Collaborative Rights-based Approach to Improving Attendance and Learning Outcomes in School Communities - Edinburgh City Council

The ‘Collaborative Rights-based Approach to Improving Attendance and Learning Outcomes in School Communities’ is a multi-agency project, taking place in urban areas within Edinburgh City. It is a whole systems approach involving representatives from different parts of the education system who work with young people struggling to attend school who also have established relationships with youth workers.  

The overall purpose of the project is to improve how practitioners engage with children and young people to improve their attendance. Specifically, the project seeks to hear from young people in P5-S3 to shape options for support and how it is provided. It combines multi-agency workshops and one to one interviews, facilitated by youth workers, to ensure the voices of children, young people and their families are heard. The project is time limited, with clearly defined start, middle and end points. So far, the approach has been trialled in three learning communities in Edinburgh, resulting in a blueprint which can be replicated in other parts of the city.  

Almost all of the funding for this project came from the Strategic Equity Fund, which is a strand of Attainment Scotland Funding. The project is sustainable as it builds positive relationships to support learning that will continue to develop beyond the scope of the programme. It enables schools to hear from more disengaged families and young people through a partnership with youth work and informs the future development of effective youth work and schools partnerships.