News 11/8/08

Supporting Young People to Move On

Cllr James Coleman, Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council, yesterday launched The Transitions to Learning and Work Programme, an exciting pilot programme for young people emerging from ‘looked-after’ situations, including those accommodated by Social Work Services and the criminal justice system.

The programme has been developed by John Wheatley College in partnership with Glasgow City Council and East Glasgow Community Health Partnership to address the needs of young people.

Vocational and core skills learning to looked-after young people

The College has, over the last four years, provided vocational and core skills learning to looked-after young people in their final year of compulsory schooling, enabling them to progress to a range of mainstream programmes (such as Construction, Hospitality and Hairdressing) or on to employment opportunities.  Their experience in this field has inspired staff to develop this new programme to support and engage with young people leaving care who may have significant gaps in their formal education and who may be uncertain of their future career choices.

Supported by additional funding from the Scottish Funding Council of £350,000 for each of the next two years, the Transitions to Learning and Work programme aims to develop vulnerable young people’s self-confidence, providing them with citizenship and employability skills which will help them to make informed choices and progress to further learning, training or employment.

Supporting youthwork

With a significant element of youthwork supporting these young learners, they will benefit from tutoring in Environmental Education, Youth & Sports Leadership, innovative confidence-building approaches including Stand-up Comedy workshops, Internet Broadcasting & Podcasting, Outdoor Activities, Community-based work and, of course, certification for core skills and introductory vocational skills learning in a range of areas.  Key to the project will be the co-ordinated ongoing support available to young people as they progress.

Ian Graham, Principal of John Wheatley College,
Cllr. James Coleman, Deputy Leader of Glasgow
City Council and Chair of East Glasgow Community
Health & Care Partnership and Laurence Howells,
Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council. Cllr. Coleman said: “These vulnerable young people still face a huge number of challenges as they progress towards independent living and, with a proven track record in supporting, training and encouraging learners emerging from looked-after situations, John Wheatley College is ideally placed to deliver this intensive, developmental pilot programme.

“The wide range of activities and skills available will enable the young people to develop their self-confidence and improve their employability, levelling the playing field and helping them to access jobs in an increasingly competitive labour market.  This will prove even more significant in helping them to grasp the opportunities being created by the 2014 Games and the continuing urban regeneration in the East of Glasgow.” 

Laurence Howells, Interim Chief Executive of SFC said:

Over the next two years we will be using £2 million of new grants to support projects like this.  What we learn from them will help to develop approaches which will enable colleges across Scotland to provide dedicated, high-quality learning programmes for young people leaving care and improve their chances of moving on to employment, training or other education programmes.

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