Professionalism in Child and Youth Care
Professionalism in Child and Youth Care
from an International Perspective:
Where is Canada in Comparison to Other Nations?
"Countries with ideologies that are different from the Western world are actually the 'majority world', not the minority, and their cultures are very different from ours; yet the theory and philosophy of Western culture is often used to understand needs of these children and youth" (Stuart, 2009).
http://www.cyc-net.org/journals/rcycp20-1.html
"In Europe, there is a wide range of training programs available, from short-term in-service training to full-fledged university programs, all of them offered under the name of Social Pedagogy and/or Social Work" (Kobolt, 2008). Canada is much the same in respect to training. Training is available across the country in various colleges and universities which offer training from diploma to a masters degree and doctoral program. The main difference between Canada and Europe is that Canadian Child and Youth Care workers are able to complete all educational training under the name of Child and Youth Care, and they do not have to complete their training in Social Work, as is the case in Europe.
One major difference between Europe and Canada is that European students who are training in Child and Youth care receive full monetary support whereas Canadian students have to work and go to school or take on huge financial debt through the use of student loans. "In Europe child and youth care workers are carefully selected and thoroughly trained at the bachelor’s degree level. They receive full stipends in terms of tuition and living costs while in training. Their personal growth in training is a central focus, and extensive individual and group supervision is provided in their direct field work with children. Once employed, they receive salaries and working conditions equivalent to a public school teacher or social worker, are respected members and leaders within the mental health system, and have multiple career growth opportunities within the human service field" (Linton & Forster, 2003).
The International Child and Youth Care Network (CYC-NET)
Link to Quality 4 Children Newsletter
This website was created in 2011 by Jean Braun and Kristy Jackson
students in the Child and Youth Care (CYC) stream of the Human Services Diploma program
as a project for the "Professionalism in Child and Youth Care" course
at Selkirk College in Castlegar, BC, Canada.
