new spaces for leadership and learning April 2017 Space Unlimited Final Report
Contents
Context and Aims
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Programme Outcomes
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Sustainable Approaches to Local Youth Engagement …………………………………...09
Stories from Participants
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context and aims
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Space Unlimited Space Unlimited is a social enterprise and charity, based in Glasgow, working across the UK. Our work is all about creating space for change. We have pioneered youth-led enquiries as a catalyst for fresh insights and more collaborative leadership, particularly in education, employability and regeneration. New Spaces for Leadership and Learning is a Space Unlimited programme supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation in partnership with Govanhill Housing Association, Govanhill Community Development Trust, New Gorbals Housing Association and Glasgow Life.
Context In Scotland, there is a deepening commitment to local cross-sector, assets-based approaches to addressing entrenched health and socio-economic inequalities in communities, underpinned by legislation (Community Empowerment Act 2015) and the distribution of new government funding such as the Community Choices Fund (2016), Pupil Equity Fund (2017), Aspiring Communities Fund (2017) designed to ‘strengthen and empower’ Scotland’s most deprived communities, tackle the attainment gap and ‘enable inclusive growth’. It’s understood that young people are important stakeholders in these issues, but as changemakers and community-builders they remain, too often, an untapped resource in their own local communities. We want to influence assets-based practice, helping to build capacity – and motivation - within the system to get ‘beyond consultation’ with young people, so that more of them (particularly those who would not see themselves as natural leaders) can be changemakers in their own right – in schools, in communities and in other organisations in which they have a stake.
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Aims of the Approach Through our New Spaces for Leadership and Learning programme, Space Unlimited is developing a youth-led enquiry approach that enables young people to work alongside their schools, local youth service providers and community anchor organisations to establish new services and opportunities for young people in their local communities that address the attainment gap. Our high level goals are to:
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Encourage young people, as school students and as citizens, to become more active participants in influencing and initiating change in their communities.
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Build collaborative capacity in communities, and among young people in particular, to sustain a dialogue about their shared needs and aspirations.
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Break down artificial boundaries between schools and their communities and open up rich learning that draws on the diverse assets within communities.
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Identify the links between such experiences and pupil achievement/ performance in school in ways and thereby support the design of a more relevant curriculum that genuinely prepares young people for life and work.
The New Spaces Programme in Gorbals and Govanhill We have been working in two Glasgow communities - Gorbals and Govanhill for more than 2 years, in order to: •
Build the confidence and capacity of young people to create opportunities in their communities to support them as learners.
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Co-design a model for sustainable youth leadership and engagement in Gorbals and Govanhill that might be replicable in other communities.
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programme outcomes
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Outcomes for young people: personal development, achievement and attainment: In both Gorbals and Govanhill, there is evidence that a growing number of young people are developing their confidence and capacity to create opportunities for young people in their communities. A total of 196 young people have been involved in the programme over the last year, 86 in leadership roles. Some of the original ideas from phase 1 of the programme did not come to fruition – others flourished. A growing number of additional ideas are also being actioned and developed with young people in both communities – e.g. Mini Masterchefs, Gorbals Gets Creative, Gorbals Sports Day, Superstars (in collaboration with Citizens Theatre), Flower Power, Woodwork Club, DIY survival skills, Peer Support Group. 76% of 86 young people involved in developing and actioning ideas across both communities over the last year say they feel more confident to offer ideas and opinions and share these with others in their community: They identify a range of other skills and qualities they have developed that are directly and indirectly linked to their achievement and attainment in school: “I am more confident to speak in front of an audience” “This is useful, for if I get a job when I am older, I will be able to work with other people” “I am able to solve problems and not just give up” “I learned it was alright just to be me” “When I think about the whole experience of planning an event I realise I have learnt some things. I learned how to budget, to get better at communicating with others.” Over the last year, we worked collaboratively with educators in schools in Gorbals and Govanhill to evaluate educational outcomes for young people in a new range of ways:
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Primary school teachers tracked and recorded progress towards the achievement of e: info@spaceunlimited.org
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specific curricular learning objectives at Level 2 of Curriculum for Excellence, including identifying opportunities for young people to practise and consolidate specific skills. •
Secondary school teachers tracked and recorded progress towards the achievement of SCQF accredited qualifications.
In Gorbals, participating staff agreed that the programme provided important opportunities for personal development and achievement. For example
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Exploring and describing the impact their own actions are having on others – and the impact of others’ actions on them.
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Identifying and talking about different emotions they experience – and how they express and deal with these.
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Reflecting on their contribution to a team, identifying what they – and their fellow team members – could have done better.
In Govanhill key development areas for young people were:
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Preparing and delivering effective, timely presentations.
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Generating ideas for projects, clarifying benefits and risks.
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Project and resource planning and budgeting.
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Reflecting on their contribution to a team, identifying what they – and their fellow team members – could have done better, and what has been learned as a result.
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sustainable approaches to local youth engagament
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Building sustainable approaches to support local youth engagement in community development Together with young people and local partners in Gorbals and Govanhill, we have now tested three different processes to engage young people as community-builders:
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Youth led event design and delivery.
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Integration of Young People into existing Housing Association/ Development trust management structures.
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A structured ‘Community Shapers’ programme, co-designed with young people to regularly engage new groups of young people and hear and develop their ideas in the community. Early engagement happens in the school setting – and once the young people have developed their ideas, community youth workers work alongside young people and connect them to people and resources that enable them to move forward with these.
Youth-led event design and delivery has proved to be an effective way of engaging young people for a short time to create and event that interests them. Over the course of the last year, young people in both communities have designed and run successful events.
In Gorbals,
young people have also designed and undertaken a community event consultation. However, no structured or sustainable approach for youth-led events planning has been established in either community as a result of this programme. Community partners recognise the benefits of engaging young people in existing management structures, but they have found it very challenging to support this in practice and notice too, that it engages only a small number of high-achievers, rather than a genuine cross section of young people in their communities. The structured ‘Community Shapers’ programme shows real promise:
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Schools, Community Anchor Organisations and local youth organisations are natural partners – the Community Shapers project model provides a structure and a process to build relationships over time, and draws on the strengths of each.
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Starting the process in school enables engagement with a very diverse group of young e: info@spaceunlimited.org
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people – and provides the opportunity to target specific age groups. •
Partnership with schools at the outset creates opportunities to track longer-term impact on achievement and attainment.
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Local youth workers and Community Anchor Organisations can help connect young people with local ‘sponsors’ of their ideas and support longer-term engagement.
Young people are happy to see their ideas happening on the ground. They feel listened to, and are building relationships that are supporting them as learners: "I used to hold back a bit when I had something to say. I don’t hold back as much now. “The youth workers helped me to talk more and share what opinions I had. They were good at asking me questions that helped me to think about things.” “It makes me happy that we are getting to do this. I thought it would have taken ages to get going but it hasn’t taken ages.” “It is a bit weird really because we usually go to things that are normally someone else’s idea, like clubs and things” “I know more people in the community. The relationships with the pupils and all the adults have been better by doing this project.” Youth workers (who worked alongside Space Unlimited to deliver the Community Shapers project in Gorbals) tell us they feel skilled and confident to support aspects of youth-led enquiry in their organisations and community: “I think we’d need some help to structure and plan sessions, but we could run them ourselves after that” “We need help from Space Unlimited to design, evaluate and learn as much as we can from being part of doing youth work in this way.”
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Young Participant (name withheld) Aged 13, Gorbals It felt good to be part of the youth-led events planning group. I liked that I could lead something that might help other young people in the Gorbals. It was great to share ideas, get ideas from other young people then plan stuff…. I also got to talk to lots of different people at events to hear what they thought. I felt really happy doing this, especially when we did the questionnaire. We got some good ideas and it helped me to know that we really were going to do this for real. I think I was happy because even though we were doing all this work I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out brilliant. When I think about the whole experience of planning an event I realise I have learnt some things. I learned how to budget, to get better at communicating with others. I used to hold back a bit when I had something to say. I don’t hold back as much now. The youth workers helped me to talk more and share what opinions I had. They were good at asking me questions that helped me to think about things. I think youth-led planning is good because you need to know different young people’s ideas. Not just the adult’s ideas. I don’t mean that in a bad way it’s just better if the adults just listen so we can tell them what we need.
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Young Participant (name withheld) Aged 15, Govanhill When [my teacher] told me I could get involved in the project I thought it sounded interesting. I was hopeful that we would actually change Govanhill and make it a better place. I felt safe in the group, when we went out to take photographs of the community, because I had built up trust with the other young people in the group and with Owen and Gill. Now my view of the community has changed, people here just need someone to guide them in the community. Like if we give them ideas of how to make this area better then they will, they just don’t know what needs done just now. I can talk about the environment and safety to adults and young people in the community now, I would have been too afraid to do that before. Before this started I felt that I was just a normal kid, no role to play in the community. That’s changed now, I feel like I am responsible to make changes to the community.
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Part Of The Community A Youth Worker’s Story I’m from Gorbals and always saw myself as part of the community, attending the youth group Way to go Café, where I now volunteer as an adult. I’m studying Working With Communities at college and hope to continue in community development. This was a different experience to what I’m used to, rather than delivering activities for the young people we had to let them generate their own ideas. It was good to see the young people follow their ideas and doing it for themselves, they can be proud of what they achieved. Although it’s not for everybody, it’s good to try something new. I learned to give the young people a chance to decide for themselves rather than deciding and doing it for them. The experience puts it in to context when I’m at college now, what working with communities really is. I will continue to work as a youth worker in Gorbals and contribute to the community. I hope the young people’s ideas go ahead, so they have a sense of achievement that their ideas worked.
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Michael Fullerton Community Co-ordinator New Gorbals Housing Association The Space Unlimited community shapers programme in Gorbals has been positive, and provided opportunities for young people to develop ideas and lets young people engage with local services to provide a programme of activities that meet their needs. There are already some great youth work activities taking place in Gorbals but the community shapers programme has provided an opportunity with St Francis Primary School to engage with young people who may not be part of anything locally and hear their views and ideas, working with a diverse group to progress new ideas.
David Zabiega Sustainable Communities Co-ordinator Govanhill Community Development Trust In communities where young people are often viewed negatively, Space Unlimited see only innate potential. They help young people realise their skills, strengths and abilities plus their ability to identify solutions and bring positive change. Staff give young people space and time, carefully building relationships and trust‌. In Govanhill we are already seeing the impact of Space Unlimited’s approach through youth-led activity, but specifically in young local residents whose skills are being developed so effectively.
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Reg. Charity No: SCO37607
Reg. Company No: SC306061
with sincere thanks to our delivery partners
this project was also funded by space unlimited... it can change minds. Space Unlimited 42 Nithsdale Road Glasgow G41 2AN t: +44 (0) 141 424 1403 e: hello@spaceunlimited.org www.spaceunlimited.org