Archive

We start with hope

We must take this moment to reappraise and reimagine how our systems of support for the most vulnerable should operate in future, writes Andrew Magowan.

How we shape and control the world around us is the primary means by which we develop and express our place and role in this world. If we are unable to exercise this control, it undermines the essence of who we are and can be. This is the true nature of inequality and it is personal.

For millions of people, the current crisis has diminished their ability to exercise choice and control, serving to weaken an already precarious existence. For some in this group, the threshold between just getting by and life-shattering emotional, financial and health change has been breached. And for others, COVID-19 has hastened an unrelenting spiral to the margins of society. In this sense, the current situation is not only a public health crisis, it is a humanitarian one.

‘Building back’ will not be enough. We need to do better if we are not to fail people. However, we start with hope: “not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out” (Vaclav Havel).

What makes sense, is to foster the conditions in which people can comprehend and manage their life in a way that has meaning and is worthwhile. To afford them the opportunity to exercise control over the circumstances that influence their life. The consequences of the removal of this control reverberated through our society long before this crisis broke.

We need to imagine, design and implement structures, systems and practice that build from the person upwards, not top down as has for so long been the way. As social creatures, the bedrock for this human-centric approach is unquestionably our connection to others …

a shared passion for similar interests, a shoulder to cry on, sharing a meal, celebrating success, a hug that says it’s going to be ok, accepting and coming to terms with differences, our solidarity with others, to feel wanted and needed, to love and be loved

…these are what shape us and make a life.

For many however, such interactions are not part of their daily lives. For others, the nature of their interactions is singularly destructive. For both, life is diminished, and their path becomes one of retreat or chaos.

Our Link Up programme has for nearly a decade sought to enable local people, many amongst the most vulnerable, to exercise control over their lives and alter this path. This begins by creating a safe space for social activities; a space where trust and reciprocity grow, and the fundamentals of supportive relationships, confidence and self-esteem are established.  

These positively redefine the person’s view of their self and the role they play in family and community life. In turn, this leads them to reimagine their future and exercise choice and control over its realisation: improving health and wellbeing; creating a brighter financial future; and, becoming active citizens looking out for others and addressing tough local issues.

Nurturing these fundamentals is a role community-based organisations are uniquely placed to undertake because it is in their DNA. Unfortunately, such work is not always recognised and rarely funded. This needs to change.

What’s more, we must understand that when this can be done at scale, we set the foundations for and catalyse a process of societal renewal.

This is possible because we create conditions in which peoples’ lives pivot from retreat/chaos to stabilisation, recovery and ultimately, personal renewal. For many, this self-managed change is accompanied by a growing activism.

If this can be fostered at a collective level, a second phase of transformation can proceed; one in which local people and organisations (public, social and commercial) collaborate to identify and develop their path to an effectively functioning community that is resilient and regenerative.

Scotland’s first ever Social Renewal Advisory Board offers a powerful vehicle to do so. But it needs to go beyond careful listening and set us on a course to the fairer, healthier and environmentally sustainable future we seek.

There is a wealth of evidence to guide this course, but it must start with the understanding that people can only make progress in life when they are able to shape and control the world around them.

Andrew Magowan is Programme Manager for Inspiring Scotland’s Link Up programme.

Read a more in-depth version of this article here.

Our Future Now – The Need to Act

Alongside trusted charities and investors, we are committed to supporting young people as they navigate the challenges of the post COVID-19 job market, writes Inspiring Scotland Chief Executive Celia Tennant.

After 10 years of sustained effort from across government, business, and civil society in Scotland, youth unemployment reached a record low of 6.9% in July 2019.

I am proud of the role Inspiring Scotland and its many partners played in helping to reach this point, but could never have anticipated that only a year later we would be preparing for what is being described as a tsunami of youth unemployment because of COVID-19.

We know that unemployment is likely to affect 16-25-year-olds disproportionately.

An entire generation of young people are at risk, even those who are ‘job ready’ will have nowhere to go if they are not rapidly engaged in activity that provides skills and preparation for the post COVID-19 job market.

What we also know is the impact and challenge will be even greater for young people who face greater barriers in their lives; living in poverty or in difficult family circumstances, with experience of the care system, or with caring responsibilities.

To prevent this, we must use the knowledge and experience built over the last 10 years to invest in the kind of interventions which have the potential to prevent lifelong scarring from youth unemployment.

We’ve done it before

Inspiring Scotland’s flagship 10-year youth unemployment fund 14:19 contributed to securing record lows in youth unemployment in 2019 by supporting 36,188 young people to a better place in life through employment, education, or training.

Our Future Now was formed as the follow-up to 14:19, because we had learnt that too many young people were still being excluded from the opportunity to fulfil their potential due to circumstances beyond their control. We want to see even more young people not merely surviving but flourishing.

A collective Third Sector Response

We know there are no quick fixes, and therefore need to invest in leaders and organisations with strong track records, as well as vision, passion, and creativity.

We back the third sector for these reasons, and through Our Future Now we selected 12 experienced and trusted charities to direct their support at young people aged 16 to 25 experiencing more challenges in their lives than most.

These charities have ambition, potential for growth, commitment to evaluation and transparency. They are well placed to work with young people in complex circumstances in a person-centered way for as long as required. They can also be relied on to innovate and quickly implement new creative approaches, focusing on efficiency and keeping bureaucracy at a minimum.

We have a shared ambition for young people and by working together as a portfolio, we share what works and what doesn’t and provide cohesion and momentum that results in the collective impact being more than the sum of the individual parts.

#Nevermoreneeded

To tackle the scale of inequality it will take radical and bold interventions, which the The Report of the Advisory Group of Economic Recovery has called for.

We know that we must use this moment to act. Given the scale of the task, success will require cross-sector collective effort of a kind that has never been seen before.  As this crisis has illuminated inequality, it has also shone a light on the role of the third sector and an acknowledgment of its critical role in the period of economic recovery, supporting young people, employability, health and wellbeing.

I ask that we now look to approaches and interventions which have delivered successfully, effectively, and at scale in the past. With the investors who are already backing Our Future Now and the commitment and drive of the charities involved we are committed to rise to this challenge and we are determined to use our experience, energy and passion to help young people and prevent scarring further generations.

Read more about  Our Future Now 

Where should our future classrooms be?

In this collaborative blog, Rachel Cowper of Thrive Outdoors and Central Scotland Green Network Trust’s Deryck Irving present the case for moving classroom teaching outside post-COVID-19.

The response to the current pandemic has meant the introduction of new behaviours to many aspects of our day-to-day lives. The process of easing lockdown will require changed behaviours for some time to come, as well as new approaches to the places, spaces, and buildings that we live and work in.

While it is likely that some of these new behaviours will be temporary, it may actually be sensible to retain some of them in the longer term – not just to control risk, but because they are actively good for us. Accommodating this may mean we need to take steps to improve and adapt our towns and cities, our streets, our workplaces, and our public buildings.

Getting outdoors

The value we place on being outdoors has been highlighted by lockdown, and by people’s response to its easing. The health and wellbeing benefits of greenspaces are significant and well documented. Being in, or even just being able to see natural spaces has a significant positive impact on mood. Greenspaces are also among our favourite places to take physical exercise.

Research indicates that virus transmission risk is reduced outdoors, and under current circumstances, these spaces offer more opportunity to socially distance. Outdoor spaces have always been places for communities to come together, and in the short to medium term, they will continue to be the only spaces that people can safely meet. So, what might the next steps be?

Phase 1 of the Scottish Government’s lockdown easing measures include the re-opening of childminders and fully outdoor nurseries. This is driven by evidence that transmission risk for COVID-19 is lower out of doors, and findings on outdoor settings indicating their positive impact on many aspects of learning such as decision making, problem solving and interpersonal skills. Furthermore, being outdoors is key to children’s development, improving physical, mental, and emotional health, and helping to build personal resilience, self-esteem, and confidence. It is also cost-effective in meeting the increased need for space.

According to national guidance on how to establish and deliver high quality childcare outside, ‘an outdoor setting does not need a fully functioning building to deliver high quality, flexible early learning and childcare. And importantly, it is fun and should be an everyday part of children’s play-based learning!’

This notion leads directly to the question of whether this model is something that could be replicated in Primary or Secondary education. In other words, could we have outdoor schools? The answer should be emphatically yes, since our curriculum in Scotland, particularly at Primary level, can be delivered outside. Moreover, by moving education outdoors, we can provide additional benefits to childhood health and wellbeing, as well as ease the pressure on indoor settings.

Looking back to a pre-pandemic world for a moment, it’s useful to think about where outdoor learning has typically taken place. Some of it has occurred on playgrounds, astroturf pitches and staff car parks within school or nursery grounds – although much of our educational outdoor estate can be relatively sterile and offer little in the way of stimulation. Other nurseries and schools might have made use of local greenspaces, but these can also be less than ideal.

Others still have created their own spaces from underused or unused land. Consider Baltic Street Adventure Playground, created on a derelict site in Dalmarnock as a temporary response to the lack of play space and out of school provision for children and families in the east end of Glasgow. The site has become a permanent, supervised adventure playground for children aged 6 to 12, and a haven for play, adventure and learning in the community.

The way forward

While Baltic Street offers a wonderful example, there are currently only 31 registered fully outdoor nurseries in Scotland. There are more in the pipeline, but it is important to note that this is still a fledging industry here. As a comparison, in Scandinavia, outdoor nurseries and classrooms are so commonplace that they are not separately identified in the registers of education provision.

We believe that any solution for educating in the early and school years must include increased access to, and use of, outdoor spaces for learning.

In order to do this, there are a few steps that can be considered. Some or all of them will help achieve this aim, and support children’s health, wellbeing, attainment, and connectedness to their communities.

• Improve school grounds as learning spaces. It’s time to think outside the box and use recycled and loose parts materials to aid learning and encourage greater biodiversity in school grounds. Consider all external space as an opportunity – a staff car park may be the perfect place for chalk drawing and maths lessons.
• Look outside your school grounds. What local spaces exist in your community? Could you use local parks and greenspaces or other public places close to the school? Consider how you could improve greenspaces as learning spaces, including providing safe access from local schools. Does the way parks and greenspaces are managed need to change?
• Create new greenspaces as learning spaces. Not every community or every school has access to greenspaces which could be used for outdoor learning. Recent research by Fields in Trust suggests that almost 320,000 people in Scotland do not have a greenspace within a 10-minute walk of their homes. The Scottish Government uses greenspace within a 5-minute walk as its measure of access so there are likely to be many more people affected.
• Be innovative. Look for opportunities to transform under and unused spaces such as vacant and derelict land into new greenspaces. Analysis carried out by the Central Scotland Green Network Trust identified 86 vacant and derelict land sites with the potential to provide new greenspaces in areas where access is poor. Since this only covers land on the official vacant and derelict land register in the most disadvantaged communities in Central Scotland, it is likely there are further opportunities on other unused land.

There is a pressing need to focus on making best use of what we’ve got while ensuring that what is there in the future is better. This will involve our communities having better access to local greenspaces, with outdoor learning fully integrated into the curriculum.

Not only will this make us more ready for future public health challenges, it will also create better, healthier places for us all to live and work, increasing our contact with nature and reducing the negative impacts of vacant and derelict land on communities across urban Scotland.

We want to help more children, more schools, and more communities take the opportunity to use their local green and natural spaces. If you’re considering how you might achieve this for your setting or community, please get in touch and speak to us.

Rachel Cowper is Programme Manager for Thrive Outdoors
rachel@inspiringscotland.org.uk

Deryck Irving is Director of Strategy and Development, Central Scotland Green Network Trust
Deryck.Irving@csgnt.org.uk