Leadership Story: Julia Swallow Edwards

Lecturer: Youth and Community Work, Cardiff School of Education and Social Policy, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Who or what inspired you to be a leader in Wales?

I have been very fortunate to have had leaders that have inspired me throughout my youth work career. Their approach, charisma, support, patience, willingness to share their experiences and mentor me, and their belief in me, inspired me to progress in my own leadership career.

Matt Cousins, my first Senior Youth Worker demonstrated a commitment to the pillars of youth work and truly participatory approaches with his staff and young people alike. Gillian Wilde encouraged me to undertake my teacher training and eventually my Degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Youth and Community Work and Louise Cook inspired me to give lecturing a try!

Ben Arnold and Joanne Sims believed that I could lead a team of youth workers based in schools, and with their encouragement and support I completed my ILM and the project I led went from strength to strength. Effective management and leadership doesn’t happen in isolation – it is dependent on those you have around you, your partners, team and mentors.

What continues to inspire me every day is young people. They deserve the best education, which I strongly believe needs to be a balance of both formal and informal learning opportunities. They can only receive this is we have highly trained, quality, resilient leaders in the education workforce in Wales and beyond.

What do you actively do to inspire and support the next generation of leaders?

Following a 26-year long career in Youth and Community Work as a practitioner and leader, I joined Cardiff Metropolitan University as a full time Youth and Community Work Lecturer in 2022. It has been a privilege to develop and teach the management and leadership-based modules to students, who are out next generation of sector leaders.

When practicing as a youth worker, leading teams and now teaching, I use a ‘head, heart and hands’ approach (Pestalozzi, 1800) to inspire and support staff and now students. My hands are practical tools – used to create the resources, head for knowledge, learning and to recall my experiences that I share and my heart to create a safe space, demonstrate empathy and nurture our future leaders.

As a leader, how do you model prioritising your own well-being as an example to staff?

I started running several years ago, to improve my own mental health and well-being. I have never been fast (proud member of team plodders, currently training for Snowdon Marathon) and am often in the last 5% to cross the finish line – but I cross it and I am always pleased with a new medal to add to my collection. I have shared with staff and now students that my time is when I run and encouraged them to think about how they can prioritise their own well-being – no one can pour out of an empty cup.

With a counselling background, I am also a huge advocate for supervision. Regular professional supervision is an integral part of the National Occupational Standards in Youth Work and this is explored in depth in one of the modules I currently teach. I am pleased to see this is becoming more common practice in other education sectors, it is so important to have a safe space to offload, focus on well-being and the development of self-awareness.

What book/professional learning opportunity/piece of research have you recently utilised to inform your leadership practice?

Undertaking my master’s research, focusing on the value of youth work in schools was a huge learning curve for me and really changed my view of the formal education system, the pressures Senior Leadership Teams and teaching staff face and how I could better support the Youth Workers on the team I led, working in formal education setting. I am more aware of the complexities of partnership working, but also the opportunities that effective multiagency working can provide to young people, that organisations simply could not offer when operating in silo.

This research prompted me to explore opportunities for partnership and multi agency working when training staff. In partnership with the policing degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University we have been piloting multi-agency CPD sessions with students from the policing and the Youth and Community Work Degree, with the aim of exposing them to this way of working early on so it becomes the norm before they graduate.

What has been a career highlight for you during your time as a leader in Wales?

Oddly enough, when young people succeed and no longer need their youth worker anymore! This is when the team know they have done their job.

I have been privileged to support teams that have worked with thousands of young people across South East Wales, providing them with opportunities for new experiences, building their confidence and self esteem and being whatever they needed at that particular moment in time. More recently, attending graduation and watching our students walk across the stage with beaming smiles is simply magic. These are our future leaders, supporting our young people and being part of their journey is a privilege.

How have you connected and collaborated with peers beyond your own organisation to have an impact on the wider system?

Leading a successful youth work in schools project across Blaenau Gwent was highly dependent on effective collaboration with schools, alternative education and wider support services including housing, health and social services to meet the ever-changing needs of young people. Having a knowledge and understanding of government policies and initiatives, including the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework (which was implemented in Blaenau Gwent) and putting my MA research into practice meant we could really have an impact on some of the deep routed issues impacting young people, particularly following the Covid pandemic.

Similarly, piloting partnership / multi agency CPD sessions for different disciplines in Higher Education provides us with a unique opportunity to embed this way of working and therefore have an impact on wider systems. Particularly, as so many serious case reviews identify the lack of multi agency working as a contributing factor.