ABSTRACT
Participation is one of the essential elements of the youth work process, perhaps the defining ‘procedural principle’ of youth work. Certainly as Baker argues: ‘It is an underlying principle upon which the curriculum is based’ (1996: 51). Most if not all of the curriculum documents produced in the field have incorporated a specific reference or commitment to participation; for example, Leicestershire state that ‘[p]articipation is a fundamental principle of youth work’ (2000: 7). Young (2005) also notes that historically participation has been a consistent feature of youth work practice; for example, all the major post-war government reports on youth work – Albemarle, Fairbairn-Milson and Thompson – all contained a commitment to participation.
