Living contradictions in the professional practice of informal education

This paper reports on a study with a group of undergraduate and postgraduate Youth and Community Work students in relation to aspects of their practice that challenged their commitments to the ethical and professional principles of Youth Work. Their critical narrative accounts suggest that they often experienced themselves as ‘living contradictions’ when their values were negated in their practice by themselves as well as by the institutions where they completed their placements. Whilst espousing professional and ethical Youth Work principles, some had internalised the view that continues to represent young people as vulnerable to a wide range of threats from unemployment, drug abuse, criminality and extremist narratives. Praxis is conceptualized as providing the scope for theorising youth work practice while disrupting the status quo and humanising relationships between colleagues and with young people.