Listen to thisThere are three aspects involved in creating a Child and Youth Care professional post secondary experience that are distinct and integral to the learning process:
Using Child and Youth Care materials, readings, literature, examples, terminology
Teaching methods that are congruent with Child and Youth Care practice
Modeling professional identity
Child and Youth Care Materials
There are several sources of Child and Youth Care literature; journals
and CYC-NET are the most accessible current sources, and there are many
relevant books and monographs available. It is not the same world
professionally as it was ten years ago, when we had to rely on materials
and models of practice from other helping professions for our
curriculum. Yet the literature used to teach Child and Youth Care
practice is problematic in many schools. If you visit the bookstore in
some colleges and universities that have a Child and Youth Care program,
you will see too many examples of professional literature from
psychology, education, and social work. These books are particularly
evident in areas like counseling and family work. The interesting
dilemma is that in Child and Youth Care practice both of these areas are
very different and distinct areas of expertise from the “therapy
orientation" inherent in other disciplines. The challenge for all Child
and Youth Care programs is to cull the unnecessary borrowing from other
fields, particularly materials that describe helping people as an office
based endeavor, since it diminishes the work that we do and ignores the
good Child and Youth Care materials that already exist.
Congruent teaching strategies
A primary issue for both teachers and practitioners is to create a safe
environment for learning. Students in a Child and Youth Care program
have safety concerns based on being new to the classroom group, their
values and beliefs that may not fit their new career’s expectations, and
worrying about whether they are smart enough to be successful
academically. Mature students have issues about returning to school,
where they may not have been successful in the distant past. These
issues are very similar to the dynamics for a new youth or family in our
care, and we can highlight and utilize this in our teaching. A useful
resource is the book Intuition Is Not Enough by Ward and
McMahon, which explains the connections between the challenges of
learning and of doing Child and Youth Care work. The book introduces the “matching principle", which states that in order to be successful,
training for any field of practice should match or reflect key aspects
of that practice in terms of personal experience as well as academic
content. Child and Youth Care teaching should strive to develop this
congruence between curriculum delivery and Child and Youth Care
attitudes and skills.
Professional identity
Professional schools often struggle with creating relevant, field based
information and practice examples that resonate with practicum
situations. Professional school education is more tuned in to student
behavior and experience outside the classroom and deals with practice,
ethics and theoretical implementation as much as cognitive assimilation
of facts and data. Faculty who are grounded in Child and Youth Care
field work, who have a clear and distinct professional identity as Child
and Youth Care professionals, are an integral part of this process.
Child and Youth Care education historically has been delivered in many
places by faculty trained in and practice based in non Child and Youth
Care disciplines. The field no longer requires this assistance from
other groups, and can clearly demand that all Child and Youth Care
education be delivered by Child and Youth Care professionals. Role
modeling by the faculty of ethical implementation of practice in Child
and Youth Care situations and settings is a vital part of the learning
process for students, especially in higher levels of degree programs.
