For the past 20 years, youth services in England have increasingly articulated their work in terms of curriculum, yet youth work academics have consistently maintained that a youth work curriculum is anathema. This paper argues that youth work necessarily has a curriculum; however, it is not the formal school curriculum, nor is it explicitly focused on either the efficient transmission of knowledge or the successful achievement of pre-specified outcomes, rather it is based on the "process" of learning. The explicit articulation of the process of youth work through a curriculum promotes and sustains its unique practice against the external threats of unfavourable government policy. While the curriculum debate is unique to the English youth services, it is believed that it offers important lessons for the articulation of youth work in other settings. (Contains 3 endnotes.)