Adapt Projects

 

 

Engaging Young People

Aim

This project will deliver an innovative approach to bring back into learning young people (14-19 year olds) who have dropped out of learning, are not in employment or training, and whose level of basic and key skills is so low as to be likely to lead to a continuing, lifetime economic and social exclusion.

We will pilot local opportunities to engage these young people through informal learning, building on sports and leisure interests.

Lancashire Colleges will work with community workers, voluntary groups and other players to reach this group and share experience of what works.

Objectives

This project will deliver new and innovative programmes to engage in learning disaffected young people, work with them to address basic skills, underpinning attitudinal, personal and other factors that contribute to disaffection, and support their moving back into structured learning.

We will achieve this aim via the following objectives:

•  Organise a briefing workshop to make available the results of UK , US and EU good practice. And we will then make examples of good practice, plus resources to support implementation, available on our website.

•  Bring together the players required to deliver local pilots. These will include College basic skills and outreach workers, community workers and 'influencers', and we will then be resourced to support 5 pilots.

•  Support outreach work, and informal learning, provides advice and guidance. Through this support 252 young people will obtain credits towards awards, 200 will progress to employment/structured learning.

•  Organise a final conference, and prepare an evaluation plus project report.

Activities

We will carry out this innovatory work;

(a) Through carrying out the developmental work to support the project. An initial priority list will be agreed following the workshops including creating a sports based and music based model, plus 'influencer' support materials. This will then be reviewed continually over the lifetime of the project.

This will be achieved;

•  Through an initial LCC/Connexions supported workshop with presentations from Neighbourhood Support Fund and Youthstart pilots
•  Through a dedicated information exchange service on the LCC web site.
•  Through two further workshops and a final report complete with toolkit materials.

 

(b) Through setting up and carrying out local pilots. Each local pilot will submit an operational plan (building on prior developmental/explanatory work] This will identify partnership, milestones, particular target groups, the approaches to be tested and how success will be measured. Delivery will start, via rolling programmes and will continue through the project.

 

•  Engagement, including through community outreach activities around sport, music, IT/Cultural activities.
•  Identification of individual barriers/factors leading to disaffection
•  Construction of a programme based around individually tailored support recognising the need for what CDF ('Background to Youth Disaffection') describe as 'a holistic, person centred approach'
•  Support in addressing basic skills needs, and building self esteem/confidence through recognising achievement, including those demonstrated in sport and music
•  Movement towards employability and participation in structured learning (work or college based) as a next step.
•  Involving young people in design/management of programmes (a key lesson of good practice developed through Youthstart) and community involvement: 'local people who live on the estates have a far more comprehensive and nuanced picture of young peoples activities and needs than youth workers or outside professionals' (Demos, 1999, evaluation of pilot projects).

(c) The work is essentially process related and is designed, to achieve with our target group the eight key principles of ConneXions

•  Raising aspirations
•  Meeting individual need
•  Taking account of young peoples views
•  Inclusion - keeping young people within education and training
•  Partnership of agencies
•  Community involvement
•  Extending opportunity and equality of opportunity
•  Evidence-based practice.

 

(d) A small number of unemployed or part-time employed people will be trained as Sports Leaders/Music Tutors etc. and will work with the disaffected young people.

Outcomes:
NVQ 1/equivalent - full awards or credits towards - 154
NVQ 2/equivalent - full awards or credits towards - 51
NVQ 3/equivalent - full awards or credits towards - 10
All qualifications in sport/music/music technology.

Target Group

Target groups will include:
•  Excluded individuals and communities
•  Persons with literacy/numeracy problems.

Many beneficiaries will face multiple disadvantage, and will be in other priority target groups including:

•  Ethnic minorities
•  Disabled
•  Lone-parents
•  Ex-offenders
•  Homeless

In total 252 excluded young people will be supported.