Quality Standards
Organisational Quality
The term quality is often linked to “fitness for purpose”, recognising that both a Rolls Royce and Ford Mondeo may be quality vehicles, but aimed at different price levels and customer markets.
There are a number of familiar organisational standards, including Investors in People (IIP), ISO 9001 and Pqasso – Practical Quality Assurance for Small Organisations, and copyrighted by CES. The latter is promoted by the Charities Evaluation Service (CES) . It has recently published its Third Edition of the Pqasso Handbook, in which it invites organisations to assess themselves, or be assessed externally, in relation to 12 Quality Themes, and at three possible levels.
Pqasso is based on the assessment of 12 quality areas:
• Planning
• Governance
• Leadership and management
• User- centred
• Managing people
• Learning and development
• Managing money
• Communications and promotion
• Working with others
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Results
Surrey Youth Focus has submitted a request for it to be assessed externally by the CES as being in compliance with Level 1 Pqasso, and in due course expects to be able to offer its own advisory service to its Members contemplating Pqasso.
Level 2 Pqasso is the only quality mark accepted by the Charity Commission.
Youth Work Standards
NYA Quality Mark
In the same way as quality is addressed above in Organisational Quality, so too a total systems approach is applied to Youth Work – for example compare the two sets of bullet points above/below.
The National Youth Agency (NYA) has promoted this total quality approach – the Quality Mark framework – see website at: www.nya.org.uk
“There are eleven standards which form the operating standards or components to a quality organisation:
• performance management;
• management information;
• quality assurance;
• equality and diversity;
• curriculum/programme of activities;
• legal requirements;
• personal and social development;
• involving young people;
• workforce development;
• partnerships and
• resources
The NYA Quality Mark has been designed as a management tool to support an organisation’s development and improvement of its quality management systems. It tests the processes and structures, which are the building blocks of an organisation. By using the self-assessment framework, organisations will be able to check monitoring and reviewing procedures and how management information is used to improve the quality, impact and outcomes of an organisation.”
Hear by Right
This is a further NYA initiative in conjunction with Participation Works. The latter has produced a guide to the voluntary sector about involving – see attached PDF.
What’s Changed?
This is a tool for measuring the impact of youth work activity and is one used by Surrey Youth Focus’ Youth Development Worker. It builds on the Hear by Right approach and examines the impact of the youth work undertaken from three perspectives: of young people themselves, the organisation –probably the youth worker, and other adults in the community (residents, parents , PCSOs etc)
Details of the tool and some projects to which it has been applied are as below:
What's Changed - Sunbury - Friday Night Football
What's Changed? - Ripley Youth Club
What's Changed? - Knaphill Youth Cafe
What's Changed? - Caterham Steering Group
What's Changed? - Bisley - Youth Parish Council
What's Changed? - Earlswood - Youth Forum
Other measures
Increasingly youth workers in both the statutory and the voluntary sector are having to demonstrate “recorded outcomes” to comply with the Government’s Every Child Matters agenda, and its emphasis on the five ECM outcomes (See Resources Policy in website) There are three further aspects to quality standards in youth work :
Recognition:
The simple act of giving encouragement and profile to the achievements of young people. The annual 'Celebration of Youth' run by Surrey Youth Focus is a good example of this.
Accreditation:
Surrey County Council’s Youth Development Service has published a Guide to the accreditations it supports and commends to the voluntary sector. These are:
ASDAN – (Award scheme development and accreditation network) at www.asdan.co.uk
Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme at: www.dofe.org (The Surrey CC facilitator is Francis Trench)
AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) Unit award scheme at: www.aqa.org.uk/qual/uas.php
OCN (Open College Network) details at: www.nocn.org.uk
Youth Achievement Award run by our Member organisation, The Lifetrain Trust – for UK Youth - details at: www.youthachievementawards.org
Keystone Award – also run by a Member organisation – Surrey Clubs for Young People – details at: www2.scyp.co.uk/
Arts Award – details at: www.artsaward.org.uk
Sports Leaders UK Awards – both for Sports and Dance – details at: www.sportsleaders.org
First Aid – Become a Young First Aider- details at: www.sja.org.uk
Training:
Details of youth work training can be found on our companion website doyouthwork.com which is being re-launched shortly.
