Lancets Adolescent Health series of papers

Press Office The Lancet launches Adolescent Health Series

The Lancet launches Adolescent Health Series

Today’s generation of adolescents is the largest in history—nearly half of the world’s population is less than 25 years old and they face far more complex challenges to their health and development than their parents did. Many young people today are living with HIV/AIDS or depression, the leading causes of disease burden for adolescents worldwide. And hazardous alcohol use now accounts for 86% of the 8·6 million substance related deaths of 15–29 year olds globally.

In the series, The Lancet aims to highlight an area of health that remains neglected, marginalised, and ignored in many countries. Adolescence is a time in life that harbours many risks and dangers, but also one that presents great opportunities for sustained health through education and preventive efforts. Currently many countries fail to put sufficient emphasis on the special needs of adolescents, they are either treated the same as children or have to share facilities with older adults. The series calls for a concerted effort to create youth-friendly services worldwide, while putting young people at the heart of the policy-making to ensure their access to youth-friendly health services.

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Young people don't read the news

Hold the front page! Young people don't read the news from Greenslade

Hold the front page! Young people don't read the news

Research in the United States claims to have discovered the astounding news that the country's teenagers and young adults don't read the news. The tone of the New York Times article which reveals the study's findings appears to be surprised at this phenomenon. Why?

Surely this has always been the case. The British experience of newspaper-buying habits in past generations suggested that young people grew into news consumption as they matured. Though their interest in news was patchy in teenage and early adult years, they tended to buy papers regularly once they married and set up home.

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"Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace ."

Viewing class divisions through Facebook and MySpace

by danah boyd
June 24, 2007

Citation: boyd, danah. 2007. Apophenia Blog Essay. June 24 .

Over the last six months, I've noticed an increasing number of press articles about how high school teens are leaving MySpace for Facebook. That's only partially true. There is indeed a change taking place, but it's not a shift so much as a fragmentation. Until recently, American teenagers were flocking to MySpace. The picture is now being blurred. Some teens are flocking to MySpace. And some teens are flocking to Facebook. Who goes where gets kinda sticky... probably because it seems to primarily have to do with socio-economic class.

I want to take a moment to make a meta point here. I have been traipsing through the country talking to teens and I've been seeing this transition for the past 6-9 months but I'm having a hard time putting into words. Americans aren't so good at talking about class and I'm definitely feeling that discomfort. It's sticky, it's uncomfortable, and to top it off, we don't have the language for marking class in a meaningful way. So this piece is intentionally descriptive, but in being so, it's also hugely problematic. I don't have the language to get at what I want to say, but I decided it needed to be said anyhow. I wish I could just put numbers in front of it all and be done with it, but instead, I'm going to face the stickiness and see if I can get my thoughts across. Hopefully it works.

For the academics reading this, I want to highlight that this is not an academic article. It is not trying to be. It is based on my observations in the field, but I'm not trying to situate or theorize what is going on. I've chosen terms meant to convey impressions, but I know that they are not precise uses of these terms. Hopefully, one day, I can get the words together to actually write an academic article about this topic, but I felt as though this is too important of an issue to sit on while I find the words. So I wrote it knowing that it would piss many off. The academic side of me feels extremely guilty about this; the activist side of me finds it too critical to go unacknowledged.

Enter the competition

When MySpace launched in 2003, it was primarily used by 20/30-somethings (just like Friendster before it). The bands began populating the site by early 2004 and throughout 2004, the average age slowly declined. It wasn't until late 2004 that teens really started appearing en masse on MySpace and 2005 was the year that MySpace became the "in thing" for teens.

Facebook launched in 2004 as a Harvard-only site. It slowly expanded to welcome people with .edu accounts from a variety of different universities. In mid-2005, Facebook opened its doors to high school students, but it wasn't that easy to get an account because you needed to be invited. As a result, those who were in college tended to invite those high school students that they liked. Facebook was strongly framed as the "cool" thing that college students did. So, if you want to go to college (and particularly a top college), you wanted to get on Facebook badly. Even before high school networks were possible, the moment seniors were accepted to a college, they started hounding the college sysadmins for their .edu account. The message was clear: college was about Facebook.

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Youth Work pay increase called for...

Young People Now

Pay and conditions: Youth work unions call for significant pay rise
By Tom Lloyd - 17/07/07


The body representing youth workers in pay negotiations has called for a “substantial” rise in salaries.
The staff side of the Joint Negotiating Committee believes a sharp increase is needed as recognition of the importance of youth work grows, and the profession moves towards graduate status in 2010.
Doug Nicholls, general secretary of the Community and Youth Workers’ Union, and secretary for the staff side, said: “Anything less than six per cent is a cut in real terms, and to move to graduate level requires a major jump.”
The staff side of the committee outlines its case in a pay claim submitted to the employers’ side last week. It states the starting salary of £18,807 compares poorly with average graduate starting salaries, which are estimated at £21,445 to £27,500.
It also calls for improvements in London living allowances,
the introduction of a month
of maternity support leave, as well as an increase in paid maternity leave.
Les Lawrence, chair of the

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Who is taking the Christian out of Charity?

YFC in scotland loses out on youth charity funding... because its a christian chairty??

The Herald : Features: LETTERS

LETTERS - Our Christian charity should not be excluded

It was very interesting to read your article in relation to Gordon Brown's new book Britain's Everyday Heroes, highlighting the valuable role of volunteers across all sections of society. There is a strong history of volunteering in Scotland - most of which, by its very nature, is unseen and unrewarded. The Church and Christian charities in Scotland still provide for the majority of voluntary youth and children's work.

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Raised education leaving age... and criminalising Young People?

Forced education will cause 'mass truancy' - Telegraph

Forced education will cause 'mass truancy'

By Graeme Paton, Education Correspondent 31/07/2007



Forcing teenagers to stay in education until 18 will cause "mass truancy" and criminalise thousands of young people, a teachers' leader has warned.

The education leaving age will be raised
Truants could face fines and a criminal record

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plan to raise the leaving age for the first time in 35 years will "prolong the agony" of school for many teenagers already bored by the classroom, said Geraldine Everett, chairman of the Professional Association of Teachers....

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Youth work inspection framework

Ofsted is planning modifications to the enhanced youth inspection framework, in response to feedback from local authorities and their partners, and following discussion with key stakeholders in the sector.

The modifications take into account the developments outlined in the Youth Matters Green Paper and Youth Matters: Next Steps; Statutory guidance on positive activities; and the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which created a new requirement on local authorities to provide access to positive activities for young people.

The modified enhanced youth inspection framework will reflect how recent legislative and structural issues are shaping the delivery of youth work, and the progress made towards towards the introduction of integrated youth support service arrangements in 2008.

Ofsted has developed its proposals in conjunction with its partner inspectorates and commissions involved in the delivery of children’s services inspections, as well as with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (formerly the DfES), the National Youth Agency, the Association of Principal Youth and Community Officers and local authority representatives.

Many aspects of the enhanced youth inspection framework will remain the same. Specifically, the evaluation requirements that apply to the inspection of youth work will remain focused on three general reporting areas: the standards of young people’s achievement and the quality of youth work; the quality of curriculum and resources; and leadership and management.

Among suggested modifications to the enhanced youth inspection framework are a greater focus on the five Every Child Matters outcomes and reporting on how well local authorities consult with and involve young people in decision making.

The inspections will still take place as an integral part of the joint area review process.

It is expected that the modified enhanced youth inspection framework will be launched in September 2007.

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Youth work inspection framework

Youth work inspection framework
	Ofsted is planning modifications to the enhanced youth inspection framework, in response to feedback from local authorities and their partners, and following discussion with key stakeholders in the sector
Full information at OFSTED website
The modifications take into account the developments outlined in the Youth Matters Green Paper and Youth Matters: Next Steps; Statutory guidance on positive activities; and the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which created a new requirement on local authorities to provide access to positive activities for young people. The modified enhanced youth inspection framework will reflect how recent legislative and structural issues are shaping the delivery of youth work, and the progress made towards towards the introduction of integrated youth support service arrangements in 2008. Ofsted has developed its proposals in conjunction with its partner inspectorates and commissions involved in the delivery of children’s services inspections, as well as with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (formely the DfES), the National Youth Agency, the Association of Principal Youth and Community Officers and local authority representatives. Many aspects of the enhanced youth inspection framework will remain the same. Specifically, the evaluation requirements that apply to the inspection of youth work will remain focused on three general reporting areas: the standards of young people’s achievement and the quality of youth work; the quality of curriculum and resources; and leadership and management. Among suggested modifications to the enhanced youth inspection framework are a greater focus on the five Every Child Matters outcomes and reporting on how well local authorities consult with and involve young people in decision making. The inspections will still take place as an integral part of the joint area review process. It is expected that the modified enhanced youth inspection framework will be launched in September 2007.

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