Disrupting Borders: A Case Study in Engaged Pedagogy.

Through an analysis of a practice-oriented course on youth worker professional development consisting of 10 community youth workers and 11 traditional college students, this paper suggests the need to construct the classroom as a "borderland. " Course structure, class composition, pedagogical strategies, and deliberate learning objectives" disrupted traditional boundaries between the community and the university, service and learning, and students and teachers'. These disruptions allowed students and community members to come together to pursue academic learning and community change while addressing a tension in the field of youth worker professional development. The border disrupting practices in this dilemma-focused, community-engaged pedagogy deliberately centered community voice and knowledge in the teaching and learning experience, thereby redistributing power, building authentic community-university relationships, and allowing for deep and sustained work to occur in local youth organizations. ********* Multiple barriers hinder the Out-of-School Time (OST) field from building a quality, stable, pipeline of youth practitioners including high turnover rates, poor compensation and benefits, limited opportunities for upward mobility and unstable funding. Perhaps the most humbling obstacle is the absence of a recognized definition of the knowledge and abilities that a well trained OST professional should possess. (Vance, 2010, p. 422) I grew up in the Boys Club, I'm a "Club kid? ' I have been a camp counselor, done child welfare; I have been a coach, a bus monitor, and a youth mentor. I have worked my way up to be the Clubhouse Operations Director. In spite of all I have done, I always face the subtle reminder that because I don't have my degree I must continue to impress and improve because I don't want to see a ceiling hit me. But I wonder, how much can a book help? Doesn't this much life experience equal four years sitting through college education? Hell yes! --Jacob, veteran youth worker The quotations above illustrate a tension in the youth development field. On the one hand, research indicates a relationship between formal staff qualifications and positive outcomes for youth (Akiva, 2005; Collins, Hill, & Miranda, 2008; Dennehy, Gannet, & Robbins, 2006). However, the lack of education, preparation, and training of many youth workers negatively impacts numerous aspects of youth development programming, such as staff retention, staff engagement with youth, and youth engagement in programming (Collins, Hill, & Miranda; Dennehy, Gannet, & Robbins). Many youth workers' concerns about staying in the field over the long-term are related to their relatively low-level training and preparation, such as inadequate compensation, few opportunities for advancement, lack of clear job descriptions, feeling unable to perform required tasks, feeling undervalued, and few opportunities for professional networking (Hartje, Evans, Killian, & Brown, 2008). On the other hand, experienced youth workers question their need for formal education given the situated knowledge (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Ross, 2011) they have acquired over the years, all the while harboring a nagging regret over not having a college degree. This regret is not because they feel unprepared for the work but because of opportunities inaccessible to them due to their lack of formal credentials. Exacerbating this tension is the growing vulnerability of young people in the United States due to the ever increasing economic instability of families and neighborhoods. These structural threats to youth wellbeing make access to high-quality youth development opportunities a pressing social issue. In response to this problem, Fusco (2012) reviewed the state of youth worker professional education. Her research uncovered 60 youth work education programs situated in higher education institutions, a significant increase over the past five years. …