Validated through Open College Network Oxford, Thames & Chiltern

Engage! - The National Certificate in Christian Youth Work - has been created by the Centre for Youth Ministry in order to meet the needs of the large number of people who are involved in youth work and/or youth ministry and who want to learn more about it.

The course has been running in its present form for seven years and over that time around 400 learners have passed through the course, many achieving passes in all eight modules at Level 3 and the award of the "National Certificate in Christian Youth Work"

For some time now, we have been anxious to revise the course and achieve two key changes:

• For the course to be available online as well as through the workbooks, and for resources to be available online in order to keep the material 'up-to-date';
• For the course to enable learners to gain the "Youth Support Worker" qualification, which is recognised by the profession through JNC (Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Work). This would put the course in the National Qualifications Framework and potentially enable those with the award to be paid at a higher rate if employed by a Local Authority in a youth work setting.

If you are an existing learner then...

Original Engage is still available for existing learners and some new learners, depending on venue options, through the academic year 2007/2008. Some new admissions will go straight onto New Engage. Original Engage training days will be arranged so as to have run out in the current format by the end of the academic year 2008/2009.

Original Engage Learners can still complete the workbooks and send them in for assessment. If you want to stay with Original Engage and wish to complete the course using a new Unit Day, then the Module Workbooks for Original Engage will be sent to the training day for you, rather than the new Unit Handbooks which the New Engage learners will receive. We expect Original Engage to be available until August 2009, at which point New Engage will have replaced the original format. For assessment purposes those completing Original Engage, you will need to have submitted work for final assessment by 31st December 2009.

New Engage consists of 6 Units of Learning with corresponding handbooks for each Unit. New Engage learners can either work at level 2 or level 3, as with original Engage, but for learners working consistently at level 3, there will be the opportunity to gain the Youth Support Worker qualification.