Social justice in youth work: A dialogue between sustainable development goals and the convention on the rights of the child
Abstract
Professional youth work that is influenced by the British tradition makes claims to uphold social justice, but in the contemporary political landscape, social justice is contested and less likely to be automatically accepted as a laudable goal without further justification. In response, some youth workers have tied their work to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (Australia), and/or to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were proposed under the UN Agenda 2030 (Ireland, India, Mongolia) to provide legitimacy for social justice-oriented work. This chapter analyses the ideological foundations of these UN instruments and compares how they have been used in Australia and Ireland to support and validate youth work purposes and values. This chapter is conceptual, exploring the links between professional youth work and social justice as expressed in the UNCRC and the SDGs.
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Publication Title
Youth Transitions and Social Justice: Researching Spaces of Social Action
Publisher
Bristol University Press
School
School of Arts and Humanities
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
203
Last Page
229
Comments
Cooper, T., Shier, H., Corney, T., Tierney, H., & Gorman, J. (2025). Social justice in youth work: A dialogue between sustainable development goals and the convention on the rights of the child. In Youth Transitions and Social Justice: Researching Spaces of Social Action (pp. 203–229). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529238747.ch011