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

This section includes information on the planning process, including roles and responsibilities, governance arrangements and outcomes of the project.

What staff were involved, what were the roles and responsibilities and how did you involve school staff/teachers?

Edinburgh City Council’s Education Team defined the purpose and boundaries of the project.

Lothian Association of Youth Clubs (LAYC) facilitated the space and time for everyone to come together across different localities. LAYC were instrumental in bringing the Edinburgh practitioners together and ensuring the relevant people were involved. This effectively modelled a holistic, multi-agency approach to planning at all levels.

YouthLink Scotland’s Youth Work and Schools Partnerships Team facilitated the co-design of the process with partners. They collated the data that was gathered through the interview process and supported the ongoing dialogue between partners on how best to respond to the insights and ideas generated.

Youth work teams and teachers, headteachers and deputy headteachers worked together, with support from YouthLink Scotland, to agree on a clear, consistent set of enquiry questions for young people and parents to explore. Youth work teams and schools worked together to identify groups of young people to speak to. Youth workers led on gathering data through conversations with young people and families in the context of their established relationships.

School and youth work partners also participated in focus groups to discuss their perspectives on contextual barriers to learning and school attendance. These were gathered alongside the views of young people, parents/carers. Youth work and school partners were supported to review all the data to consider the “so what?” of their partnership working.

A shared understanding of terminology such as ‘Practitioners’ was helpful for universal application and parity of esteem. The use of ‘practitioner’ included youth workers, teachers and council representatives from the education team. Stakeholders involved in the process were co-designers, although to retain a youth work approach within the project, only youth workers conducted interviews.

What were the key parts of the project that you planned?

LAYC oversaw the strategic organisation of the process. LAYC understood who was operating in the area and understood the local footprint and context.

The Director of LAYC instigated the involvement of YouthLink Scotland as an objective and impartial stakeholder in the process. YouthLink Scotland also provided a national perspective and contributed a wealth of knowledge and expertise on effective practice and approaches.

To promote authenticity when gathering pupil voice, the project employed a youth work approach. This positively positioned the role of youth work and helped to raise its profile across the city of Edinburgh.

Expectations and outcomes were initially presented as part of a proposal paper, which were discussed during conversations between LAYC and Edinburgh City Council. Time commitments and roles and responsibilities were set out in grant agreement paperwork.

Headteachers and youth work managers worked together to agree on an overarching enquiry question that felt relevant to their context. They also co-designed the interview framework and questions that youth workers undertook with young people and families. This required time and tenacity to achieve.

One to one sessions were carried out with partners as part of a whole systems approach to the design and delivery of services, rather than operationally with children and young people.

What were the shared expectations with school and what were your outcomes?

The shared ambition of the project was to hear the voices of young people who face barriers to engagement and attendance in school, and the voices of their parents/carers to:

increase the understanding of young people’s experiences as learners in their schools and local communities

inform support strategies in school and effective partnership working between community-based youth work and schools to meet the needs of young people and their families

ensure resources are effectively deployed to maximise outcomes

Outcomes from the project are still emerging, however initial information has been synthesised and shared with:

Participating youth workers and school partners

Community Planning partners

Children’s Services Partnership

Community Learning and Development Partnership

Edinburgh’s Whole Family Wellbeing programme

As a result, the information shared with partners is informing strategic planning in each of these contexts.

Furthermore, the collaborative enquiry approach is informing service redesign of a localised network that offers early intervention and tailored support to families. This includes helping young people overcome barriers to engagement and learning in school. Feedback from young people and parents has highlighted the difference that youth work can make to young people's wellbeing and engagement in learning. This has affirmed the importance of youth work as a valuable part of a ‘Team around the Community Approach.’

How was the project managed?

The project established a clear purpose, and clarity of roles and responsibilities, from the outset. However, there was no rigid governance structure. There were regular meetings with the core group and regular communication with those involved. There were key milestone points and meetings with different groups. It was important to respond to what was being heard from partners to ensure the process was collaborative and, to some extent, iterative. It was important that all practitioners had an equal voice in shaping the project’s response. This ensured fidelity to the overall purpose and outcomes of the work.