Life skills gained by young people through the performing arts : implications for youth workers

Abstract

The main aim of this dissertation is to focus on the life skills young people gain from the performing arts and how youth workers can utilise these artistic mediums in their day-to-day work. This research addresses the lacuna evident in academic literature as revealed by the limited amount of studies available on youth workers using the performing arts in their work. After an extensive research through several journals, online search engines, and websites, only 6 journal articles were deemed relevant to the area under study. The data yielded from this secondary data analysis was explored further by using Braun & Clarke’s (2006) reflexive thematic analysis approach. The analysis highlights 6 main life skills that are learnt through the performing arts, which were then compared to the skills implemented by youth workers. The study concludes that youth workers should consider using the performing arts in their work to transfer these life skills to young people in line with Malta’s National Youth Policy.