THE ROLE OF THE ROLE MODEL

"Having a role model in life is a great thing to have; one who provides us with
direction and inspiration. However, we will forever be restricted by that
person's limitations if we live within their boundaries. Be influenced, but set
your own standards and develop your own principals, if you are ever to live
beyond someone else's dreams."
---Jason Shahan

Role Models and Youth Work

The youth worker as a ‘positive’ role model is deeply engrained in the psyche of the
vocation, from the early church, uniformed boys and girls clubs of the 19 th Century to
present day statutory and voluntary interventions in the lives of young people. It is
embedded in the Occupational Standards for Youth Work which highlight those
behaviours that youth workers should be looking to pass on to the young people they
work with, such as “Model behaviour which demonstrates a commitment to inclusion,
equality of opportunity and of valuing diversity” (National Occupational Standards for
Youth Work; 2.3.21).

Within formal and informal educational settings, Daniel Rose (Infed, 2004 2) describes
role models as “not concerned with the imparting of knowledge and information…
rather [its] aim is to expose target groups to specific attitudes, lifestyles and
outlooks.” The role model is therefore not necessarily a teacher or a mentor, but an
inspiration for how a person may choose to live their life. Rose goes on to say that the
role model as a tool is particularly stressed in informal education settings such as
youth movements, “…where the sometimes charismatic educational leader embodies
the values that he or she is espousing”.

Despite this, in summer 2010 when YouthLink Scotland asked members to prioritise
subject areas of importance to them, ‘Role Models’ came seventeenth out of a list of
twenty, suggesting youth workers do not see role models as a priority of their work.
This opinion appears to be echoed amongst the young people they work with. When
2,000 young people aged 11 – 25 were asked about their role models for YouthLink
Scotland’s 2009 Being Young in Scotland Survey3, only 3% of young people saw
youth workers as a role model while around 60% saw family members as a source of
inspiration in their lives.

These findings, however, could be misleading. Firstly, while the terms “modelling
behaviour”, “be an example”, and “demonstrating” are frequently used within the
sector, particularly in relation to mentoring, befriending, training peer educators and

1
The Occupational Standards for Youth Work:
http://www.lluk.org/documents/whole_suite_of_Professional_and_National_Occupational_Standards_for_Youth_
Work.pdf
2
Rose, Daniel: the potential of role-model education, InFed 2004:
http://www.infed.org/biblio/role_model_education.htm
3
Being Young in Scotland 2009, YouthLink Scotland 2010: http://www.youthlinkscotland.org/webs/245/file/Final
%20BYIS%20Repor(a).pdf

1
other well known best practices, there is limited research on the role of “role models”
in youth work, therefore interpretation and understanding of the term and what it
means in practice varies widely across the sector.

Secondly we need to consider the fact that many youth workers are not always
defined by young people as ‘youth workers’ but can be termed ‘Scout Leaders’,
‘Community Workers’, ‘Project Workers’, or hold a range of other titles. Therefore
when young people are asked who their role models are the term “youth worker” may
not necessarily arise.

Finally, we must recognise that to harness the impact of a role model to influence a
young person’s life within a youth work setting, a youth worker does not necessarily
need to be a role model himself or herself. Instead they can use the influence of other
role models through alternate means. Indeed many youth workers may already do so
unconsciously.

The influence of role models has been recognised by organisations such as the Royal
Society4 who are encouraging role model programmes to stimulate interest in science.
These programmes involve role models being brought in from outside the learning
environment to show young people how science works in the real world. They found
that “[A role model’s] relationship with the ideas they are conveying and the reason
for their presence… are seen by the children as different to that of teachers. Their
work in the “real world” and their obvious enthusiasm for their subject and ability
bring [it] to life, combined with the absence of an explicit teacher/student relationship
all help to engage the young people directly”. In research on the views of young
people the Royal Society found that communication, enthusiasm, informality,
friendliness and openness, and an approach which broadens horizons are important
positive qualities in role models. These are traits that are built into youth work5 6.

‘Role models’ (being a role model) and ‘role modelling’ (utilising role models) could
be an important element of youth work and it is an area that, given its potential
benefits and risks, should be explored further. This paper will look at how role models
fit within current informal/social learning/education theory and practice, with a view
to stimulating discussion on the subject within the sector.

Role Models in Informal Education

The purpose of youth work is to “enable young people to develop holistically,

working with them to facilitate their personal, social and educational development, to
enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society and to reach their
potential”7 through informal education and learning. This approach is often termed
4
The Royal Society, Role Models Guide and accompanying research: http://royalsociety.org/Role-Models-
Research-Report/
5
Milburn, Ted et al, Step it up: the report of the national development project entitled “defining the purpose of
youth work and measuring performance”:
http://www.youthlinkscotland.org/webs/245/documents/stepitupreport.pdf
6
The “Step it up” tool: http://stepitup.youngscot.org/
7
The Occupational Standards for Youth Work:
http://www.lluk.org/documents/whole_suite_of_Professional_and_National_Occupational_Standards_for_Youth_
Work.pdf

2
‘social education’ and is understood as enabling young people to become more
conscious of and to better understand ‘self’. Traditionally informal education focuses
on relationships and therefore on the process by which learning happens rather than
on what is learnt (Doyle, 20018).

Wenger (2005)9 suggested that there are four components of a social theory of
learning:

o Meaning: when young people learn as they experience

o Practice: when young people learn by doing
o Community: when young people learn by belonging
o Identity: when young people learn by becoming

The usage of role models can be embedded in every component of social learning.
They can be used as: examples of personal attributes, inspiration in the search for
knowledge, an embodiment of values, an aspiration to aim for, or a standard of
behaviour. These spheres of influence are all interconnected and role models may
touch on more than one of these aspects of a young person’s life.

Meaning

The idea of learning through experience, also known as ‘experiential learning’, is one
well established in both theory and research. It has two aspects, the first of which is
described by Mark K Smith (Infed, 1996, 2001 10) as “learning that is achieved
through reflection upon everyday experience and is the way that most of us do our
learning”. Probably the best known typology of this type of learning is Kolb’s
learning circle that involves (1) experiencing followed by (2) reflecting followed by
(3) generalising followed by (4) applying.

To effectively learn from experience, you need to be able to reflect and understand
that experience. In the words of Blacker (200111), “To have experience alone, it would
seem, is not enough. We have to engage in certain thought processes in order to learn
effectively. Sometimes we do this naturally, other times we do not and miss the
opportunity to learn from an experience that may be of importance to our
development”. This is recognised in the Occupational Standards which requires youth
workers to ‘enable young people to use their learning to enhance their future
development’. The standard is about “enabling young people to reflect on their
learning, learning from their experience, and to apply this in other areas of their
lives, establishing goals for their future development”. Youth workers therefore have
a key role in helping young people to reflect back on experience and may use role
models to facilitate this process.

8
Doyle, Michele Erina: On being an educator, Principles and Practice of Informal Education, Linda Deer
Richardson and Mary Wolfe (ed), 2001
9
Wenger, Ettienne: A social theory of learning, Working with young people, Roger Harrison and Christine Wise
(ed), 2005
10
Smith, Mark K: David A. Kolb on experiential learning, InFed 1996, 2001: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-
explrn.htm
11
Blacker, Huw: Learning from experience, Principles and Practice of Informal Education, Linda Deer Richardson
and Mary Wolfe (ed), 2001

3
For example, a young person may have said something inappropriate without realising
they have done so. The youth worker has a responsibility to help the young person to
understand why what they said was inappropriate and the impact it may have on
others. In some cases the youth worker may have made that same mistake themselves
at some point in the past and will be able to discuss what they learnt from the
experience with the young person, thus giving the young person the opportunity to
recognise a negative behavioural example and explore the influence of the youth
worker on their behaviour. Alternatively, the youth worker may be able to direct the
young person to the behaviour of other people, perhaps famous, perhaps local, to help
them to understand why what they said was not appropriate. In other words, the youth
worker can help a young person deconstruct and improve their understanding of role
models, signpost to an appropriate role model, or be a role model themselves in order
to help the young person to learn from that experience.

Practice

Learning from doing is the second aspect of ‘experiential learning’, described by

Mark K Smith (Infed, 1996, 200112) as “the sort of learning undertaken by students
who are given the chance to acquire and apply knowledge, skills and feelings in an
immediate and relevant setting”. An example of this form of learning through youth
work is the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which asks young people to get involved in
a range of activities and projects. All forms of youth work use this form of learning to
a greater or lesser extent.

When running these activities the youth worker can take a number of approaches
dependant on the young person’s experience and confidence. These could be
directive, consultative, or enabling.

With any approach the youth worker has the potential to be role model for the young
people to emulate by demonstrating how decisions should be made. Alternatively the
youth worker can use other people as role models to provide inspiration for ideas for
discussion. The youth worker may find that some of the young people will provide
positive standards of contribution that the rest of the group can be gently encouraged
to follow without overtly putting them on a pedestal. This is known as the “Diffusion
of Innovation Theory” which posits that certain individuals (opinion leaders) from a
given population act as agents of behavioural change by disseminating information
and influencing group norms in their community (Rogers, 198313)”

Community

Similar, but slightly different to the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, the Theory of
Reasoned Action states that one of the influential elements for behavioural change is
an individual’s perceptions of social norms and beliefs about what people who are
important to the individual do or think about a particular behaviour (Fishbein and
Ajzen, 197514). In other words, youth workers can help young people to learn by
creating a learning environment to which the young person can belong and where they
12
Smith, Mark K: David A. Kolb on experiential learning, InFed 1996, 2001: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-
explrn.htm
13
Rogers, E. M. (1983). Diffusion of innovations (3rd ed.). New York: Free Press
14
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and
research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley

4
are surrounded by examples of the attributes, knowledge, values, aspirations and
behaviour that youth workers are looking to pass on and develop.

A learning environment has many facets: physical, emotional, social and political.
One of the ways that youth workers look to influence the emotional, social and
political aspect of the environment is to train ‘peer educators’, ‘mentors’ or
‘befrienders’ from amongst the young people they work with.

In his article (Infed, 200215) Parsons states that “Where youth groups have been
successful it has always been because there have been role models to whom young
people could relate and respond” he goes on to say that “To be a credible role model
to whom others relate it is necessary to share the conditions in which the members of
the group live. Really to understand a person, to give them hope where previously no
hope existed, it is necessary to demonstrate by one’s own life that the problems they
are up against can be overcome; that good can come of evil; that to rise above
seemingly impossible hurdles is achievable.” Parsons goes on to suggest that many
youth workers may not live in the same locality as the young people they work with
and therefore will not have the benefit of shared experience.

Unlike the youth worker who may not necessarily have the shared experience, as
noted by Parson, peer educators are more likely to be seen as role models by young
people as they come from the same background as their peers and because they have
progressed themselves through the youth work process. They therefore have an
intimate knowledge of the benefits and challenges of youth work which they can
demonstrate, embody and be ambassadors for within the group.

Another view of role models depicts them as “cognitive constructions devised by

individuals to construct their ideal or ‘possible’ selves based on their own developing
needs and goals. Rather than focusing on the actions of a prominent person [it]
focuses on the perceptions of the individual. The individual is seen as piecing together
a composite role model from attributes derived from a range of possibilities, both real
and imagined. The emphasis in this view is on an active learning process from
multiple role models, rather than a focus of selecting a particular exemplary person.”
(Donald E Gibson, 200616). This means that where youth workers are aware of a
young person’s needs and goals, they have the opportunity within a youth club’s
learning environment to direct them to individuals within the youth group or in the
wider world who, whilst they may not embody the young person’s ideal, may inspire
them to see how they could learn and develop as an individual.

Identity

Social learning theory asserts that people serve as models of human behaviour and
that some people (significant others) are capable of eliciting behavioural change in
certain individuals, based on the individuals’ value and interpretation systems
(Bandura, 198617).

15
Parsons, Larry: Youth work and the spark of the divine, InFed 2002:
http://www.infed.org/christianyouthwork/spark_of_the_divine.htm
16
Entry in Greenhaus, Jeffrey H., & Callanan, Gerard A. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

5
When thinking about role models, people usually interpret the term to mean a young
person aiming to ‘become’ their role model. Arguably, this is also the reason youth
workers see role models as relatively unimportant in youth work. Informal education,
as we have already noted, is about the process of learning as much as, if not more
than, the end product of who the young person chooses to become. But beyond this,
youth work aims to “enable young people to develop their voice, influence and place
in society and to reach their potential”. In other words, to become empowered
individuals in their own right. There is a risk that in becoming like someone else, a
young person may lose the sense of their own identity – something fundamentally at
odds with the aim and purpose of youth work.

We also need to consider the question of whether a young person’s role model is a
positive or negative influence and therefore worth identifying with. Anton A Bucher
(199718) noted that “Plato mentioned [role model’s] impact in forming moral
consciousness. He warned against bad models, especially gods and heroes in
Homer’s epic poems. Young people would imitate their immoral behaviour and adopt
their immoral values and attitudes”. This concern about the impact of role models on
impressionable young people is frequently mentioned in the media in relation to
today’s celebrities and sports men and women. It is also sometimes mentioned in
reaction to the media itself promoting negative role models for young people to
follow. Concerns have also been highlighted about the influence of local personalities
or family members on impressionable young people. One example of this is the
current debate around young people with a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol, as
highlighted in the Scottish Government’s Hidden Harm and Getting it Right for Every
Child strategies. At the same time it can be argued that in some instances the service
providers delivering the Government’s priorities are themselves not necessarily
modelling acceptable standards of behaviour. It is clear that young people must
untangle a multiplicity of contradictory messages as they look to establish their own
sense of identity.

Finally, there is a concern that by looking to ‘become’ their role model, the young
person may be harbouring unrealistic expectations. Craig (2007 19) states that
“Children often have unrealistic hopes about their futures – few will end up being the
dashing football star, the celebrity singer or model… [youth workers] must remember
that the lives of children and young people are not dominated by their attendance at
school or their engagement with professionals… young people’s hopes are grounded
in their life experience outside school and in their own personal ambitions” Craig
goes on to say that, “ The best teachers are those who help open up a young person’s
ambition and the breadth of their world view and manage to support the young
person’s hope of operating successfully in that expanded world”.

This issue of learning by becoming is one which, potentially, has many risks to the
young person and is hence a particular challenge for the youth worker. Whilst we do
not want to discourage a young person’s ambition, we have a duty to help them to
understand both the positives and negatives of following in another person’s footsteps

17
Bandura, Albert: Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory, Prentice-Hall
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), 1986
18
The influence of models in forming moral identity – international journal of educational research
19
Craig, Carol: Creating Confidence: A handbook for professionals working with young people, Centre for
Confidence and Wellbeing, 2007

6
so that they can decide for themselves what aspect of that person they most admire
and decide whether or not their expectations are realistic. No person, well known or
otherwise, is infallible and young people looking for role models to look up to must
be able to recognise this. Youth workers should help young people in the
deconstruction and understanding of their role models to enable them to use role
models effectively. This may be particularly true where the youth worker themselves
is seen as a role model by the young person.

Utilising Role Models

As youth workers we are committed to improving young people’s lives20 by:

 Building self-esteem and self-confidence.

 Developing the ability to manage personal and social relationships.
 Creating learning and developing new skills.
 Encouraging positive group atmospheres.
 Building the capacity of young people to consider risk, make reasoned
decisions and take control.
 Developing a ‘world view’ which widens horizons and invites social
commitment.

Role models and role modelling can help youth workers to achieve these aims. In the
previous section we looked at the how they link with the informal education practiced
by youth workers. In doing so, we have identified four key ways in which they can be
used:

 Training potential role models

 Signposting to role models
 Being a role model
 Deconstructing and aiding understanding of role models

We have also seen that the use of role models is not a simple one. There are many
situations in which role models could be used but we also need to ask ourselves
whether they are always appropriate. As with all aspects of youth work, we need to
consider the benefits and risks to the young person and to the youth worker
themselves. We need to understand where the young person is coming from and
identify their need and level of self awareness.

We must consider the ethics of the situation and carefully manage the relationship
between the young person and the role model. This is particularly true where the
youth worker or peer mediator - or other young person in a position of responsibility
who is the youth worker’s responsibility - is concerned. As highlighted by Sercombe
(201021), “Youth workers often work in situations of great need, where young people
feel deeply powerless over anything much in their lives. Working with young people to
develop their sense of agency, of being able to make decisions and be active in their

20
Statement on the nature and purpose of youth work, YouthLink Scotland:
http://www.youthlinkscotland.org/webs/245/documents/StatementnatureYW.pdf
21
Sercombe, Howard: Youth Work Ethics, Sage Publications, 2010

7
own lives and their own futures is at the core of the purpose of youth work. Yet the
dynamic of intervention can often generate patterns of relationship in which young
people are dependant on youth workers [or peer educators etc.] for the satisfaction of
a wide range of needs.” This can make the young person more vulnerable and put a
huge amount of responsibility on the shoulders of the role model concerned.

Improper use of role models also has the potential to damage the relationship and trust
between a youth worker and young person. Rose (2004)22 noted that, “Children [and
young people] can be most perceptive, sometimes far more than adults, and will see
through the lack of integrity of any educator. This places tremendous pressure on an
educator to live up to the values and ethos of their school, subject or educational
message. If a particular educator does not live up to this, their power as a role model
is largely diminished. Rejection of the entire message and package is also risked if
children see even the slightest inconsistencies in the role model.”

Despite the risks, Rose nevertheless sees role models as important to education. He
goes on to state that “Role model education thrives in informality – and this is not
always possible or appropriate in a classroom context – although with the right
balance can and will be effective even with this formal teacher student relationship ...
however this is one of the strengths of informal education, with role model education
central to its efficacy.”

The Reflective Practitioner

So far we have explored the benefits and risks of role models to the young person and
touched briefly upon some of the risks to the youth worker themselves. We have also
sought to illustrate the many benefits that effective use of role models can bring to
enabling young people “to develop their voice, influence and place in society and to
reach their potential”23. It is clear that in practice the issue is complex and that there
are no standardised right or wrong answers. This leads us to the importance of
reflective practice when considering role models.

Just as the young people youth workers work with can learn from experience, so can
the youth workers themselves. As we have already seen from Kolb’s learning cycle,
reflection is key to this learning. Dewey (193324) was one of the first to consider the
role of reflective learning. He stated that, “In every case of reflective activity, a person
finds himself confronted with a given, present situation from which he has to arrive at,
or conclude to, something that is not present. This process of arriving at an idea of
what is absent on the basis of what is at hand is inference. What is present carries or
bears the mind over to the idea and ultimately the acceptance of something else.”
Schön’s work on the reflective practitioner built upon Dewey’s. He stated that, “In
each instance, the practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or
confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the
22
Rose, Daniel: the potential of role-model education, InFed 2004:
http://www.infed.org/biblio/role_model_education.htm
23
The Occupational Standards for Youth Work:
http://www.lluk.org/documents/whole_suite_of_Professional_and_National_Occupational_Standards_for_Youth_
Work.pdf
24
Dewey, J: How We Think, New York: D. C. Heath, 1933

8
phenomena before him, and on the prior understandings which have been implicit in
his behavior. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new
understanding of the phenomena and a change in the situation.... He does not keep
means and ends separate, but defines them interactively as he frames a problematic
situation. He does not separate thinking from doing... Because his experimenting is a
kind of action, implementation is built into his inquiry” (Schön 198325). A reflective
practitioner is therefore one that uses experience, knowledge and theoretical
perspectives to guide and inform practice with a view to continuous improvement.
This is built into youth work practice through the National Occupational Standards,
where 5.1.1 requires youth workers to “work as an effective and reflective
practitioner”

Thompson (200526) discussed the importance in reflective practice of relating theory

to practice. He highlighted six steps that can be taken to promote reflective practice:

 Reading: practice based reading can give a broader perspective and greater
insights into people’s work. It can give us the opportunity to learn from each
others’ experiences without travel and use it to enhance our practice.
 Ask: through questioning fellow practitioners about their work and discussing
with them what we have read we can gain further insights on each another’s
practice.
 Watch: much can be learned from the observation of everyday situations,
much of the time we miss significant issues because we treat them as routine
and commonplace.
 Feel: the way people feel in the workplace has a big impact on how they react
and learn. Thought can help us understand feelings and feelings can help to
bring theory to life.
 Talk: sharing views about work situations and how these can be dealt with
encourages a broader perspective and provides opportunities to learn from
each other’s experience, to find common ground and to identify differences of
approach.
 Think: too often routines and pressure present barriers to a thoughtful
approach to practice. We need to be able to think about our actions, and
thinking time should be seen as an essential part of good practice rather than a
luxury.

Whilst these steps can and will take place in youth work settings on a range of issues,
it is unlikely that the ‘role of the role model’ is often reflected upon by many
practitioners. As we have already seen, awareness around role models and how they
link with youth work is limited. We have also seen that there is very little reading
available on role models within youth work practice for practitioners to draw upon.
This presents a barrier to the effective use of role models within youth work.

Conclusion

25
Schön D A: The Reflective Practitioner: how professionals think in action London: Temple Smith, 1983
26
Thompson N: Reflective Practice, Working with young people, Roger Harrison and Christine Wise (ed), 2005

9
This paper has only briefly discussed the various ways, both overtly and subtly, youth
workers can utilise role models and role modelling in informal education. It has also
introduced some of the benefits and risks that such practice can bring.

Although this is a starter paper rather than a full exploration of the issues concerned,
we hope that it has shown how role models can and are integral to youth work. It is
our intention that it will provide food for thought for the sector and stimulate new
debate and discussion around best practice, with a view to encouraging effective use
of role models through reflective practice.

YouthLink Scotland is developing materials to support the effective use of role

models in youth work. Further comments on the role of role models are welcomed
and will form a key part of this work as it moves forward.

What we need to ask ourselves now is: how can we best support youth workers to
use role models to support and educate young people?

Erin Elvin Tim Frew

Senior Research Officer Senior Practice Development Officer
eelvin@youthlinkscotland.org tfrew@youthlinkscotland.org

10
Linking Youth Work and Role Models

Outcomes for the young

people (Nature and
Purpose of Youth Work):
BENEFIT & RISK TO YOUNG PERSON
Increase self-esteem and
The influence of the role self confidence
model: The role of the youth Ability to manage
worker: personal and social
Personal attributes relationships
Knowledge Signpost to role models Learning and new skills
Values Be a role model Positive group
Aspiration Train potential role models atmospheres
Behaviour Deconstruct and aid Capacity to consider risk
understanding of role and make reasoned
models decisions
Widen horizons and
invite social
BENEFIT & RISK TO THE YOUTH WORKER commitment