City & Guilds Proud to Support London Youth's Quality Mark Scheme

City & Guilds, the biggest name in UK vocational education, has offered its support to London Youth’s co-owned Quality Mark scheme. This is the first step in a six month recognition process that will result in a full endorsement in early 2010. 

Quality Mark supports member youth clubs through a series of stages to achieve accredited quality standards. The aim is for clubs to become recognised as centres of excellence in youth work, establishing and growing good youth work across the network. Crucially, the model uses young people as assessors in order to accurately gauge the quality of services. 

Successful clubs are awarded a gold, silver or bronze depending on their quality. At present, 23 of London Youth’s member clubs have been awarded a bronze or higher.

Gary Hartin, London Youth’s Head of Performance Improvement, said -

“This is fantastic news and represents a major milestone in our own quality journey at London Youth. 

“We believe very strongly in the ability of Quality Mark to improve services for young people but know that accreditation by a recognised body is essential to broaden its appeal.  

“City & Guilds is an incredibly well respected organisation and its support represents a major step towards this goal. 

“We look forward to working with them over the next 6 months on this very exciting project.”

Stephen Hill, City & Guilds’ Senior Manager for Policy and Regulation, Assessment and Quality, said –  

“City & Guilds fully supports London Youth's introduction of a quality mark framework.  

“This exciting development will help their participating members demonstrate the quality service they provide while actively managing a process of continuous improvement.  

“Expertise from both organisations is being utilised to ensure a recognised quality mark, operating to the highest standards.  

“City & Guilds is proud to be associated with this valuable project which has the potential to bring many benefits, both to youth organisations and those using their services”