Summary
The Towards Better Futures team works to identify and reach out to young people without a positive destination after leaving schooling, and helps them access and engage with opportunities.
Making A Difference
To learn about the real difference Towards Better Futures has made to one young Glaswegian, read Miren’s story in the article below. The project also has strong links to Community Plan Performance Indicators such as School Leavers in Positive Destinations and Proportion of 16-19s in Education, Employment or Training.
Glasgow has traditionally lagged behind the Scottish average in School Leaver Follow Up (SLFU), a key metric used to measure the percentage of young people who transition out of school into a positive destination, such as a job, training programme or further education.
Towards Better Futures is the name given to Glasgow City Council’s Education Services Employability Strategy. The Towards Better Futures team works in partnership with Glasgow colleges, Developing the Young Workforce, Skills Development Scotland, the City’s employability support organisations and young people’s charities such as Barnados and Action for Children to deliver support services intended to improve Glasgow’s SLFU. By identifying and engaging with young people without a positive destination, the Partnership is able to help them access opportunities and pursue a future they may have thought was unattainable.
Thanks for to the hard work of the Towards Better Futures team, in 2021 Glasgow achieved its highest ever SLFU for young people moving into a positive destination, matching the Scottish average for the first time since SLFU has been tracked. One such young person is Miren, who the team reached out to in early 2019.
Miren’s Story
Miren was identified as being at high risk by the team – she had completely disengaged from learning and had not gained any qualifications when she was referred to Towards Better Futures for support with her training, college or employment options.
Initial contact with Miren was made via an introductory letter detailing the service offered and providing an appointment to visit her at home. Miren did not answer the door on the first visit, and did not respond to a request for her to get in touch with the team herself. Another home visit was arranged for the following month, and on this second visit Miren did answer the door but advised she would rather come into the centre. She didn’t attend the appointment arranged in centre, and so was contacted by telephone to re-arrange. This pattern continued to repeat itself until Miren eventually felt comfortable meeting and engaging with the team.
Whilst it took 3 months for Miren to move to the engagement stage of our service, this marked a turning point as it was her choice to take the support being offered. During her first meeting with the team in July 2019, Miren was clear she would like to pursue a career in childcare, saying “all of my wee brothers and sisters are in care”. Miren presented as having anxiety and low confidence, and it was clear she didn’t have a network of support to help her transition from school into the career she wanted, with financial barriers and addiction issues in her home life.
Miren was started on one-to-one sessions targeted towards her anxiety, with a focus on helping her understand how we physically and mentally respond when out of our comfort zone, and how that comfort zone can be safely stretched without causing undue stress. Miren enjoyed these initial sessions and began building a trusting relationship with the team. She continued to engage well through further sessions relating to barriers frequently faced by young school leavers and strategies to overcome them, and completed her own self -assessment to identify her own barriers and create a learning plan focused on long and short term goals.
Miren was then scheduled to attend a couple of activities suggested by the team, the first of which was the annual Secure Your Future event. Whilst attending she had the opportunity to speak to L&G Training Providers about childcare training, and meeting their staff and hearing about the opportunity and training allowance motivated Miren to engage and address her barriers.
The second activity, intended to address her confidence and team building skills, was the TEAM programme, a 12-week personal development programme where young people gain qualifications, and participate in both a week of residential and work placement. A referral was submitted on Miren’s behalf, and she attended a few interview prep sessions. Miren was offered a place to start in late August. She was helped to open a bank account and an EMA application was completed for her, as the financial support was key to Miren’s engagement with the programme.
In September, Miren called the team advising she didn’t plan to continue with the TEAM programme as she had secured part time work with a family friend, and asked if her plans could be placed on hold. The team agreed to keep in touch with her every couple of weeks, but were unable to reach her.
Miren re-contacted Towards Better Futures in October 2019, advising she and her brother had been made homeless. She asked to re-engage with the service and was made an appointment to begin building her a new plan. The TEAM programme was about to begin again in November and Miren agreed she would like to take part. The tutor Nicola was very supportive and happy to offer Miren a place.
Before starting the TEAM programme, Miren needed to rebuild her confidence and establish routine again. She was offered a place on the Lifeskills Programme, which was more informal than TEAM and less of a commitment as it was only 2 days per week as opposed to 5. Miren excelled in the intergenerational projects helping children and older members of the community with their Christmas Parties. Miren also accessed our college taster programme where she participated in various tasters with Glasgow City College, including childcare, hospitality, and sport & fitness.
Miren progressed successfully to the TEAM programme in November 2019 and managed to attend every day. Her confidence was growing and by the end of the programme she was supported in an application for a place with L&G Training. She attended an interview and was delighted when she was accepted onto the programme. Miren was also offered a tenancy in supported accommodation at this time. She started her stage 2 training programme in March 2020, which continued until June 2020 and a college application for childcare was also submitted. To acknowledge and celebrate Miren’s achievements, she was gifted a card with a WHSmith voucher to help buy materials for her course.
