Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2016
I compliment the opening speakers on their briskly delivered speeches.
In the past few years, a number of strategies have been launched in Scotland concerning young people’s employability and skills development, of which the Wood report and the youth employment strategy have been the most high profile. I compliment all those involved, including the Scottish Government, for the support, encouragement and leadership that they have shown. The debate has proven useful to discuss the wider context in which young people develop those capacities and it is a welcome opportunity to congratulate the sizable number of young people and adults who are involved in youth work in Scotland.
I noted with interest the figures in the YouthLink Scotland briefing, which said that national youth work organisations are engaging with more than 380,000 young people in Scotland, who are supported by some 80,000 adults, many of whom work on a voluntary basis. That is a significant number of people and it demonstrates the importance of getting our national strategy for youth work right.
I also like the Volunteer Scotland study, which found that 45 per cent of young people volunteer, compared with 27 per cent of adults. Would that that acted as an incentive to the many adults whose voluntary contribution would be valued, whatever their age.
Much of the work that goes on is helped by Big Lottery Fund awards. The young start grants programme has made 393 grants, which total more than £16.5 million. Of course, there will always be demand for more.
We heard many examples from Cara Hilton and other members of how transformative youth work can be for young people. I think that all members have experience in that regard—it is one of the more energising engagements that MSPs have.
Without quantification, it can be challenging to capture what is going on at a national level, and there is a tension in that regard, because there is a desire to avoid youth work being seen as a box-ticking exercise. To some extent, the position can be demonstrated by quantifying the growth in the number of young people who achieve awards. I was impressed to learn from the Education Scotland report that the Duke of Edinburgh’s award has grown by 82 per cent in the past five years. The award is one of the most well-known, deeply respected and long running extra-curricular awards that a young person can gain. I was also impressed that the number of John Muir awards has increased by 68 per cent, no doubt because of the John Muir Trust’s efforts to reach out to pupils in a wide range of schools and its booklets on how the award complements many parts of the curriculum for excellence.
When the national youth strategy was launched in 2014, my colleague Liz Smith said that hard and fast evidence was needed on what works in youth work policy, so that resources can be channelled in the most effective way. I am not sure that we are further forward on having that information to hand. Moreover, there must be a focus on ensuring that employers have a full awareness of the outcomes and what is involved when a young person achieves an award, if awards are to contribute meaningfully to employability. Let us not forget that many of the highest awards are gained during the most challenging academic years in a young person’s schooling.
I will finish on a slightly truculent note. I express my dismay at the clown in the Administration—whoever that was—who categorised participation in cadet schemes as preparation to be “cannon fodder”. I am sure that that sentiment is not shared and would not be expressed by either of the ministers in the chamber. I was educated at a school that has a war memorial trust, and I can say that the experience had quite the opposite effect on me, giving me a lifelong appreciation of volunteering and a determination to ensure that anyone who serves in the armed forces is never, ever put in the position of being cannon fodder.
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