This book is part of the Empowering Youth and Community Work Practice series written to support students on youth and community work degrees.<BR><BR>With the proposed development of the `youth professional' and the consolidation of graduate professional qualifications, this is an important time for youth work. Using as a starting point the UK National Occupational Standards `purpose of youth work' statement and `Youth Work: A Manifesto for Our Times' (Davies, Youth & Policy 88, Summer 2005), this book sets out the current state of debate about youth work for those considering or about to embark on a degree course. Contemporary debates in youth work are explored, and help to give students a sense of its history and its future contribution.<BR><BR>By combining the experience of its editors and the contemporaneous experience of the new voices of contributors, this book provides an excellent introduction to work as a youth worker in the twenty first century.