CASE STUDY
For #YouthWorkWeek, we're sharing a brilliant example of what can happen when youth work, community partnerships and meaningful learning experiences come together.
Sometimes young people don't need to be told what they are capable of. They need the opportunity to discover it for themselves. That's exactly what this project demonstrates.
A golf range. A bike lending hub. A community. A youth organisation. A school. A network of opportunities. And young people discovering skills, confidence and possibilities they might never have imagined.
St Paul's Youth Forum runs a social enterprise where the community can borrow bikes and get them repaired. Situated beside a wetlands area with an extensive network of cycle paths, and in a community experiencing significant deprivation, the enterprise creates a practical entry point for learning.
Through its partnership with Golf It! and the R&A's Fairways to Learning initiative, young people can explore an extraordinary range of experiences: learning to ride, repairing bikes, greenkeeping, facilities management, golf education, volunteering and enterprise. Schools refer pupils who are interested and provide ongoing support and follow up, either back at school or as part of supporting their next steps.
But the real magic isn't just in taking part in Fairways to Learning. It's in what happens when those experiences are combined with the Youth Achievement Awards.
Young people plan, do and reflect. They recognise their progress, gather evidence of their wider achievements and work alongside youth workers to understand the skills they are developing. Learning becomes visible. Achievement becomes meaningful. And new possibilities begin to emerge.
For some, that might lead to a Modern Apprenticeship in greenkeeping or employment in the golf industry. For others, it is discovering a completely new talent and taking it somewhere unexpected.
Ken Robinson famously challenged us to think differently about human talent and the limitations imposed by traditional education systems. https://www.facebook.com/reel/2140206116855598
Too often, young people are left believing they aren't good at anything simply because they haven't yet found the opportunity to discover what they're good at within the academic focus of the school system.
Youth work challenges that assumption.
So, for #YouthWorkWeek, a huge shout-out to the young people, youth workers and partners supporting young people to achieve #amazingthings. You are helping young people discover not just what they can do, but who they can become.
And that is worth celebrating.
Thanks to Ricky Baxter (St Paul's Youth Forum); Ian McDonald (R&A consultant - Catch the Light) and George Cherrie (formerly Youth Scotland). A special thanks to George Cherrie who just this week begins his retirement after many years of supporting youth engagement in youth awards.
#AmazingThings #YouthAchievementAwards #AwardsNetwork #PartnershipWorking #SkillsForLife #LearningByDoing
It reminds us that you can recognise achievement without exams. To achieve this, young people need a chance to explore, and find their own way.
When partnerships work, when communities invest, and when we take seriously the importance of recognising learning in all its forms - amazing things happen.
Using Youth Awards to Discover What We’re Good At
The non-formal approach, creates space beyond the school gates to explore, experiment, make mistakes, develop relationships and discover new possibilities.
It recognises that learning happens everywhere, there are opportunities in your local neighbourhood, that skills develop through experience, and that achievement takes many different forms, and works best where this is achieved through local partnership working.
Take the Plunge! Search our database of awards to find out more about what's offered by our Awards Network members
