5a) Throughout the 10 sessions I planned and delivered at The Drop In the young people participated

in lots of different activities that some worked alone on, some worked in pairs and in particular
mostly the young people worked in groups. The key principles of group work and its stages are:-
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Mourning
This theory works in all forms of groups whether its a friendship group, a school working group or a
group work environment and works like this:-
Forming This is where the group starts/forms, deciding who the group is for and who wants to
participate, and how its going to run. This comes with its problems as its new and no one knows
whether they can trust the next person, no one knows who is good at what and who will come up
with the best suggestions to move forward. This is where personalities can clash. Emotions can run
high with anxiety, frustration and inferiority.
Storming This is where the group starts to work out who is who and where they stand, this can also
be quite heated as different young people fight for hierarchy. Members can often leave a group at
this stage due to conflicts.
Norming This is where the young peoples roles start to develop naturally. However, if oppression
has happened in the storming stage this can continue through to become a norm so its important to
make sure that doesnt happen.
Performing - This is when the group has worked out who is who and who works best in what
role. The group starts to work productively and start to learn to trust each other and value each
other so things start to run smoother.
Mourning This is when the need for the group or a group activity comes to an end. This can be
quite a sad experience so some so shouldnt be overlooked. Some young people find the need for
the security of a group to help and support them and may have gotten used to it and for it to end
that can be very distressing.
These key stages were applied when the group of young people started to come into the Drop In at
the end of January 2014. The older ones had left and the faces started to change, and initially it was
everyone fighting for attention, winding each other up and lots of boundaries being pushed.
I have applied these principles in some of the 10 planned sessions at the Drop In, one being:-
Anti Bullying Poster Campaign (Wk 8 of planned sessions Unit 2) which promoted participation and
they learnt more about the effects of bullying.

5b) The way in which I use facilitation styles is that I meet and greet when the young people come in
to the Drop In and initially I dont have to do much as they settle themselves in and mingle and chat
so during this I place out any leaflets that I want to be on offer to them out on the tables and get the
pool table out ready as well. Another facilitation style I use is to then tell the young people of any
plans we have for the evening by getting their attention either by inserting it into a conversation
they may be having with me and their group where appropriate so that it slips into the conversation
or by telling them what we have planned for the evening once they have settled themselves in.
Another facilitation style I use is to come into the Drop a little early, brief the other workers of what
we aim to achieve and what we will try to deliver sessionwise for that evening and then set the room
up accordingly.
Examples of facilitation styles used during the 10 planned sessions are:-
Planned Session Wk 2 Newsnight I quickly made a box into a TV shape at work before getting to
the Drop In and then I set the room up with the pretend TV on a table and chairs in front as if on a
sofa before the young people arrived. When they did arrive they got straight into it knowing what
they wanted to do without me having to say much but when they got stuck for things to say I made
suggestions to help them start up again.
Wk 9 Rush Hockey It was organised for the lady from Tone Leisure to come in to do the Rush
Hockey at the park but the Drop In was also open so that the young people had a choice. At the
start of the session when the young people started filtering in I got their attention by speaking up
and introducing the lady who was doing to the hockey and advised the young people that they had a
choice to play or to stay, some were curious so went over to watch and ended up playing, but most
went and a few stayed in the Drop In to chat to me and Dot one of the volunteers.
Wk 8 Anti Bullying Poster Campaign To encourage the young people to engage and participate
and too reflect and think about what effects bullying can have the style I found that worked well was
to hold it as a competition with the posters so over a course of a couple of weeks the young people
did the posters and then waited for the results to see who had the best. They won a choc bar and
there were runner up prizes as well.
Another facilitation style appropriate for this group I have learnt that by giving some of the young
people jobs and tasks to carry out they seem to benefit and value what they are doing and
appreciate being valued by the staff for these tasks carried out.

5 c) Groups are made up of different types of personalities that work in harmony once a group has
settled into a routine. There are people within the group that may be the encouraging one who give
others recognition of their opinions and helps brings those opinions out, then there are watchers
who can also be a feelings expresser who will state how they feel about things and state how others
may be feeling. Then there are the ones that are mediators and jokers who manage to calm conflict
by fooling around and lightening things up. Then there are facilitators who keeps an eye on things
and ensures communication is maintained. Then there are interpreters who explain to others what
might not be understood. Then there are speakers who provide a lot of contribution. Then there
are listeners who also encourage by being interested. Then there are evaluators who remind every
of the goal when they digress. There are lots more types that could be involved in a group but above
a few.

5 d) (a)Groups form for power and the smooth running of operations and to help perform tasks and
to get a difference of opinions and to help get different ideas as well as there being different people
for different tasks for that particular group ie. 1 person might be good at doing the hands on
demonstration stuff and another might be good at the talking and explaining what they are doing
and another may be good at the writing notes and showing graphs for that task etc. then another
may be good at selling the product and another for manufacturing the product etc etc. With youth
work groups form to establish social acceptance and who stands in what position for security,
reassurance, safety in numbers, power, support, recognition, feeling of belonging. (b) People join
groups when they have something to offer the group or when they feel they need something from a
group whether its security or recognition.

5 e) Some barriers that may arise when trying to effectively group work with young people are:-
Parents may decide that their child cannot do stuff with certain other young people so want
them excluded. Parents can be reassured of the benefits of the two types of young people
working together.
Certain young people dont want to be involved in groups, they feel they work better alone.
Those young people could be given a task that is indirectly involved within the group work
so that they were still in a position of comfort.
The wrong group could be formed out of the wrong people and it doesnt proceed without
too many problems. This could group could then be evaluated and changed/adapted
accordingly by asking the young people where they think its going wrong and how we/they
could resolve it.

5 f) Some of the styles of leadership for effectiveness:-
Coercive This is a dictator who demands and barks orders when things need to be done
and quickly.
Authoritive This is someone who reminds everyone of the goal and tasks in hand or a when
there is a new goal they can give direction.
Affiliative This is someone who understands the need for peoples feelings and emotions to
be considered throughout the task, they are good at resolving personal issues and problems
within the group that may be between individuals.
Democratic This is someone who sits on the fence listening to both sides of the story and
not taking sides themselves.
Coach This person helps others with reassurance and helping them determine strengths
and weaknesses.
As a group the young people at the Drop In working together onn the Anti Bullying competition
and decided who would make the decisions on who won.
Certain individuals of the group each showed signs of having each of these characteristics
throughout the task.
Some of the young people also display the above styles within their own groups formed.

5 g)
There are four members of staff at The Drop In and each member of staff exhibits a different
leadership style so the young people that come regularly and come to know us know who they
would choose to approach for different situations of theirs They are able to make their own
decisions and choices of this. The staff are also aware of each others style so they know who is best
for a situation in hand for instance one member has knowledge in photography so when a session is
delivered around learning about photography she would be the right person but if it was a subject
we all know a decision would be made of whose style would best suit that particular subject and to
deliver it whether its a planned session or an individuals situation like being upset.
5 h) I worked with my organisations policies by adhering to the procedures set out for instance:-

When inducting a new volunteer all the necessary checks and information were handed out in the
induction including safety of others and themselves.
I worked within the equal opportunities and diversity policies by including all young people in the
chance to use the Drop In excluding no one unless they had been on bad behaviour and pre warned
and had then been issued with a red card to indicate that they must take a week off.
Other policies I worked within and followed the practice of was safeguarding myself and young
people by not accepting gifts from young people, not being in a closed room alone with a young
person and making sure all volunteers and co-workers also did not do any of these things. I make
sure the young people safeguard themselves by advising them to stay in groups or at least pairs
when walking home and if they have any issues to come and report to us if they are concerned.
Risk assessments are carried out when doing new tasks and a running risk assessment is carried
forward for each session, this was done throughout the 10 planned sessions and is continuing.
Any young persons information that we receive is kept confidential unless they tell us something of
concern of which I must then pass the information on, I have not needed to pass on something of
concern yet. All information received by new volunteers is also kept confidential.
5 i) See Unit 2 Task 7