WHO IS INVOLVED IN 'BUILDING A BANK OF WRITERS'

This initiative is open to all those interested in writing about youth work in Northern Ireland or supporting a writing initiative such as this.  There are a number of roles within Critical Voice which support new writing.  These are:

THE ADVISORY GROUP

THE EDITORIAL GROUP

THE WRITING GROUP

REVIEWER ROLE

WRITING SUPPORTER

MEDIA & COMMS TEAM

The Advisory Group is a group of peers whose judgement is highly regarded within the discipline of community youth work. All members of the advisory group are involved in education, professional practice or research in the field of informal education, community work and youth work.  The role of the advisory group is to support and advise the editorial group.

The Editorial Group is a group of individuals who will review potential printed material, offering feedback and support to writers and agreeing content for uploading or printing.  The editorial group currently consists of Gail Neill and Eliz McArdle.  

The Writing Group is a group of individuals interested in writing on a specific theme.  The first writing group has  had a series of meetings to discuss ideas, critique existing youth work articles and work collaboratively on a new article for 'Critical Voice Articles'.  The intention is that new writing groups will emerge and each one can work on a specific theme for a new piece of writing within this Critical Voice NI platform.

The Reviewer has a key role in assessing the quality and suitability of the submission and providing objective constructive feedback to the editor and contributor. 

The Writing Supporter is a member of the Advisory Group who offers guidance throughout the writing process. All potential contributors will be given the opportunity to match with a Critical Voice writing supporter. Where contributors choose to take up this option, the writing supporter will not be able to take on reviewer responsibilities due to this conflict of interest. 

The Media & Communications Team is a member of the Advisory Group that looks after publications and engagements on both Website & Social Media outlets,

HISTORY

The Critical Voice online platform is a youth work practitioner forum facilitated by Ulster University's Community Youth Work team.  

Historically, Critical Voice developed through a collaboration between the Community Youth Work team at Ulster University and YouthAction Northern Ireland’s Critical Youth Research Hub. This work was developed to promote and develop youth work research, writing and thinking within the community youth work sector.

The Community Youth Work team at Ulster University hosted a series of meetings throughout 2016/17 with youth work practitioners, writers, researchers and students who were interested in or engaged in writing on youth work and the lives of young people. At the same time, YouthAction Northern Ireland (YANI), through the Critical Youth Research Hub, had been hosting a series of research seminars to present and exchange youth research practice and build a critical voice on youth work policy and practice. These have been developed as a response to the shrinking space for a critical voice on community youth work over the past 3 years.

To build on this, in early 2017, UU and YANI came together to run a number of writing events or workshops under the title ‘Building a bank of writers’. An open invitation was extended to those who might be interested in writing about youth work and young people. The focus of this group was to write about youth work ideas and issues for a local audience. Further discussions revealed the lack of either print or on-line spaces which exist to publish or promote any written work. Critical Voice was developed to fill this gap, offering a space for local youth work to be explored; and working on written material that might stimulate debate in the youth work sector.

The Critical Voice platform is currently managed by Ulster University's Community Youth Work team and a practitioner advisory group.