As early as 1999 CYC-NET was approached from two fronts to consider creating a some dedicated resource for the area of students, teaching and training in child and youth care.

1.  We were asked to consider a peer-reviewed journal where students might gain the experience of preparing material for publication, where good student term papers might be more widely shared, and where the subject of teaching and training could be focused on. It was felt that a printed journal would be unrealistic, and than an on-line journal would solve the problems of printing costs and of the widest possible distribution.

2.  We were asked about developing a bank of teacher ‘aids’ which have been found to be useful  — anecdotes, illustrations, models — which colleagues might contribute and have access to.

3. We were asked to assemble more writing (and better organize that which we already have) on our web site, especially for students who do not have ready access to good libraries.
 

There are pros and cons ...

It is hard, even inadvisable, to separate learning and practice in our field. It is impossible to sort material into that which is suitable for students and that which is meant for practitioners. As Jerry Beker pointed out to us, there is no reason why student writing should have less merit than any other writing.

Nevertheless there do seem to exist in child and youth care the distinct task area of training and the distinct experience of being a learner — whether in universities and colleges, in professional associations, or in individual agencies’ in-service training programs.

The experiment

Rather than draw any black lines, it is thought best to explore this idea inclusively, as part of what we already do in CYC-NET. We will offer a section of CYC-ONLINE which can focus on learning and teaching, and at the same time organise the web site in such a way that the topic is better represented and indexed. We can certainly build on the collections of writing and create a ‘bank’ of helpful training material. This way we can all participate — by reading and contributing.

In this month's issue we have included three items: a serious paper on role-play as an educational method; a student paper dealing with the “work” of play; and an anecdotal “illustration” of an important aspect of our work.

We invite ongoing submissions of similar material. Let's see where it leads.