This month, ALOVE has launched a new youth worker training course to The Salvation Army called ‘What Every Volunteer Youth Worker Should Know’ (WEVYWSK). The resource has been created by ‘Youthwork – the partnership’, which includes ALOVE, Oasis, Spring Harvest, YFC and Youthwork Magazine (www.youthwork.co.uk).

WEVYWSK will complement existing Salvation Army youth leader training resources. Its aim is to equip Salvation Army youth workers like Corps Youth Secretaries (CYS), youth club workers and cell leaders (basically anyone involved in working with young people aged 11+) and invest in the essential roles they play in Salvation Army youth work, week in, week out.

Richard Proctor is the Youth Work Development Manager with the ALOVE Life team (training and development) and explains some of the benefits of WEVYWSK for The Salvation Army. ‘As it’s been created by Youthwork - the partnership, it will help The Salvation Army to interact and learn from what’s going on in youth work in the wider Church. With that said, we’ve also worked really hard to tailor the course content to The Salvation Army context. Volunteers will be able to assess their youth work, evaluate where it fits in to the overall strategy of the corps and consider how they’re implementing the ALOVE essentials at the local level.’

In the future, ‘WEVYWSK’ will form half of the new CYS ‘pre-commissioning’ course. The existing essay programme will no longer be used, instead being replaced with a practical portfolio enabling the new CYS to ground their training locally and to be used as a tool for the development of their work. Alongside this, a new CYS will be asked to attend a WEVYWSK course during the first year of their appointment.

The launch of WEVYWSK follows a consultation process that ALOVE undertook amongst Salvation Army youth workers. ‘We piloted the course early in the summer of 2004,’ explains Jo Taylor, also from ALOVE Life. ‘We sought feedback on the content and delivery of this course from Divisional Youth Officers (DYO's), paid corps youth workers and volunteer youth workers. The feedback has been positive.’

Ultimately, the vision for WEVYWSK within The Salvation Army is that it will go further in recognising the invaluable contribution made by volunteer youth workers and also help facilitate a collective effort to strive towards excellence in youth work practice across The Salvation Army.

ALOVE will be running WEVYWSK courses around the UK and Republic of Ireland during 2005 and will be available to anyone involved in youth work.

The first Salvation Army delivered What Every Volunteer Youth Worker Should Know Course is going to be held on Friday 4th - Sunday 6th February and is fast approaching. This course is being held at Abbot Hall in Cumbria and there are 10 free places available to anyone involved in Salvation Army Youth Work.

This weekend long course is an excellent programme for those involved in local youth work, or those who want to understand it better such as Corps Officers. This course will also soon become a part of the CYS pre-commissioning course, helping these valuable workers find time to reflect in what they are doing and develop their practise and understanding. We would highly recommend this course for CYS's, youth club leaders, other youth leaders and Corps Officers.