector expenditure. Our approach of involving young people in designing, delivering, co-facilitating, and evaluating ours and others stakeholder’s interventions, not only ensure such provisions are meeting their needs, but also adds financial value. To put it crudely, this input comes at little cost.

Locally we facilitate a furniture and equipment loan scheme which is only able to function because of the generosity of people and businesses in our community making donations that enable young people to equip and furnish their homes. All this however takes another form of investment. Time. Relationship building needs time. Effective systematic approaches require time. Local, regional, and national work takes time to develop. A long-term progressive strategy needs to be afforded appropriate time. In order to make the case for financial investment, we need to ensure all the elements reflected on above shape, inform, and steer our work moving forward.

It’s been a while since youth work was formally inspected. Work to develop a standalone form of youth work inspection by Estyn is underway and youth work inspection will be reintroduced from late 2024. The reintroduction of inspection follows the introduction of the Youth Work Quality Mark for Wales. In this blog, we will explain what inspection is and how the Youth Work Quality Mark complements it.

Youth work has been considered as part of local authority inspections, but introducing a stand-alone inspection for the whole of youth work will help to highlight the important contribution this education field is making to the lives of young people in Wales. It will also help to underline the legislative basis for youth work, including its statutory basis, and the importance of maintaining a vibrant voluntary youth work sector.

Estyn colleagues, along with representatives from across the youth work field, are in the process of refining the detail of what inspection will actually look like, a process which will continue until the pilot inspections are completed in early 2024. This collegiate approach will ensure that the inspection process is supportive and meaningful, as well as being a key driver for service improvement.

When we work with young people, the quality of our interventions are often hard to define. That moment of engagement, when a young person has turned an emotional corner, grasped an opportunity, or worked out a solution to a problem are the highs in many youth workers’ careers.

These moments are often the result of many hours of planning, reflection, development, or change. Listening and responding to young people is critical. These breakthroughs are examples of the principles and values of youth work making a real difference to a young person. Sometimes, the youth work sector itself generalises this by justifying it as ‘just part of the job’. We must not lose sight of the fact that youth workers often go that extra mile to help and support young people. These moments, and the preparation for them, should be celebrated. Understanding and evaluating the impact of the work we do is a crucial part of self-evaluation and supports organisations to further improve their youth work.

High-quality youth work has a crucial role to play in supporting many young people to achieve their full potential and successfully negotiate key transitions between the ages of 11-25. Through informal and non-formal educational approaches, effective youth work practice builds the capacity and resilience of young people, and can change their lives for the better. Through participation in youth work, young people gain confidence and competence, develop self-assurance, and have the opportunity to establish high expectations and aspirations for themselves.

The Quality Mark for Youth Work in Wales enables organisations to celebrate these moments, and the hard work and endeavour it takes to achieve them. It aids service improvement through reflection and review. The voluntary nature of this process demonstrates a commitment to excellence via a route of self-assessment and peer assessment. Achieving the Quality Mark brings many benefits to organisations. Most notably, having a badge of excellence which shows they are truly delivering a service to young people which you, your peers, and Wales can be proud of.

Youth work inspection will enhance the recognition of youth work in the eyes of those with significant influence, such as the Welsh Government, senior management of organisations, external funding bodies, and others. Inspection in particular aims to have this kind of influence on the education field, inside local authorities, schools, the FE sector, other employers, government, unions and funders. This is achieved by promoting the status of youth work alongside other education professions.

The intention is that the reintroduction of inspection provides public scrutiny and recognition. In turn, it is hoped that this will raise the profile of youth work, providing the whole field with a platform for improvement and opportunity. All statutory education services, and their governance bodies, are required to be publicly accountable via the inspection process, including local authority youth services. Voluntary sector youth work groups will also be included.

Inspection also provides public feedback on youth work for young people and the wider community about the youth work happening in their area. The Quality Mark assessment does not result in a published report, but inspection will. However, both will be focused on highlighting innovation and good practice. Any concerns arising are highlighted in a supportive and empowering way to help organisations provide the best possible services for young people.

The Quality Mark has a self-assessment element which is available for all youth work organisations in Wales to use regardless of their size, where they receive their funding, or whether they then take the step to being externally verified. Estyn will use the self-assessment and improvement planning processes that organisations already have in place as the starting point for inspection and providers won’t be expected to produce any additional documentation before an inspection.   

Because of the legislative requirement to inspect youth work, the main key difference between Quality Mark and inspection is that the Quality Mark is voluntarily applied for, whilst inspection is mandatory.  

Like the Quality Mark, the inspection process will involve uploading evidence to a virtual area. Estyn will also provide a number of guidance documents with the provider in the same way. There is no expectation that providers prepare documentation specifically for inspection, only to share their internal reporting and quality assurance reports. The process for assessing the Quality Mark and the inspection process helps to focus on the importance of effective self-evaluation. Inspection can be seen as a way of validating the types of service improvement that were prompted and encouraged by Quality Mark assessment. During an inspection, inspectors primary evidence base comes though meetings with young people, youth workers, and other key partners, and observing first hand youth work happening.