Live Argyll - Community Learning Service Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 28 August 2024
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group — 28 August 2024 and its agenda
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Community Learning Services update - Celebration Day Event for Adult Learners In May over 60 Adult Learners came together in Inveraray from across the different areas of Argyll and Bute to celebrate their learning achievements but more importantly to have the opportunities to travel out with their local areas and to meet up with other Adult learners. The day consisted of a variety of activities which included creative learning designed for all learners to participate in and encourage social interaction and communication. This, helps learners grasp the bigger picture and become more focused and inspired on what they want from their Learning journey and encourages “Voice participation”. “Hear My Story” - Some Learners shared personal experiences and were extremely nervous, it took a lot of courage and determination to speak and share their learning journeys including barriers and challenges some have faced over the years. By attending and being supported through Community Based Adult Learning they have been able to move forward and address some of the challenges they have and still are facing today. Learning is not always about learning a subject matter; other factors have an impact such as Health and Wellbeing, Poverty, unemployment, social isolation and a lack of confidence amongst others. To hear these heart-warming stories was empowering for the learners telling them and the learners listening to them. (We have captured them on recordings and photographs and can share them through other channels). One Adult learning project in Oban is a Music project in Partnership with Hope Kitchen it supports and is inclusive to all people including the homeless, people with alcohol & drug addictions and mental health issues, who need a safe place providing food, shelter and made to feel welcome. Adults can learn to play an instrument or join in through singing. This can be in a group or solo for new and experienced and for those who are not sure but might want to give it a go or just listen. The project’s aim is to address social isolation, health and wellbeing and improve on learning new skills. Some of the learners took to the “stage” and provided the afternoon’s entertainment sharing their own learning by performing as a “band” and also giving solo performances with a finale of a sing- along for all adult learners to join in they even brought along song sheets they had made. Learners had the opportunity to meet others and talk about their experiences and share with us through feedback and evaluative comments how they felt and about the support and provision they received. This was collated during the day and turned into a “Wordle” which all received a framed copy of it along with other “take home” goodies (One of the activities was to create and design their own bags) which they all did and were able to put the bag to use to carry home the momentums of the day. The learners provided positive evaluations and they felt valued and believed that their participation made the event more inclusive. They reported increased self-esteem, confidence, and new friendships. It is vital to create safe, inclusive spaces for learners to work together, share and be creative. Learner involvement is a fundamental principle of CLD practice and this is emphasised in Quality Indicator “Developing the learning offer with learners”. We are promoting Adult Learning Forum/s across Argyll and Bute to encourage the aim of the learners’ voice and the opportunity of expressing their views on adult learning provision. We wanted to increase opportunities for adults to influence our service and to develop the Learner Voice in a more formal way.
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Community Learning Services – Youth Services School Partnership Programmes Youth Service Leads work in Schools and Partnership programmes which collaborate with the Scottish Government and other Scottish Attainment Challenge partners to promote the role of youth work in closing the poverty-related attainment gap. We share best practices, support practice development and gather evidence of the impact of youth work on attainment. In Argyll and Bute in school session 2023-24, Community Learning extended its partnerships with secondary schools significantly. To support the Education Service in broadening the curriculum and offering as wide a range of attainment and achievement possibilities. Community Learning has enabled the achievement of over 450 accredited awards and nearly 500 other awards across eight secondary schools. . Engagement with schools will continue in 2024-25. The chart below highlights two areas: 1) The total accredited, recognised qualifications that were achieved by young people. 2) The total number of young people who have actively participated in and accomplished wider learning opportunities. SQA – Scottish Qualifications Agency DYA – Dynamic Youth Award Community Learning looks for all opportunities to assist a young person to maximise on their attainment and achievements: e.g. a young Person achieving an SQA in Young Leadership potentially can also achieve a Dynamic Youth Award and a Saltire Award at the same time. 637 451 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Number of young people engaging in wider achievement opportunities through CL Number of young people achieving nationally recognised Awards through CL - SQA/DYA/SALTIRE/Hi5's Youth Services CL liveArgyll 01/04/23 -31/04/24 ages 12 -18yrs
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