Poised to advocate: The pedagogy of the lightning talk in child and youth care education

<div> <div> <div> <p>Advocacy is an integral part of child and youth care workers’ roles and a significant component of child and youth care politicized praxis and radical youth work. Drawing from the qualitative data of a mixed-methods study conducted in 2019 at a Canadian metropolitan university, this study seeks to unpack how the pedagogy of the lightning talk can foster advocacy skills to effectively and spontaneously speak out with and on behalf of children, youth, and families in everyday practice when an unforeseen systemic challenge or barrier arises. A purposive sample of 70 undergraduate students was recruited in two child and youth care courses, both of which required students to present a lightning talk. Participants completed an online questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions in order to share their perspectives of the pedagogy of the lightning talk. The findings show that the lightning talk fosters twenty-first century and metacognitive skills and, most importantly, advocacy skills. </p> </div> </div> </div>

The benefits of applying the lightning talk in child and youth care education

<div> <div> <div> <p>Child and youth care instructors often aspire to prepare students for unforeseen circumstances in the field, including circumstances that may require spontaneous advocacy and public speaking skills in various settings, such as an interdisciplinary case conference or a plan of care meeting. We suggest that one way of contributing to these goals is the pedagogy of the lightning talk. A lightning talk can be defined as a short (three minutes), time-limited, oral presentation on a particular subject without the use of supporting materials, such as Power Point slides, notes, an electronic device, or audience engagement, so as to simulate a practice context that was unexpected and for which the practitioner has no opportunity to plan or prepare (Jean-Pierre et al., 2020). </p><div> <div>In this article, we will share the main lessons learned from a study that examined the learning experiences and processes of the pedagogy of the lightning talk at a Canadian metropolitan university in two child and youth care undergraduate courses. </div> </div> <p></p> </div> </div> </div>

The benefits of applying the lightning talk in child and youth care education

<div> <div> <div> <p>Child and youth care instructors often aspire to prepare students for unforeseen circumstances in the field, including circumstances that may require spontaneous advocacy and public speaking skills in various settings, such as an interdisciplinary case conference or a plan of care meeting. We suggest that one way of contributing to these goals is the pedagogy of the lightning talk. A lightning talk can be defined as a short (three minutes), time-limited, oral presentation on a particular subject without the use of supporting materials, such as Power Point slides, notes, an electronic device, or audience engagement, so as to simulate a practice context that was unexpected and for which the practitioner has no opportunity to plan or prepare (Jean-Pierre et al., 2020). </p><div> <div>In this article, we will share the main lessons learned from a study that examined the learning experiences and processes of the pedagogy of the lightning talk at a Canadian metropolitan university in two child and youth care undergraduate courses. </div> </div> <p></p> </div> </div> </div>

Poised to advocate: The pedagogy of the lightning talk in child and youth care education

<div> <div> <div> <p>Advocacy is an integral part of child and youth care workers’ roles and a significant component of child and youth care politicized praxis and radical youth work. Drawing from the qualitative data of a mixed-methods study conducted in 2019 at a Canadian metropolitan university, this study seeks to unpack how the pedagogy of the lightning talk can foster advocacy skills to effectively and spontaneously speak out with and on behalf of children, youth, and families in everyday practice when an unforeseen systemic challenge or barrier arises. A purposive sample of 70 undergraduate students was recruited in two child and youth care courses, both of which required students to present a lightning talk. Participants completed an online questionnaire with closed-ended and open-ended questions in order to share their perspectives of the pedagogy of the lightning talk. The findings show that the lightning talk fosters twenty-first century and metacognitive skills and, most importantly, advocacy skills. </p> </div> </div> </div>

Contributing Factors in Violent Youth Behaviour: A Study in the Limpopo Province, South Africa

Background: Violent behaviour in youth is regarded as a significant public health problem associated with severe physical and psychological consequences. Despite the availability of rehabilitation programmes rendered at child and youth care centres (CYCC's) in the Limpopo Province, South Africa, there is an escalation and repetition of violent behaviours among the youth due to some underlying socio-economic factors. Objective: The study sought to explore and describe the factors contributing to violent behaviours among the youth. Methods: A qualitative, explorative, and descriptive research design was used. A non-probability, purposive sampling method was used to select participants in this study. The study population consisted of youth, from the age of 15-20 years old, who were admitted to the child and youth care centres due to violent behaviours. Focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews were used to collect data from participants. A semi-structured interview guide and focus group discussion guide were used to collect data until data saturation which occurred after interviewing 48 participants. Data were analysed following Tesch’s open code data analysis technique. Measures to ensure trustworthiness and ethical principles were adhered to. Results: Two themes emerged from the analysed data, namely, the socio-economic factors contributing to violent behaviours among the youth in CYCCs and the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes for violent youth behaviours in CYCCs. Eight sub-themes were derived from the two main themes. The home environment, the influence of delinquent peers, availability, and misuse of drugs and alcohol were most cited as the factors contributing to violent behaviours among the youth in CYCCs in the Limpopo Province. The study's findings revealed that youth had little knowledge of the impact that violent behaviour has on the victim, themselves, their families, and society. Conclusion: Rehabilitation programmes for violent behaviours among the youth will have better outcomes by involving the youth's family, especially the parents/guardians. Also, the child and youth care centres and youth violence policymakers need to emphasise family education as one of the most crucial violence prevention strategies in vulnerable youth.

Youth First: A Canadian Youth-led Initiative in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This reflection writing was co-written by seven young people and three Master of Arts Child and Youth Care (MA CYC) students from Ryerson University. Our writing centres around a Canadian youth-led initiative called Youth First, developed as a MA CYC placement due to the lack of placement opportunities available during the pandemic. Youth First focused on creating safe and interactive spaces in cyberspace for young people during the pandemic. Through this reflection, we hope to share our experiences, accomplishments, lessons learned and overall reflection of being part of this initiative during a global pandemic.

Are residential care homes really bad for children? Voices of alumni of residential child and youth care in Trinidad and Tobago

Social workers have advocated closing large youth care institutions and moving to adoption, foster care and group homes. However, these approaches have proven to be costly and often disruptive of children’s lives. This study of 24 alumni of orphanages and large group homes in Trinidad and Tobago shows that the children experienced stability and happiness, with siblings kept together and almost universal secondary school graduation. Problems occurred in the transition from the homes to the community. With attention to gender in discharge policies, large group care may be beneficial and cost effective, especially for low-resource developing countries.

TOWARD QUEER POTENTIALITIES IN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE

Arguably, from the invention of adolescence at the beginning of the 20th century, developmental theory has served as the foundation of disciplinary study and professional practice with children and youth across the global West. Despite their founders’ assertions that development is culturally constructed, in educational and youth work practice contexts stage-based trajectories of normative human growth are largely erroneously accepted as ahistorical, apolitical, naturally occurring, and universally applicable. This paper presents critiques of developmentalism from historical, reconceptualist, and queer perspectives, calling into question the underlying principles of normalcy and abnormality that run through the developmental project. We pay particular attention to the potential of queer theory as an analytic to deconstruct developmentalism in the context of child and youth care, opening new possibilities for critical engagement with children and youth outside the context of development.

A REFLECTION ON QUEERCRIP CHILD AND YOUTH CARE PRACTICE: DREAMS OF CARE AND FUTURITY

This paper engages with a reflection on the author’s embodied queercrip youth care praxis. The author uses queercrip theory to examine child and youth care practices and the relationships they hold to structures of power and domination. In so doing, he uses the terms eliminatory logics, survival dreaming, and crip constellations to understand the dynamics that undergird care and liberatory futures. Exploration of the (re)emerging queercrip paradigms that are the foundation of this work finds that these practices of care require moving beyond current imaginaries in youth care spaces. The paper concludes with recommendations for practice.

INTRODUCTION: POSSIBILITIES, FUTURES, AND QUEER WORLD-MAKING IN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE

In this introduction, the authors situate this special issue within the current sociopolitical contexts of child and youth care (CYC) and offer potentialities through “queering CYC”. They consider how CYC might be analyzed through a queered lens, outline ways CYC has, and has not, taken up queer theory, and imagine what a queered CYC might (un)become. The authors provide context for this issue and invite queer generosity in reading how queering can be in conversation with CYC.