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

How often did it run? 

 The project consisted of six steps, which were completed over a six month period. Each of the learning communities established their own programme of engagement, which looked different from week to week and month to month. There was no fixed timetable of delivery. 

How long did it run for? 

The project ran for approximately six months. The implementation of actions, as a result of the findings, will take longer. 

What space/location did you use? 

Most of the interviews with young people and families took place in community youth work settings. 

Partners involved in the project conducted planning online to make best use of everyone’s time. Practitioners also participated in occasional face to face meetings for key workshops. 

How many individuals were normally involved? 

Partner organisations and individuals involved included:  

• three high schools and associated primary schools in the cluster 

• eight community based Third Sector youth work organisations 

• the local authority’s youth work team 

• 72 young people interviewed 

• 11 Parents/carers interviewed

The project is a partnership involving community-based youth work organisations, schools, parents and young people. It aims to inform effective partnership working between youth work and schools so that young people who face barriers to engagement and school attendance can access the support they need.  

The project had six stages: 

Step 1: Schools and youth work organisations were recruited 

Step 2: Youth work and school partners worked together to clarify shared purpose, including an overarching enquiry question and a consensus on the target group of young people and families (young people P5 – S3) 

Step 3: Youth work and school partners co-designed questions for interviews with young people and families.  They also worked together to identify young people in the target group who had established relationships with youth workers in the community or in school 

Step 4:  Youth workers engaged young people, parents and carers in the interview process and recorded responses 

Step 5: YouthLink Scotland collated and analysed the data, providing a summary of themes and insights 

Step 6: Partners met to review the data and explore how best to respond to it in their learning community. Data was shared with other relevant strategic planning groups in Edinburgh. Action plans are being developed 

What did you do each time you met?

See six steps outlined above as the project programme and what was done in each step are aligned.

In terms of financial resources there was a small grant from Edinburgh City Council’s Strategic Equity Fund. This did not provide full cost recovery but recognised the support and investment in this approach.  

The main resource was the time and expertise invested by all the partners involved and the trusted relationships between youth workers and young people. 

YouthLink Scotland’s Youth Work and Schools Partnerships Team offer support to other learning communities that are interested in taking a similar approach. Further information can be accessed on the YouthLink Scotland website.

There was a strong commitment to ensuring this work created safe spaces for underrepresented, and often unheard, young people and their families to share their experiences as learners. This was also to ensure the consultation influenced action and practice (particularly within partnerships) in frontline services. 

Crucially, to support open, honest conversations with young people and families, the consultation happened in the context of established, trusted youth work relationships. Schools and youth work organisations worked together to plan, design and review the work. Those involved in the project continue to reflect on how best to keep young people and their families engaged in the implementation of actions in response to the project. 

The key parts that made the project successful included the relationship-based approach and the strategic involvement of colleagues from different sectors coming together. This ensured everyone had a voice and equal representation. The collective local knowledge and commitment was critical to success. 

Providing an opportunity, platform and enabling the voices of young people and families to be heard in the context of trusted youth work relationships was instrumental. This was supported by useful dialogue between local youth work and school practitioners to ensure that the design of the consultation was appropriate, and the subsequent response was action orientated.   

The support of YouthLink Scotland as an external facilitator of the collaborative approach, and to collate and analyse data gathered was extremely helpful. The involvement of YouthLink Scotland also provided a platform for the process to be shared nationally. This has helped to provide credibility and influence both locally and nationally. It also complemented the vast amount of local knowledge that was brought to the project by local partners.