Youth Development Chapters 1 & 6

Youth Development: Chapter 1

3-29 SOPS Supports (main actor: the provider) Opportunities (main actor: the individual) Services (and Programs) (main actor the provider)

4-29

Principles of Youth Development 1.Understand that young people are assets in the making and not just problems to be fixed. 2.Move beyond deficit-based models (addressing on the problem behaviors) to models that focus on developing youth capabilities (assets). 3.Base the provision of SOPS on a vision of fully functioning and capable adult. 4.Move beyond thinking in terms of either/or. 5.Focus on developing a wide range of knowledge, skills, and behaviors.

Principles of Youth Development 6.Involve adults from the family and community in fostering youth development. 7.Support youth in being essential players in their own development. 8.Design youth development supports, opportunities, and programs deliberately. 9.Bring programs to scale. 10.Sustain supports and opportunities over time.

Understand that young people are assets in the making & not just problems to be fixed. How do we change society’s basic attitudes about young people? –1 st challenge – see youth as assets, not liabilities –Key depends on a range of SOPS from: Families Communities Others ?? Working from a positive perspective is essential!

Move beyond deficit-based models to models that focus on developing youth capabilities. Explain what America’s Promise entails. Why is keeping America’s Promise (2003) critical to positive youth development? Developmental Assets model (40 assets; 20 internal and 20 external)

9-29 Developmental Assets model 4 areas that make up the 20 external assets –(home, school, or community attributes that provide supports & opportunities): 1.Support from family, neighbors, schools, and other adults 2.Actions to empower youth 3.Establishment of boundaries and expectations 4.Provision of opportunities for the constructive use of time

10-29 Developmental Assets model 4 areas that make up the 20 internal assets –(attitudes and behaviors that are necessary for youth to grow up to navigate their adolescent years and function successfully as adults): 1.Making a commitment to learning 2.Developing positive valu3es 3.Developing social competencies 4.Creating a positive identity

12-29 Developmental Assets model Studies show: –0 to 10 of the 40 assets: 49 % more likely to engage in problem alcohol use, drug use, violence, and sexual activity as opposed to only 3% who have 31 to 40 assets. –47% with 31 to 40 assets are likely to succeed in school while only 8% with 0 – 10 assets will succeed. –What does this mean? The more assets the more likely youth are to become positively adjusted adolescents and productive adults.

13-29

Vision of a Fully Functioning Adult Must be given a fair chance to develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills, & behaviors that will make the transition to adulthood possible (Furstenbuerg, 1999) –Three main ideals to indicate this successful transition: 1.To find rewarding and remunerative employment 2.To form a lasting and gratifying partnership 3.To become contributors in their communities Must educate to highest potential to foster positive identity, personal sense of well-being & self-efficacy, and develop habits of good citizenship Must move beyond simply supplying “fun and games”

Move Beyond Either/Or. We can no longer decide to be “ problem free” OR “fully prepared” WE MUST DO BOTH: the AND APPROACH How?

Develop a Wide Range of Knowledge, Skills, & Behaviors Can’t just focus on education –Also need: vocational, physical, emotional, civic, social, cultural, and spiritual competencies. –These competencies helps youth deal with three crucial challenges faced in adolescent years (Erickson): 1.The task of industry – learning to be productive & to contribute 2.The task of identity – learning who you are & where you fit 3.The task of intimacy – learning how to be with others and finding a life partner Also need to learn to self regulate actions & emotions

Involve adults from the family & community Key to adult involvement in youth development is for them to provide youth with the “scaffolding” necessary to enable growth and development (Pittman et al, 2000) What does this mean? What role does Reliability….. Being there, keeping promises…..play?

Support Youth Involve youth in the development of SOPS – critical! Youth involvement and self-determination are keys to developing supports and opportunities. Thus, provide opportunities to: –Participate in rule making, governance, and leadership –Form enduring, durable relationships with peers –Feel a sense of belonging and being valued –Make a contribution to the community Don’t do everything “for” them, plan “with” them –What are some of the problems caused by adult overregulation of the behavior of youth? –How can we plan “with” them? “Foster Involvement” p. 18

Youth development by design Move away from just “fun & games” to deliberate approaches that emphasize planning and leading on an intentional basis – “intentional programming” Utilize comprehensive planning model – one that moves from assessing needs, to setting goals, to developing programs to meet goals, to assessing whether goals have been met. Program elements that need to be offered or created: –A sense of safety –Challenging & interesting activities –A sense of belonging –Supportive relationships with adults –Involvement in decision making –Opportunities for leadership –Involvement in community

basic elements that characterize quality youth programs

Bring programs to scale. Careful to not just focus on one group of youth….all youth can benefit! Find ways to offer a critical mass of services to a critical mass of young people!

Sustainability Short-term programs….just do not have long impact! –Reasons to avoid one-shot or short term programs: Achieving quality in the first year or so can be difficult Youth development is ongoing and takes time to accomplish – continued involvement is needed Almost impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of short-term programs to achieve longer term objectives –To be most effective” Efforts must begin early, be sustained throughout the adolescent years, and allow for skill development through participation in various levels of challenge. Programs must be comprehensive, addressing many aspects of youth development. Need to develop a system of services that are ongoing & inclusive of the variety of services necessary to meet youth’s needs.

Youth Development: Chapter 6 Theories

24-29 Learning Theory: Teaching & Shaping (Skinner & Bandura) Key “reinforcements” the teacher or trainer uses to shape behavior. 1.Rewards are much more effective than punishment in shaping behavior 2.Progressive reinforcement along a sequence of steps permits the shaping of complex patterns of behavior 3.Teacher has to be alert that undesired behavior is not getting reinforced. Important in youth development because it helps us think about what rewards youth are getting and the influence of these rewards. Shortcoming: risk of undercutting youth’s ownership of the learning process.

25-29 Constructivist Theory: Youth as Producers of Their Own Development (Piaget) Learning on your own….youth are motivated to learn. Piaget says youth “construct” concepts through the process of active experimentation and reasoning. –Peer to peer interactions provide the most fruitful context for development of concepts about group processes & morality. Constructivist theories help us to think about the powerful natural tendencies of youth to develop and to organize their experiences into understanding. Shortcoming: when learning is turned entirely over to youth they may founder and spin their whells

26-29 Collaborative Learning: Guided Participation (Vygotsky) Vygotsky saw learning as coming from interactions between a child & other people. (shared interaction) Creative scaffolding When to intervene and when to stand back?

27-29 Relationship Theories: Caring connections as a Base for Development See close relationships with caring adults as essential to human development. –Stability important from birth Relationships that help child deal with drives and feeling. This caring relationship helps them feel secure to take on new challenges. So, what happens if children do not get this? –Adults play an important indirect role in creating a psychologically safe environment that facilitates youth to engage in positive development.

28-29 Sociological Theories: Learning Norms & Acquiring Social Capital Development is the process so f coming to take your place within social groups and society. –Learning the general rules, meanings and ways of acting –Developing social identity Where do norms come from? Do youth automatically follow norms? Learning AND forming relationships of exchange –To successfully enter society we need competencies AND social network!

29-29 Theories as Tools Which theory is the “right one”? What is the purpose of developmental theory? Common theme across these theories (except early learning theory)?