Registration to run the Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards
Register online at www.youthachievementawards.org
The Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards can be accessed by any organisation working with young people in a context that is compatible to the use of the Awards and the ethos of UK Youth.
UK Youth are committed to making the Awards accessible to both large and small organisations but need to balance the income generated with the costs incurred by national development of the programme. In order to be able to use the Awards with your young people you will need to ensure that you are registered. The same registration enables you to run both the Youth Challenges and the Youth Achievement Awards. Registration also entitles groups to access ASDAN’s Wider Key Skill qualifications. For registering organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland you will need to contact the relevant country office.
There are 6 types registration:
1. National Operating Agency
Appropriate for organisations who wish to deliver the Youth Achievement Awards through Regional Operating Agencies and/or Participating Units across England. A national OA may support regional Operating Agencies in their network who, in turn, support local Participating Units. Alternatively, a national OA may work directly through Participating Units, or by registering a combination of both.
2. Independent Regional Operating Agency
Appropriate for youth services, city and countywide voluntary associations, regional support agencies etc. Participating Units register directly with an Operating Agency and access support and information from their OA.
3. Regional Operating Agency- linked to a National Operating Agency
For regional, county or city wide 'arms' of national organisations already regsitered to deliver YAA.
4. Schools/FE Participating Unit Registration
This regsitration is designed for all secondary schools as well as FE and HE providers. You are not limited in the number of young people you can have involved in the YAA.
5. Participating Unit Membership
A Participating Unit is an individual youth group or small youth project that will generally work with less than 35 young people on the Youth Achievement Awards per year. It is important that each group delivering the Youth Achievement Awards is registered separately as portfolios are sampled and moderated on a unit by unit basis. If a Participating Unit presents a considerable number of portfolios for external moderation in a year (i.e. 35 or more), we reserve the right to insist that they register as an Operating Agency in their own right or sub-divide into more than one unit.
6. Junior Achievement Award Unit
Aimed at independent groups which wish to access the Junior Achievement Awards only. These could be primary schools, after school clubs, junior youth groups etc. There is no requirement to be linked to an OA.
* All registrations for the Awards are charged on a pro-rata rate + the following year's registration in full to ensure that 1st April is the renewal date for all registered Agencies and Units.
Frequestly Asked Questions
1. What are the benefits to registering as a National Operating Agency?
There are many benefits to becoming a YAA National Operating Agency. Quite apart from the ability to set up as many Participating Units across England as you need, and to put forward an unlimited number of young people every year, NOAs also have the opportunity to be part of pilot projects and to help shape the development of the Awards.NOAs automatically become a member of the NOA peer support network – a group who meet twice yearly to share good practice, discuss issues, and generally provide a mutually supportive environment for national key contacts.
In addition to the above, from April 2009 UK Youth is offering National Operating Agencies an additional package of benefits.These are listed in the table overleaf.We hope that this will be of great use to many organisations for the following reasons:
*Firstly it aims to support agencies which are looking to extend their YAA activity across the country by offering free training to skill-up workers, discounts on booklets, and UK Youth presence at agency own events. If you are a v funded organisation then this may well enable you to explore the use of YAA in other parts of your organisation who are not v funded.
*Secondly, it allows agencies to develop their accreditation options in a supportive environment through the offer of one to one support sessions with a dedicated YAA Officer and membership of the NOA peer support network.
*Thirdly, we hope that it will also help organisations to improve workers’ all round experience of youth work in general and the Awards in particular by offering discounted places at conferences.
For more information about the National Operating Agency Registration Package, please click here
2. What you will our organisation receive when we register as a Independent Regional Operating Agency?
In addition to enabling you to access the Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards programmes you will receive the following additional benefits when you register to run the Awards:
- A dedicated Education and Training Development Officer
- Telephone and e-mail support service
- Regular updates on training and moderation opportunities in your region
- Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards newsletter three times a year
- Regional networking events
- A registration number unique to you to be quoted on all correspondence
- Yearly updates of all current Participating Units registered with you
- A start-up pack of materials to enable you to promote and support the Awards within your organisation. This pack includes a sample copy of each of the booklets at the six levels, a copy of the Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards Guidelines, and promotional materials as available
- Subscription to UK Youth's e-magazine
- Support to complete your first internal moderation if required
- Free registration to deliver ASDAN’s Wider Key Skills qualifications
3. What you will our organisation receive when we register as a Participating Unit?
In addition to support and guidance from your Operating Agency, a Participating Unit receives the following benefits:
- Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards newsletter three times a year
- A registration number unique to you to be quoted on all correspondence
- Subscription to UK Youth e-magazine
Wider Key Skills Registration with ASDAN
Registration with UK Youth to run the Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards will also enable you to access ASDAN’s Wider Key Skills programmes as a registered centre.
The three Wider Key Skills are:
- ‘Improving your Own Learning and Performance’,
They fit neatly into the youth work context and can be generated from involvement in a Youth Achievement Award as they follow the same planning, target setting and reviewing methodology. The Wider Key Skills are qualifications that are approved for use in schools (via Section 96) and are fundable by LSC for use with young people aged 16 plus (via Section 97).
The Wider Key Skills are all assessed through portfolio-based evidence (and can be cross referenced to a Youth Achievement Award). Other advantages are that the Wider Key Skills also appear in school and college league tables (where relevant). At Level 3 all three Wider Key Skills broadly equate to an AS Level with 60 UCAS Tariff points on offer (the same as a Grade A at AS level).
In 2003 UKY and ASDAN were commissioned by the National LSC to explore how the two programmes link together. Well over 40% of the young people involved achieved at least one Wider Key Skill by the end of the twelve-month project
To register with ASDAN directly costs £250 per academic year. Training and support can be bought in directly from ASDAN.
For more information about ASDAN’s Wider Key Skills, please click here
To download the 'Developing Wider Key Skills through the Youth Achievement Awards' leaflet, please click here
Interested?
If you would like to register to run the Youth Challenges and Youth Achievement Awards programme, please register online at www.youthachievementawards.org
