Q: What is youth work praxis and what does it mean?
A: The origin of the word praxis comes from the stem of the Greek verb prassein, which means to do or to act. From prassein we get the Greek word praksis, spelled more commonly as praxis in English, which means practice, action or doing.
In Pedagogy Of The Oppressed, Paulo Freire writes that through praxis – through putting learning into action – the oppressed are able to gain more of an awareness of their situation and, in turn, are able to gain freedom and liberate themselves.
Youth work praxis is therefore when you put the theory you learn into your day-to-day youth work practice. This theory could have been learned through a conference, training, course or book. However you learned the youth work theory, what’s important is not only learning it, but putting it into practice.
Youth work praxis can take many forms, but here are three ways you can put youth work theory into practice:
1) Youth group development
Identify which stage of group development your youth are in, then use that knowledge to help guide them through the process of developing as a group
2) Set objectives
Use SMART or SMARTER targets to set goals and aims for your youth and your youth work programming
3) Child protection
Learn about best practices in child protection and then make the necessary changes or improvements to policies and procedures. Make sure that those procedures are put into place each and every time you work with youth
Question: What theory have you learned that you put into practice or need to make part of your youth work praxis? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below.
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Q: What is youth participation and how can I avoid ‘non-participation’ when working with youth?