The-Story-Vol-15

THE STORY
STATISTICS, TRENDS AND RESEARCH FOR YOUTH WORK
NEW IDEAS:
OPEN ACCESS YOUTH
WORK IN A PANDEMIC
BIG PICTURE:
THREE THEMES FROM
THE Z-A OF FAITH AND
SPIRITUALITY
youthscape.co.uk/research
VOL. 15
AUTUMN
2020

WELCOME TO
THE STORY
To be notified about new issues or
subscribe for printed copies visit
www.youthscape.co.uk/research/
the-story
In each issue of The Story we bring
you some of the latest research
related to young people and youth
work. We look for statistics, research
and trends which can shape your
work with young people – informing
your thinking and practice.
COVID-19 remains the focus of
much of our work. Dr Phoebe Hill
reflects on the loss of open-access
youth work (p.3), and our poster
highlights evidence to support digital
engagement with young people.
We’ve also updated our search for
research on COVID-19 and young
people, bringing you headlines from
a range of research published since
our last edition in May (p. 6-7). Finally,
we’ve been enjoying a recent report
from Youth for Christ about young
people’s views of faith and spirituality,
which you can read on pages 4-5.
Thanks for reading.
Lucie Shuker
Director of Research, Youthscape
IN THIS ISSUE:
NEW IDEAS
Open access youth work in
a pandemic
BIG PICTURE
Three themes from the Z-A
of faith and spirituality
NEW RESEARCH
The latest on young people
and COVID-19
YOUTH WORK DIAGRAMS
Online conferences and
festivals
EVERYTHING YOU NEED
TO KNOW ABOUT: ONLINE
YOUTH WORK
Other news…
P.3
P.4–5
P.6–7
P.8
REVERSE
Thanks to everyone who passed on our
survey for young Christians over the
summer. We’re looking forward to publishing
the results with Tearfund very soon!
I (Lucie) recently found out that The Story
is an acronym for ‘Statistics Trends and
Research for Youth Work’ which actually
makes it The Stary, but we won’t quibble.
P.2

NEW IDEAS
Open access youth work
in a pandemic
Dr Phoebe Hill
On the lower ground floor of the Youthscape
building, the drop-in has been eerily quiet for
months. No FIFA, pool or communal dinners.
None of the familiar noise of young people
coming and going as they please. Sadly, it
won’t re-open in its original form any time soon
because the freedom and flexibility needed to
run it is currently not possible. It’s likely young
people will have to sign up ahead of time in
order to attend any youth work provision in the
coming months, if they are even able to attend
one at all.
The daily drop-in is an example of open-access
youth work, which Robertson (2005) describes
as provision that a young person may access
regardless of their background, needs or
position in society. This kind of youth work was
already under threat. A decade of cuts and
closures have whittled away at funding streams,
and the majority of youth centres across the
country have been forced to shut. Given the
challenges of quantifying or measuring the
outcomes of open access youth work, there has
been a move across the board towards more
project-focused youth work with specific targets
and aims. Open youth club style provisions,
which have been the mainstay of youth work
since the Albermarle Report in 1960, are
becoming a thing of the past.
We are therefore at a critical moment. We
need to shout from the rooftops – now
more than ever – about how important and
transformational open access youth work can be
for young people. I have recently collaborated
on a rapid evidence review with the aim of
capturing the available evidence about the
impact of open access youth work. Across the
49 studies I reviewed, seven categories of
impact emerged: society, personal development,
relationships, employment and education, a safe
place to be, skills development and health and
wellbeing. There were also ten key factors that
facilitated or created the environment for these
impacts to occur:
1. Relationships: positive relationships with
youth workers
2. A safe place to be: a welcoming place to
belong and to get away from home
3. Long-term work: consistent relationships built
over time
4. Stimulating activities: opportunities flexible to
young people’s interests
5. Place-based youth workers: youth workers
being from the same socio-economic
background as the young people
6. Openness: free of charge and a place from
which you will not be excluded
7. Flexibility: starting where young people are
‘at’
8. Autonomy: involving young people in
decision-making processes
9. Joined-up approach: working in collaboration
with other services
10. Boundaries: having clear expectations
enforced by youth leaders and young people
Many youth workers are trying to translate these
principles into other forms of engagement, but
the research suggests that there will always be
something uniquely powerful about open access
youth work. We can’t control the lockdown. But
we can decide what to prioritise in the weeks
and months to come. Wherever possible, let’s
speak up for open access youth work, so that it
remains available in future for the young people
who need it.
You can read the full report – Open Access
Youth Work: A Narrative Review of Impact – at:
partnershipforyounglondon.org.uk/publications
P.3

BIG PICTURE
Three themes from Z-A of faith and spirituality
Dr Lucie Shuker
Youth for Christ have released the
final report in their research trilogy,
which explores faith and spirituality
in the lives of 1001 11-18 year olds
across the UK. The report has lots
of fascinating stats and helpful
commentary, so we’ve just pulled out
three themes to whet your appetite.
Together these reports have given
us some fantastic new evidence
that helps us understand the young
people we work with.
1. I don’t know
When it comes to God, faith and spirituality,
lots of young people just aren’t sure what
they think. Here are some of the big
questions to which the number one response
from young people was ‘I don’t know’. 1
Do you believe in any form of supernatural
being or power greater than yourself? 2
YES 51%
How would you describe that being/power?
I DON’T KNOW 28%
NO 51%
What makes it hard for you to believe?
I DON’T KNOW 29%
What might convince you that God exists?
I DON’T KNOW 37%
If you could ask God one question what
would it be?
I DON’T KNOW 30% 3
How do you view church?
I DON’T KNOW 34%
Although it might seem strange to highlight
these responses, I think we should pay
attention to this. Other studies have
suggested that religious faith is not present
in the foreground of young people’s mind,
culture and experience, and yet 65% of
young people in the survey said they thought
about God and spirituality at least once a
month and 46% at least once a week. If
they are thinking about God, it appears that
lots of young people aren’t coming to any
conclusions and need a story to react to, or a
structure to hang their thoughts on and make
sense of it all.
2. God loves me, but Jesus
might not be real
What do you think God thinks or feels
about you? (top five)
1. HE DOESN’T THINK OF ME 27%
/ HE LOVES ME 27%
2. I HAVE VALUE 20%
3. I DON’T KNOW 19%
4. HE LIKES ME 16%
5. HE’S INTERESTED IN ME 15%
P.4

How would you describe God’s character in
3 words? (top five)
1. POWERFUL
2. KIND
3. LOVING
4. CARING
5. GOOD
It’s been quite a while since researchers
Smith and Denton gave us the term
‘Moralistic Therapeutic Deism’, a spiritual
worldview in which God is a benign but
absent presence who wants us to be
nice to each other. These stats reflect the
‘therapeutic’ element of this worldview
but suggest that God is also perceived as
actively warm and interested in many young
people’s lives. This is particularly interesting
in light of the fact that only 53% thought
Jesus was a real historical person and of
these, only 25% thought he was God. God
may be culturally rehabilitated from the
idea of an angry old man in the sky, but that
doesn’t mean teenagers understand His love
as having anything to do with Jesus.
3. I haven’t had a spiritual
experience
There were only two questions where over
three-quarters of young people responded
the same way, and they both related to direct
spiritual experience, rather than belief.
Have you ever had a spiritual experience?
YES 11%
NO 78%
DON’T KNOW 11%
Have you ever heard God/a supernatural
power speak to you?
YES 6%
NO 87%
DON’T KNOW 7%
It’s fascinating that so few young people
perceive themselves to have had a spiritual
experience. This reflects the squarely
secular culture most teenagers inhabit,
where innate ‘formative’ spirituality is
rarely acknowledged, let alone becoming
‘transformative’ spirituality. It may also reflect
an association of the word ‘spiritual’ with
ghosts and the paranormal in the research.
In our ‘No Questions Asked’ research, young
people often didn’t know what the word
‘spiritual’ meant, and it was only through the
interview itself that some recognised this
dimension of their experience for the first
time. Our more recent report ‘We do God’
picked up the same theme, emphasising
the missional role of inviting young people
to experience God and making spaces for
reflection so that they are able to make
sense of those experiences too.
To get into the stats yourself, visit
yfc.co.uk/faithandspirituality
1. Answers were split across lots of different responses (including those in young peoples’ own words) which is why
these percentages seem small.
2. The other 17% said ‘I don’t know’
3. This was followed a range of questions around suffering and evil, which if grouped together would add up to 37%
making it a very significant theme, which is discussed in the report.
P.5

NEW RESEARCH
The latest on young people and COVID-19
There have been lots of surveys
done over the last few months
that explore young people’s
experiences of the pandemic. Here
we share highlights from research
published since May. 1
Many have coped well and had some
positive experiences.
The majority of young people appear to
have coped relatively well with lockdown,
although find not seeing family and friends
most difficult (see chart below). 2
Extent to which children (aged 10 to 17) feel they are coping with Coronavirus changes.
84%
OVERALL 9% 7%
experienced gratitude. 2 participating children and young people. 5
INCREASED HANDWASHING 9% 8%
86%
SOCIAL DISTANCING
13% 9%
78%
EXAMS BEING CANCELLED
16%
16%
68%
SOCIALLY ISOLATING
17%
14%
69%
DOING SCHOOL/COLLEGE WORK AT HOME
18% 12%
70%
SCHOOLS/COLLEGES CLOSING
18% 12%
70%
TOUCHING FACE LESS OFTEN
21%
17%
62%
NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE FAMILY
30%
15%
54%
NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE FRIENDS
37%
14%
49%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Most young people in one survey of 13-24
year olds (n=2002) reported enjoying time
with parents as much or more than before,
“It has made me appreciate things a lot
more.”
– Male, 14 in The Children’s Society report
though they also worried about parents and
the family more than before 3 . More than
one in three 16-24 year olds surveyed by
Prince’s Trust (37%) believe they have gained
Although many young people have coped
well, a significant proportion have struggled
with their mental health and wellbeing.
coping skills or emotional resilience since the
outbreak of coronavirus, 4 and a consultation
with 150 children and young people found
they have valued time to reflect, learn
new hobbies or restart old ones, and have
A representative survey of 4000 8-24 year
olds in Great Britain by Barnardo’s found a
rise in issues related to mental health and
wellbeing for at least one in three of the
P.6
% SCORING BELOW MIDPOINT % SCORING ON MIDPOINT % SCORING ABOVE MIDPOINT

• 41% said they feel more lonely than
before lockdown
• 38% said they feel more worried
• 37% said they feel more sad
• 34% said they feel more stressed
• 33% said they have more trouble sleeping
Top three feelings experienced during
lockdown:
BOREDOM 51%
WORRY 28%
FEELING TRAPPED 26%
“It has made me realise that the future is
more unpredictable than I thought. I do not
know what will go on in the future, so I am
going to value what I have now.”
– Male, 13 in The Children’s Society report
In one study, young people reported a
significant increase in anxiety as a result of
the pandemic, with anxiety rising with age
(see chart below). 3 There are also some
groups of young people that seem to be
struggling more. Across surveys published
to date there is some evidence to suggest
that older teenagers, girls, those from black
and minority ethnic backgrounds, those not
in education, employment or training and
those already struggling with poorer mental
health are impacted in particular ways by the
pandemic. Although we need more robust
data, we should expect that social inequality
of various kinds will be exacerbated by
current circumstances.
Key recommendations for youth workers on
the basis of current evidence are:
• Take an age appropriate approach
• Signpost to quality information
• Facilitate young people helping others
• Target support to those with known mental
health challenges
• Promote time outdoors
• Celebrate new skills and coping
mechanisms
• Help young people learn how to manage
uncertainty
Felt anxious
NOT AT ALL LESS THAN BEFORE ABOUT THE SAME MORE THAN BEFORE
% OF RESPONDENTS
60
40
20
0
13-15 16–18 19–21 22–24
1. One of the significant challenges of reporting on COVID-related research is that the conditions in which studies were
done change quickly so we need to be cautious in applying the findings. 2. The Children’s Society - Life on Hold:
Children’s Well-being and COVID-19 July 2020. N=2000, weighted to be representative of the UK. 3. Levita, L (2020)
COVID-19 psychological research consortium (C19PRC). Initial research findings on the impact of COVID-19 on the
well-being of young people aged 13 to 24 in the UK. N=2002 13-24 year olds, Survey ran 21-29th April 2020. 4. Young
People in Lockdown: A report by The Prince’s Trust and YouGov. 5. Barnardo’s Big Conversation Survey – YouGov.
May 2020. N=4,283. weighted to be representative of the UK.
P.7

YOUTH WORK DIAGRAMS
Online conferences and festivals
Would you rather..?
A Queue for the loo
B Queue to get into the Zoom waiting room
A Worship shoulder to shoulder with
hundreds of people
B Worship with your cat watching you and
slightly judging you
A Watch the speaker’s face on the big screen
plus their tiny body on a stage
B Watch your own face watching your own face
A Eat beans out of a can with a spork
B Eat your favourite take-away deliveroo’d
to your sofa
A
B
QUEUE
WATCH
WORSHIP
EAT
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
For more #youthworkdiagrams follow us on Twitter @YWresearch
hello@youthscape.co.uk / 01582 877220
Bute Mills, 74 Bute Street, Luton. LU1 2EY
Registered charity no. 1081754. Registered company no. 3939801 registered
in England, a company limited by guarantee.
P.8