ABSTRACT
There is an arena of social and educational policy which continues to claim that practice is formulated through a genuine process of dialogue and consultation: the youth service. The practice of 'informal education' of young people during their leisure time rests, albeit on an increasingly precarious base, on a principle of negotiation and at least rhetorical assertions that youth work with young people should be premised upon objectives such as 'participation' and 'empowerment'. This chapter conveys pessimism about the capacity of the youth service to respond appropriately to the needs of young people in light of ever-increasing political and managerial constraints. Youth work provision caters for some very different 'constituencies' of young people and therefore cannot be judged according to uniform criteria. The research suggested that the most effective practice derived from a high level of congruence between full-time workers, sessional staff and young people about the rationale and purpose of the work.
