Youth worker

Degree apprenticeship (integrated degree) · Care services route · Standard ST0522 v1.1

Level: 6
Typical duration: 36 months (about 3 years)
Max funding band: £20,000
Route: Care services

Enable young people to develop and working with young people to facilitate personal, social and educational development.

About the role

A youth worker is someone who uses rights-based, person-centred relationships to engage with young people to promote their social, emotional, and personal development using informal education approaches.

This occupation can be found in a range of settings where young people are present, including (but not limited to) youth projects, educational settings, health environments and faith sector. The settings may be informal, such as youth clubs, activity-based or social action projects, or more formal, such as Local Authority Children's Services, hospitals, schools, alternative education provisions or youth custody. In this occupation and context, 'youth' refers to young people aged 11 to 19, or up to the age of 25 for those with additional needs.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to enable young people to develop holistically, working with young people to facilitate personal, social and educational development. This is to enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society, and reach their individual and collective potential.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for working with young people to plan, deliver and evaluate the youth work curriculum and programmes with individuals and groups. They will receive supervision from their line manager but will also work autonomously and manage other staff, which may include volunteers, youth support/assistants, youth support workers, peer mentors.

They may be responsible for building management, such as youth clubs and youth project premises or mobile units depending on the size or structure of the organisation. They will be responsible for managing projects (including budgets) and maintaining appropriate financial and other administrative records.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with voluntary, charitable and statutory services, such as youth services, education, health, social and community provisions. They will also engage with a range of other partners and stakeholders, such as funders, families, and allied professionals.

How it compares

At 36 months (about 3 years), it is about average length for a degree-level apprenticeship (the average across all 172 Level 6+ standards is 39 months).

The funding band — the maximum an employer's levy can contribute to training costs — is £20,000, below the £21,500 average for degree-level standards. Apprentices never pay tuition either way.

Typical job titles

Youth Worker
Youth Work Manager

Entry requirements

A satisfactory enhanced DBS check will be an entry requirement for the programme.

Entry requirements are ultimately set by each employer — treat these as the baseline, not the bar.

What you come out with

JNC endorsed professional Level degree in Youth Work — Level 6 (integrated degree)

What you'll learn

The official standard defines 10 core duties, 31 knowledge areas, 30 skills, 10 behaviours. This is the actual assessed content of the apprenticeship — worth reading before an interview, because competency questions are usually written straight from these lists.

Core duties 10

Establish relationships with young people, communities and partners
Establish, manage and develop different youth work provisions.
Manage and develop staff, projects and facilities.
Work with other agencies to develop services across a community.
Design, lead, implement and evaluate a youth work curriculum.
Lead on rights-based youth work, and voice and influence strategies.
Lead project development, implementation and evaluation.
Engage in continuous professional development.
Demonstrate professional youth work values and ethical practice.
Manage provision within relevant legislative frameworks

Knowledge 31

The importance of building trust and rapport, and methods for achieving this.
Professional relationship boundaries and the implications of these for youth workers.
Communication styles and methods, including barriers to communication and ways to overcome these.
Different models of youth work e.g. Outreach, Detached, Open access, Targeted, Social Action, Digital
Theories of management and leadership e.g. inter-professional and inter-disciplinary working.
Human resources procedures, e.g. professional development, disciplinary, grievance.
Youth work supervision models.
The importance of staff development.
Resource, financial and facilities management, including relevant legislation and regulations that need to be followed.
National and local plans and strategies relevant to youth work and young people.
Roles, remit and responsibilities of key stakeholders.
Strategies to build and manage professional partnerships.
Theories and models of informal and non-formal education and their application in practice.
Theories and models for programme planning, development, delivery and evaluation.
Policies and strategies related to the national and local youth work curriculum.
Contemporary models for impact and evaluation of youth work.
Models for inclusive and active participation and barriers to participation.
International, national and local factors impacting on young people’s engagement in decision making, including legislation (e.g. UNCRC) and local and national participation strategies.
Models to undertake appropriate situational needs analysis.
Project management tools and processes, including assessing and managing risk.
Evaluation and impact processes and strategies.
Commissioning and funding processes.
Theories, models and principles for reflective practice.
The importance of critical reflection and continuous professional development for youth work practice
The relationship between rights, responsibilities and power dynamics in professional youth work relationships and society.
Cultural and community competency in good youth work practice.
Principles of anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice.
Safeguarding legislation, government guidance and national framework regarding record keeping, disclosure management and reporting referrals to a designated safeguarding lead.
Safer recruitment and staff management processes (including for volunteers).
Boundaries of professional accountability and responsibility for self, staff and project leadership.
Principles of child development and human growth applicable to behaviours likely to be observed in youth activities.

Skills 30

Evaluate and utilise a range of styles of communication suited to the audience, e.g. verbal, non-verbal, written and electronic methods.
Maintain professional boundaries in relationships with young people and colleagues.
Select and use suitable youth work models for the needs of young people they are engaging with.
Work in partnership with young people to develop suitable services.
Utilise appropriate methods and tools for planning, monitoring and evaluating youth work.
Complete, store and retain accurate administrative and financial records.
Carry out regular supervision, staff development and appraisals (where appropriate) with colleagues.
Apply different leadership styles appropriate to the needs of colleagues.
Utilise a range of sources of information to inform service development.
Identify and work with appropriate partners to add value to work with young people, e.g., Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), schools, local councillors.
Advocate for young people and youth work in policy and service development.
Select and use appropriate methods and tools when planning youth work programmes and activities.
Identify and apply differentiated methods and styles when engaging with groups to meet the needs of young people, promoting learning and development
Facilitate youth work programmes that support the learning and development of young people in line with the youth work curriculum.
Evaluate, demonstrate and report on the impact of youth work.
Provide a safe environment for young people to explore and challenge values, beliefs, ideas and issues.
Create and evaluate effectiveness of inclusive and participatory learning environments.
Support young people to plan, organise and deliver youth-led activities and programmes.
Select and apply appropriate participation models to overcome barriers to participation
Support young people to make their voice heard to influence change on issues affecting them.
Identify and challenge oppressive attitudes, behaviours and situations.
Conduct and use information from situational needs analysis to develop projects.
Produce reports, evaluations and summary data in a format appropriate for the intended audience, e.g. commissioners, funders or other stakeholders.
Use outcomes of evaluation of service delivery to inform, develop and enhance practice and projects.
Monitor own practice and use supervision to identify areas for continuing professional development and improvement.
Apply appropriate supervision models to support the development of colleagues.
Ensure professional ethical standards are developed, promoted and maintained across the youth work environment.
Demonstrate and promote a person-centred approach to youth work.
Implement, identify and report safeguarding referrals, drawing on safeguarding information, in line with safeguarding policies and procedures, to take action when a young person discloses information.
Carry out risk assessments, plan activities, visits, and manage situations to mitigate risks to ensure the safety of all young people, depending on the setting and the environment they are working in.

Behaviours 10

Work in an anti-oppressive, anti-discriminatory manner
Act as an ambassador for young people and youth work.
Leads and manages by example, demonstrating inclusive and participatory behaviours in their work.
Work collaboratively for the benefit of young people by personal example, encouraging and facilitating cooperation, trust and commitment.
Be a reflective practitioner.
Respect young people’s rights to make their own decision about involvement with youth work
Promote the values of justice, fairness and equality
Take a positive interest in young people’s concerns, ideas and interests
Promote the development of political and social education for and with young people
Compliance with relevant policies and procedures

Live vacancies

No live vacancies for this course as of 2026-07-24 — new adverts appear on Find an apprenticeship daily, and many degree apprenticeship employers recruit on their own careers sites instead.

Universities registered to deliver it

10 universities are on the government provider register for this standard. Registration means they can deliver it — live vacancies depend on employer partnerships each recruitment cycle.

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Official sources

Occupational summary, duties, knowledge, skills and behaviours reproduced from the ST0522 apprenticeship standard (last updated 2025-07-16) — contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always check the official page before applying: standards get revised.