Where is the Love? Seeking a convergence towards a ‘welfarist turn’ in work with young people.

The most visible differentiation between models of youth work across Europe exists in tensions between (positive) welfare-based and (deficit) target-based approaches. Any proponents of a more welfare-based youth work model often find themselves conflicted by the current growth of a neo-liberal, ‘New managerialist’ culture, which demands results based accountability and targeted, risk-assessed interventions. This conference paper challenges youth workers to re-imagine their current practice and examines the potential role that a ‘hybrid’ (PETAL) model of youth work practice and social pedagogy theory might play in achieving one of the key principles of Council of Europe (2008) of integrating young people into society.