Press Release

The Open University and the Youth Justice Board create new alliance

13 November 2007

New alliance marks youth justice milestone

The Open University (OU) and the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) are today (Tuesday November 13) launching a new partnership to offer the education and training necessary to tackle the challenges in youth justice and develop the professional knowledge and skills staff need.

The OU is currently offering a range of qualifications developed for the Youth Justice Board including:
• Professional Certificate of Effective Practice (Youth Justice)
• Work-based Foundation Degree in Youth Justice
• Exploring the Youth Justice System: An Introduction
Delivered exclusively through the OU, these are the only professional development courses endorsed by the YJB – both are core to the YJB’s National Qualifications Framework.

The courses have been developed with the advice of the YJB’s own workforce development advisors, academics from other universities and a wide range of practitioners in the field, including the Police and the Secure Estate.

Already, over 1,000 youth justice practitioners have completed or are studying courses within the YJB National Qualifications Framework foundation degree and by the end of the year over 500 of them will have successfully gained a professional qualification from the OU.

Future developments will include new course materials to take account of upcoming changes in youth justice, including the introduction of the new Youth Rehabilitation Order, ensuring that both Youth Offending Teams and the Secure Estate can participate in relevant and up to date training.

Professor Wendy Stainton-Rogers, Director of Youth Justice at the OU, said: “Through the alliance we are achieving benefits that neither partner could accomplish on its own. For the YJB, the benefit is a radical and far-reaching up-skilling of the youth justice workforce. And for the OU, it is the opening-up of a significant new student audience, which is central to our mission to widen participation in education and promote social justice.”

Graham Robb, Interim Chair of the Youth Justice Board, said: “This alliance is a milestone for the professional development of staff in the youth justice system. It gives dedicated staff an opportunity to analyse issues and develop a deeper understanding of the very complex needs of the young people we support.”