PUBLISHED | 27.10.2023 |
READING TIME | 4 |
We, the National Youth Council of Ireland, are a membership organisation representing the interests of voluntary youth organisations and young people in Ireland. There are many strands to our work but a lot of what we do focuses on building the capacity of voluntary youth organisations to respond to the needs of young people in Ireland. Since 2008 NYCI has had a dedicated team to support equality, interculturalism and diversity in youth work. While the work of the programme is to promote inclusion from a positive perspective, we always name racism, sexism, transphobia, classism, disablism and xenophobia as forces that work against us in society. And if they exist in society they exist in youth work and the lives of young people
In 2015 we worked with European partners on a project to develop a youth-centred approach to tackling hate in youth work settings. The resources and training developed then have been refined over time and we recently relaunched our reworked manual on transformative practice called “Transforming Hate”
A central part of the transformative approach is a commitment to positive work with young people who were attracted to hurtful narratives and behaviours. This from the outside might seem counterintuitive. Society teaches us that punishment, shame, degradation and disconnection are the appropriate responses to harm. Traditional approaches to hateful behaviour in youth projects often relied on behaviour management strategies like code of conduct or escalating sanctions based on what young people did. These at times often lead to the further exclusion of the most vulnerable young people and a failure to address fundamental underlying issues. Or alternatively, young people learnt what not to say in the youth project but the attitudes prevailed outside of the youth work setting. Transformative practice challenges this approach.
As youth workers we make long-term commitments to young people and we invest in a long-term relationship with the communities that we work with. We believe all young people are fundamentally good and we shape our work around our commitment to help young people to reach their fullest potential. We approach this work with compassion and understanding but also with deep commitment to political analysis. We understand that our young people often both perpetuate and experience differing oppressions. We commit to building solidarity and understanding.
Transforming hateful speech and or behaviours
Traditional approaches to hate also often presumed that hate was a learned behaviour based on misinformation, lack of education (ignorance) or fear of the unknown. These approaches assume that interventions, such as education or exposure to others from minority groups will diminish fear and ignorance and build empathy. The effect of this approach can be quite limited. Transformative practice however encourages us to look deeper at what is going on in society and within the wider lives of young people that could be drawing that young person to behaviours that ultimately disconnect them from wider society. The practice pays attention to wider structural inequalities and the deeply held human needs that we all carry. Needs like the need for a sense of community, for a sense of power and agency, to be listened to, for respect and for autonomy, for acceptance and belonging. These needs can be difficult for young people to meet when they come from marginalised groups. The practice recognises the complex interplay between young people’s relative position in society, what’s going on in their individual lives and how those interact with wider societal narratives. The invitation for youth work then is to support young people to understand all these aspects at play and to develop interventions that help young people meet their needs without resorting to hateful behaviours.
Committing to justice
If you want to learn more about transformative practice there are four options below
- If you are a youth organisation and interested in our one-day training you can follow the link here.
- Anyone can access our free 45-minute e-learning on transformative approaches. This e-learning is suitable for anybody working with young people in the community, in a public-facing job or who may have concerns about someone in their circle being attracted towards hate. Click here to start the e-learning.
- Access our online resources. The “Transforming Hate” manual gives an in-depth analysis of a transformative approach to working with young people but with plenty of practical applications that can be brought into other settings. “Beyond Hate” is a pack of activities you can run with young people. Click here to download your copies.
- Commit to building resilient solid inclusive spaces wherever you are from the beginning. Be that within your youth club, your knitting circle or your workplace. Dip into our “8 steps to inclusive practice” resource which is a toolkit for building inclusive practice in youth organisations but there is plenty in there for others also.
Have a question? You can find more on our website here or drop me an email on kateoc@nyci.ie
Introduction to Transformative and Compassionate Practice in Youth Work – NYCI E-Learning
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This is a feature written by the National Youth Council of Ireland