early experiences January 2015 - January 2017 Space Unlimited Final Report
Space Unlimited Space Unlimited is a social enterprise and charity. Our work supports organisations to work in direct collaboration with young people in order to design and take action together. Our youthled enquiry process is a powerful catalyst for new insights and more collaborative leadership. We are passionate about building resilience – in individuals, within groups and across wider communities. In 2015, with the support of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, we embarked on a new programme, building on several years of experience, to engage young people as active partners in the development of their work-related learning experiences in school.
Aims of the Working Well Programme The high level aims of the work were to improve the educational outcomes and life chances of young people, in particular those most at risk of failing to achieve and progress in the school setting, by: •
Developing young people’s capacity and awareness of themselves as resourceful, resilient, self-directed learners, equipped to adapt to an uncertain future.
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Building young people’s confidence and skills to prepare themselves for their own transition into the world of work.
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Encouraging a shift in the way that educators, employers, parents and others work with young people – and with one another – to support higher levels of engagement, achievement and attainment, both in and beyond the school setting.
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Co-designing and testing new processes with programme participants to support lasting systemic change.
Programme Objectives In the Early Experiences programme we worked with teachers and pupils in 4 schools in South Lanarkshire Council, enabling young people in S1 and S2 to shape relevant and engaging learning experiences that they believed would help them to connect in a meaningful way to the world of work. 58 young people took up leadership roles on the programme; supported by 8 teachers, and a wider group of 561 young people and 24 teachers were directly involved in some aspects of the work.
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Early Experiences Step-by-Step experience in South Lanarkshire Secondary Schools Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Step 4:
Step 5:
Recruitment
Youth-Led
Prioritisation
Action
Review and Plan
Enquiry
forward
Who?
SMT, lead teachers and full S1 year group.
2 teachers 15-20 young people in each school
SMT, lead teachers and student ‘enquirers’
What?
Space Unlimited facilitated a series of workshops for S1s – exploring the different ways in which school prepares young people for life and work.
Each school started with an enquiry question:
Enquiry participants shared their ideas for new learning experiences and agreed on a focus for action (2 or 3 ideas were taken forward in each school initially).
Young people signed up to be part of the enquiry.
How can we better prepare S1s for life and work? Participants explored current reality, future vision and generated ideas for new learning experiences.
Student ‘enquirers’ lead experiences for their wider year group. Over a number of months, young people designed and led new learning experiences for their peers, with support from Space Unlimited and lead teachers.
SMT, lead teachers and student ‘enquirers’ Collaborative discussions to agree how best to ensure the work has a ‘legacy’ in the school including a clear plan of action moving forward.
Headline Outcomes from Early Experiences •
More than 90% of enquiry participants developed new skills and confidence, particularly in speaking, listening, and offering their own ideas and opinions.
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As change-makers, young people identified the benefits of persistence and cooperation, and recognise that they became more skilled at building and sharing ideas with others.
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3 of the 4 schools piloted new work-related learning experiences designed by young people. Each of these was unique, but in every case, young people focused on and valued personal and skills development over more traditional workplace experiences.
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More than 400 young people participated in these new youth-led experiences, and in feedback, the majority said the opportunity helped them think about and express their own needs in relation to work related learning.
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Whilst educators value these experiences for young people and the wider school community, they are concerned that the enquiry work may be difficult to sustain.
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Early Experiences: Summary of outcomes
Young people in secondary schools are designing and trialled more engaging work-related learning experiences for their peers. Ideas into action at Stonelaw The leadership group worked together to design a “Skills Discovery Day” that incorporated elements of all of their ideas. They promoted and delivered full-day workshops for everyone in S1 in June 2016, involving a total of 109 young people in total. Ideas into action at St John Ogilvie A ‘study support group’ run by young people has been piloted in the school and is being developed with the support of S6 students in 2016/17. The group also developed materials and instructions for “Bargain Buyers”, an interactive budgeting experience, that has been piloted in PSE classes and will be integrated within Business Education for S1s in 2016/17. And the group designed and facilitated a team-building day for new S1s in October 2016, in which 182 young people participated. Lesmahagow student’s ideas included…. Ideas into action at Lesmahagow Members of the enquiry group have piloted a ‘paths to maths’ group, and the work to design the PSE block is underway, beginning with a survey, designed by the leadership group to explore the interests and aspirations of their peer group. In the 3 schools that piloted new experiences, teachers and senior management team members tell us that they are impressed both by the quality (and realism) of the ideas and by the resilience of the young people taking them forward in school over a period of months. “I think what has helped these ideas get implemented has been the support they were given from me and the time to consider things and go back and rethink. They would come back to me with their ideas and I’d give feedback. I was able to be open and honest with them. I was, kind of, ‘alongside’ them and was able to inject some realism in to their ideas, without clipping their wings.” (Teacher)
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Enquiry participants can evidence improved communication skills and increased confidence in influencing change
Drawing on examples from across all three schools, the kind of things that young people say they are doing differently include:
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“It showed me new ways to respect others”
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“It has changed the way I think”
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“It’s changed the way I think about the future”
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“I listen more at home and at school”
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“I am more responsible when it comes to school”
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“It’s made me confident to share my ideas”
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“I act better in school and at home now. I can speak to strangers without cowering or being nervous.”
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“I made more friends in school”
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“It’s made me think in more logical ways and it’s made me find different ways to do things”
The experience of the enquiry process is shared across all three schools and young people can articulate clearly the links between their own skills and their influence on work-related learning in their school. Young people have developed skills and confidence by working differently with other young people. They notice the difference in themselves and in others: “I got better at concentrating and I got better at wording things. I was thinking about my answers and how I could say them in a way that would make better sense.” “It showed me that by talking makes it easier for others to talk too. Even if there’s an argument you don’t need to fall out with them. There are more good people around than bad ones.” “I have seen other people get more confidence as they don’t normally say much but they answered questions that I thought they wouldn’t. I noticed some people argue less than they do usually.”
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“I’ve learned how to cope in difficult situations.” Learning to working alongside others, whether or not you know them already or like them is a common theme: “I learned that teamwork, co-operation, respect and communication are really important – that will stick with me after school. If you don’t communicate well, you can’t help people or get to know new people.” “I learned that I have made more friends and I learned that working with people you don’t know can be scary, but it’s really beneficial. I also learned that I have the confidence to ask for help and share what I am thinking at home, with friends and in school.” “….I learned a lot, especially in the hard parts.
Knowing that once I’ve started
something I should finish it, helped me through the difficult parts. I didn’t want to give up. Teamwork, communication and especially listening are important. When I recognised that, I saw that it didn’t always need to be my ideas, let other people have their voice and their ideas were good as well.” “The project pushed us to think and mix more, which is better than just staying with people who just have the same ideas as you.” They can see and express the benefits of persistence and cooperation, including through listening to others and being patient. “We had steps that I didn’t think of and I learned that I shouldn’t just think that things will go the way I expect things to go. I learned that I had to be patient and let people talk as it got a better solution. I realise that doing things that way will help me through life. Patience will help things to come to me. I can do what I put my mind to and before this I didn’t think that.” “It was funny how some people you wouldn’t normally talk or interact with can help you learn. They can give you feedback if you show interest in what they might want to say.”
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“At first I wanted to quit. But then I thought there was no point in starting and not finishing. I kept going because I knew it would make a difference.” They are much more aware of the value of letting others offer their ideas, that it’s better to share your ideas and of the need to not give up when things are difficult. They can see that it’s not always easy or fun and that teamwork is both hard and better than working alone. Some clearly express the idea that it is through sharing ideas and working positively with others that those ideas can become real: “It’s also really important to know how important teamwork is. I had to get better at speaking out and I realise that when I am older and I go to work it will be better if I share my ideas and talk to people. You know like in meetings and stuff. You, kind of get more ideas when you work in a team and if they are shared then they can become real ideas… I understand now that pushing yourself to make something real is really important and helping other people to join in is too.” “I’ve learned that a responsible facilitator doesn’t involve themselves in silly behaviour.”
The teachers are able to offer a perspective on what they notice is different amongst the leaderships groups: “I can see that they’ll come forward and ask for help. They’ll chair meetings and have the maturity to see what they need help with. They’ll ask ‘can we do a bit more of….?’ They have a maturity that I would expect to see in older pupils. They’re developing greater confidence in speaking, listening and other useful skills.” (Teacher) That these outcomes are valued by the young people themselves is perhaps is illustrated by their wish to give other young people in the wider S1 group similar experiences.
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A wider group of S1 students in each school can articulate skills they have developed What is most striking about the experiences that the leadership groups wanted to offer their peers is that, without exception, these focused on the skills development that they themselves experienced and valued through the youth-led enquiry process, namely: •
Self reflection – recognising and valuing your own strengths
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Building positive relationships with others (because this supports both well-being and learning)
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Working constructively in a team (and understanding your own contribution) – speaking, listening and building ideas with others. Building confidence to speak up and offer your opinions.
Very few of the groups considered more traditional experiences where young people meet employers or spend time in the workplace. And when adults were involved, it was not in a traditional way. For example, in the Stonelaw skills development day, the adults did not give formal presentations. Instead young people facilitated a guided discussion where workshop participants could ask the adults about their personal learning journey. Young people leading these new experiences are gathering data about the impact on a wider group of S1 students. The data gathered so far demonstrates that: •
The ‘skills discovery’ experience at Stonelaw helped to build young people’s awareness of the skills they are have that will be important in life and work – and a wider range of skills they might need in the future.
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The teambuilding day at St John Ogilvie was successful in that it largely met the objectives that the young people who designed it set at the outset, namely to build confidence, relationships and team-building skills. “It taught me about my skills and strengths like teamwork and respect” “If I didn’t do this I wouldn’t know what skills I have” “It made me think about me” “I thought about my qualities and experiences” “I’ve learned what I need to work on and what I am good in” “I learned that I can’t only rely on 1 skill – I need more” “I learned that you can’t always depend on yourself – ask others for help” “I learned that I can help people and through that I’m more confident”
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From the Process we have learned that... 1. Young people, aged 12 and 13 are absolutely ready for this kind of leadership experience – they relished it and learned a lot from it. 2. Buy-in from School Senior leadership team and a clear alignment with school improvement plan objectives is key to the success of the enquiry process. 3. Having senior team buy-in enabled us to engage with the whole S1 year group at the beginning of the programme in each school. This wider process helped to build the profile of the work across the school and to set a clear agenda for change. It also enabled a core group of young people to choose for themselves to be part of something that was about their own development and the development of the school. This enabled the participation of young people who would not necessarily have seen themselves as leaders or have naturally been ‘picked’ by teachers: “It was important to give everyone a chance to become involved, otherwise if we’d simply asked at assembly or something like that we get the same faces.” (Teacher) “The young people that continue to be involved are a good cross-section of the whole school.
They’re varied with different attainment levels.
Some are well behaved in
school, some are not. I thought some would struggle, but they seem to have found a wee niche.” (Teacher) 4. Where teachers are able to be ‘in’ the enquiry alongside young people, the process has more impact – in individuals and across the school community – but even committed senior management teams struggle to create space and time ‘off-timetable’ to enable teachers to play this fuller role. And this limits the ‘legacy’ of the work. 5. Educators recognise the value of the enquiry process as a developmental experience for young people, they also value the specific ideas that students offer students, but some of them are uncertain about the sustainability of the process, concluding that youth-led enquiry in schools would be more likely to be sustainable if they were integrated into the school timetable (see Lasting Change section for more on this).
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Reg. Charity No: SCO37607
Reg. Company No: SC306061
with sincere thanks to our delivery partners
this project was funded by
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