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Since it's founding in 1997, the CYC-Net discussion group has been asked thousands of questions. These questions often generate many replies from people in all spheres of the Child and Youth Care profession and contain personal experiences, viewpoints, as well as recommended resources.
Below are some of the threads of discussions on varying Child and Youth Care related topics.
Questions and Responses have been reproduced verbatim.
Listen to thisI am a Zambian CYCW. I would like to say I had started my Degree with UNISA but suddenly this was stopped. Please can someone let me know if there will be distance learning from UNISA?
Felix Mwale
...
Hi Felix
There is currently no Child and Youth Care course offered by UNISA. The only university offering Child and Youth Care course is Durban University of Technology but unfortunately it's not distance education.
Vincent Hlabangana
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Hello Felix
There won't be any correspondence course.. You can apply at Durban University of Technology, they have a Child and Youth Development course. Good Luck.
Brightness Blose
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I want to agree with Nkapo. Currently there is no senior qualification
avialable for Child and Youth care workers. This indeed is very sad. I
was informed that Unisa expect to have 1000 students registered for the
degree course. The question is whether other courses have 1000 people in
their faculty in one specific year. I also agree that Child and Youth
care workers should make use of their power to make their voices heard.
For too long we have been quiet on the forward movement of the field.
Regards
Alfred Harris
...
Dear Felix and all my other interesting Child and Youth Care colleagues in SA and around
the world.
I've mentioned our degree before, but maybe this link will help to shed more light on what we are doing at Monash (see link below).
As we are waiting for our professional board for Child and Youth Care Workers to be voted in in South Africa, and with the higher education council changes, our degree, as with Durban University of Technology's will be reviewed to meet all the requirements.
We started enrollment in 2010 and currently have nearly 300 students enrolled so far as we're moving into 3rd year next year. We are also not offering long distance education but you can do single subject enrollments that may allow you to study while working if you are willing to complete your degree over a longer period.
Some of the current emails express the exasperation with not receiving the recognition we deserve and after 15 years of working without the due recognition I can only tell you that it is worth it to still act humbly and professionally – I've enjoyed many surprised faces if people realize 'who I am' according to my field after they've witnessed what I and my colleagues do. I've been inspired by others that came before me, like Eleanor Roosevelt who said "no one can make you feel inferior without your consent" and the recently deceased icon Steve Jobs who said "Be a yardstick for quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected", and of course, the well-known quote of being the change you want to see in the world. By continuing to do what we do, people come to respect the profession, one child care worker at a time!
That said, let's also hope that the sacrifices of the generation of CYCWs before us are not in vain and that all of the governments around the world start realizing that they need to create well-paid positions for CYCWs. If they don't, we will again have a skills shortage as professionals leave to do other things with their qualifications – which is what we saw happening with social work in SA.
You are all a continuous inspiration to me. Hope you all find happiness and fulfilment in what you are doing.
Rika Swanzen
Monash South Africa
http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2012handbooks/aos/child-and-youth-development/
