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Summer Academy @ Strathclyde
A debate on motion
S2M-3226, in the name of Bill Butler, on Summer Academy @ Strathclyde.
The Deputy
Presiding Officer (Trish Godman):
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion
S2M-3226, in the name of Bill Butler, on the summer academy @ Strathclyde.
Motion debated:
That the Parliament congratulates Strathclyde University on its innovative
Summer Academy, now in its seventh year; recognises the role which it plays
in the promotion of the benefits available to young people who wish to
continue their studies into further and higher education; notes that the
academy now attracts up to 900 school students annually from upwards of 130
secondary schools in west central Scotland, as well as welcoming students
from Spain and Sweden; celebrates the scheme as a significant way both to
widen access to further and higher education and to promote social
inclusion; hopes that it may provide a model for other academic institutions
both in Scotland and Europe, and commends the university staff and student
mentors for the part they have played in the creation of a Scottish success
story as over 6,000 young people have to date graduated from the Summer
Academy @ Strathclyde.
Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab):
I thank all members who signed up in support of my motion and all those who
intend to participate in this evening's debate. The topic is a good-news
story. It is important that we take the time to highlight it to find out
what lessons we can learn from the achievements of the summer academy @
Strathclyde and to consider how we can spread its benefits across Scotland.
The summer academy model offers a practical way of emphasising the
opportunities that further and higher education can provide to an ever wider
group of young people. Before I go any further, I wish to pay tribute to
Christine Percival, the director of the summer academy, together with her
team, for their vision and commitment in making the project such an
overwhelming success. They, along with student mentors, are in the gallery
to listen to this evening's debate — they are most welcome.
The concept of the summer academy was developed by the University of
Strathclyde faculty of education in 1999. The aim of the project was to
address the lack of motivation among some secondary 3 and secondary 4 pupils
that had been reported by schools, to raise those young students'
aspirations and, in turn, to increase the number of young people from mainly
disadvantaged areas who go into further and higher education.
The initial plan was for the academy to run for 10 days over a two-week
period. The academy comprised a curriculum component, a recreational
component and a study support component. The curriculum and recreational
components were based on a challenge philosophy, with students being
presented with progressively more complex and demanding challenges as the 10
days progressed. The idea of having micro, mini, maxi and mega challenges
was adopted for the curriculum component in particular, with all the key
areas of the curriculum targeted and supported by challenges.
The academy was specifically aimed at those pupils who had completed S3 and
who, with the necessary support and encouragement, could turn their
anticipated standard grade performance from general levels to credit levels,
thus opening up a range of opportunities in both further and higher
education. Students from schools in the west of Scotland would be split into
small groups of around 10 to 12. They were expected to tackle the various
challenges through co-operative and collaborative effort. The young students
would be led by mentors appointed from the undergraduate body of the
University of Strathclyde. Those mentors would help, advise and guide the
young students towards solutions to the challenges.
Places in the summer academy are offered to all schools in west central
Scotland and four academies take place over the summer holiday. Some 629
pupils took part in the first academy in 1999. That figure had grown to
between 800 and 900 this summer. Currently, the academy serves almost 130
secondary schools from a wide geographical area — from Shotts to Islay and
from Girvan to Cumbernauld — and each year sees new schools sending
representatives to participate.
The academy also helpfully provides careers-related information to the
students, making them aware of the various career options that are available
to them. Students are also given the opportunity to meet career advice
specialists and graduates from different subject disciplines. In addition,
students are offered a wide range of recreational opportunities, ranging
from traditional Scottish Highland games through to web design and drama. In
effect, the summer academy seeks to involve the whole student — the whole
person — and rightly so.
As more and more schools and local education authorities have shown their
support for the academy, a number of spin-off projects have developed,
including study skills days, primary-secondary liaison programmes and
"Xtreme learning days" involving whole-school participation. I am glad that
those projects are being adopted by an increasing number of schools.
There is also an established programme of mini academies aimed at young
people moving from primary 7 to secondary 1. Those are being delivered in
Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and South Lanarkshire. Indeed, I had the
pleasure of visiting one such academy in Drumchapel High School in my
constituency two years ago.
The culmination of each academy is the grand graduation ceremony. I have had
the honour and pleasure of being asked to speak at a number of the
graduation ceremonies in recent years and to present young people with their
certificates. I found the experience exhilarating and impressive. I know
that a number of my colleagues have also had that experience, including the
Minister for Education and Young People, the Solicitor General for Scotland,
the Minister for Justice, Tommy Sheridan and Dorothy-Grace Elder, who is a
former member. I am sure that they, too, will have enjoyed the event and
will have been thoroughly impressed.
The graduation ceremony provides the students with the opportunity, in front
of a large audience of family and friends, to present the work that they
have completed over a fortnight — work of a high standard, covering
displays, exhibitions and a set of often very colourful and elaborate
performances.
In 2005 young people from Sweden, Holland, Norway, Germany and Spain took
part in the academy at Jordanhill and this year the University of Barcelona
is commencing its own replica of the academy programme. My colleague
Catherine Stihler MEP visited the Jordanhill campus this year and was
greatly impressed by the commitment of the young people and the organisers.
Given that the work of the academy is increasingly being recognised abroad,
it is vital that we continue to learn from the model here in Scotland. I ask
the minister to say whether the Executive is looking closely at the summer
academy and considering how its achievements can be translated throughout
Scotland.
Most important, the summer academy serves to boost the confidence and
self-esteem of the young people who participate, firing their ambition. It
encourages them to think of continuing into tertiary education.
Participating in the summer academy makes a difference in the students'
attitude to learning. I believe that imaginative programmes such as the
summer academy tap into a rich seam of talent and provide the proper setting
in which Scotland's young people can develop and exploit their gifts. I
whole-heartedly congratulate all those involved in this Scottish success
story.
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green):
It is traditional in members' business debates to congratulate the member
for securing the debate on the motion. I was certainly very happy to support
it. I am not sure how in need of congratulation Bill Butler is — he has
perhaps secured more members' business debates than I can count. However, I
am pleased to let Parliament know that I will make my debut in that capacity
next week. I hope that members will participate.
Widening access to higher education is a hugely important objective and most
members of all parties recognise that the current Government takes it
seriously. One of the things that the summer academy gets right is that it
tries to achieve that objective in a way that does not just provide a
tokenistic approach for young people from a particular geographic area or
type of school or background. It tries hard to create a social and cultural
mix in the groups with which it works, which is very important.
The international mix adds to that. Bill Butler mentioned Spain, Sweden,
Holland and Germany — I might have missed one — as well as the initiative at
the University of Barcelona. I am very interested in that because I was in
Barcelona on Friday for a conference. I happened to have with me as some of
my travel reading a little history of Scottish universities. I did not
finish it, so perhaps I am not as good a student as I might be, but Scottish
universities have a
long-standing tradition of being more accessible and of involving not just
people from a narrow social background. The way in which that was done in
centuries gone by might not be appropriate to today, so we need to continue
to invent new approaches and to be creative.
The best thing that such a scheme can achieve is the creation of a positive
sense of the value of education throughout our lives, not just for a short
time when we are young. Education's purpose should not just be about what
the economy or industry needs; it should not just be about training people
up for the jobs market. It is about creating and shaping a culture and about
fostering a creative, capable and purposeful citizenry that is aware of its
aspirations and able to meet them. An education system that achieves that
will make efforts to break down the barriers that exist between educational
institutions, and that exist between those institutions and wider society.
The summer academy seems to be an excellent example of that approach, so we
should all commend its work.
Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab):
I too begin by thanking Bill Butler for giving the summer academy some long
overdue recognition. I also thank those in the gallery who have come through
to join us this evening.
As others have said, this is no marginal programme. There are now three
academies, each of which lasts for two weeks, so more than 500 students from
Scotland and furth of Scotland can get a taste of university life. It is
also critical that the academy takes place at the transition between S2 and
S3. That is vital in giving pupils the opportunity to think about raising
their aspirations at that important stage in their schooling.
I turn briefly to the bigger picture. Scotland can and should take credit
for being the first part of the United Kingdom that reached the point of
attracting 50 per cent of its school leavers into higher education. Under
the Executive, we were also the first part of the UK to create an access
premium, which is a financial arrangement that goes some small way towards
recognising the true cost of supporting a student at university. I hope that
the minister will examine how we can continue to improve our record on
access and stay ahead of the game, as we have been in the past.
The summer academy is particularly important in the west of Scotland, where
so many students stay at home and travel in to university every day. In such
circumstances, they do not necessarily build a new social set, which means
that if something goes wrong they are not on campus with friends and other
sources of advice who can tell them where to look for support.
I want to use the remainder of my speech to discuss what I think the next
challenge is because attracting students to university is not the only
challenge; we want to make it more possible for them to stay once they get
there. We know that we have not made enough progress on student retention
over the years, so I want to share with members some of the successes that a
local college in my area — Reid Kerr College — has had in holding on to
students once they enrol and in making their life there easier. The Deputy
Presiding Officer, Trish Godman, accompanied me on a recent visit to the
college.
Reid Kerr College has thought about how to make it easier for students to
stay once they have begun a course and is offering, for example, free
nursery provision for one-parent families, financial assistance with
travelling expenses, a comprehensive guidance and counselling service, an
excellent careers service, alternative learning technologies for the
disabled, free equipment toolkits that are available to students when they
go out on placement or to their first job and one-to-one core skills support
if literacy or numeracy is an issue.
Historically, Scotland has had a reputation for a particularly democratic
education system. That reputation was hard won; it was not gained by
accident. Over the centuries, many people have contributed to the winning of
that reputation. If we are to continue to stay ahead of the game in the
future, it is important that we give national recognition to initiatives
such as the summer academy that have a valuable and proven success record
that deserves to be recognised here and elsewhere.
The Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (Allan Wilson):
I thank — as is customary on such occasions — Bill Butler for giving us the
opportunity to debate the summer academy. I have known Bill for very many
years—more years than I care to recall, in fact — and tonight's motion is a
classic example of his lifelong commitment to education, education,
education. It gives us an opportunity to discuss the Executive's widening
participation policies, to which Wendy Alexander has referred.
As we have heard, higher education institutions and colleges in Scotland
have developed programmes that are designed to build a more inclusive
approach to learning. Through the aimhigher Scotland campaign and through
the greater opportunity of access and learning with schools project and the
local employment action plans in Scotland project — the GOALS and LEAPS
projects — we are able to promote and explain higher education for those who
come from families whose members have no history of entering higher
education and those who, for whatever reason, do not think that higher
education is for them. Those initiatives, which include the summer academy @
Strathclyde, allow young people to sample university life, as Wendy
Alexander has just outlined, and enable them to make informed choices that
will affect not just their own futures, but the collective future of
Scotland as a nation and our future economic development. It is in that
context that I will address widening participation in higher education,
which Wendy Alexander and Patrick Harvie mentioned.
The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council allocates funds
for activities that are designed to widen access to HE. Those funds include
additional funding for part-time and disabled students; for improved routes
from college into university; and for collaboration through the wider access
development grant — Wendy Alexander will be familiar with all those
elements. The grant funds the national co-ordinator for wider access,
supports the development of universities' wider access strategies and funds
the regional forums across Scotland that share good practice and improve
collaboration between colleges and universities.
As members know, the Scottish Further Education Funding Council and the
Scottish Higher Education Funding Council merged on 3 October. I am sure
that Wendy Alexander agrees that the merger gives us an excellent
opportunity to modernise tertiary provision and increase the scope for
partnership working between colleges and universities. That, in turn, will
diversify and widen the student body and — critically — ensure that learning
opportunities are available to everyone. Again, I am sure that all members
in the chamber subscribe to that.
If an individual has the potential, we should encourage them to reach it. We
must break down the barriers that prevent individuals from continuing in
their education. We must ignite the desire and aspiration that lives in all
of us to seize opportunities so that every man and woman in Scotland can
make the most of their potential. In that context, we should be encouraged
by the number of young people who enter higher education each year — almost
50 per cent of Scots participate in higher education by the time they are
21.
Interestingly, almost a third of those students come from the 40 per cent
most deprived areas in Scotland. That is tremendous progress; indeed, it is
a significant achievement for those who in the past would never have
considered the — dare I say it — elite universities to be appropriate for
them. That said, we are not complacent; we know that we have more to do.
That point takes me to parity of esteem. In recognising the steps that
higher education institutions are taking, we must not forget the important
contribution of Scotland's further education colleges. I am sure that the
Deputy Presiding Officer agrees with that. Our colleges promote social
inclusion and community learning: in 2003-04, 27 per cent of their students
came from areas of high deprivation. Wendy Alexander referred to that.
Our colleges offer a supportive environment and a quality learning
experience. They also partner other key sectors and agencies, including
schools and universities, and they offer learners progression opportunities
in both the labour market and further study. Sixty per cent of Scots who
enter into higher education for the first time do so through our colleges.
That statistic is one that none of us should treat lightly.
Our colleges also offer opportunities for early school leavers by
encouraging them to further their education and develop their skills.
Employers tell us that they need relevant job-related skills, but they also
tell us that the so-called soft skills such as communications and team
working are more important, as are literacy and numeracy. Colleges help
their students to be employable through both job-related skills and soft
skills.
In the context of this debate, the Executive's school-college review offers
the potential for an important transition from school to college for those
of a vocational bent and others who see their future in vocational education
but who also want to take the next step into academic qualifications.
As ever in these debates, time is limited. Before I close, however, I want
to say a word or two about student support. Lack of money can be a barrier
to learning. Through the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, the Executive
offers financial support for students in higher education in the form of
bursaries, loans and specific support for individual additional needs such
as disabilities. We currently provide financial support for almost 95,000
higher education students throughout Scotland and the funding council
provides similar bursary support to students in further education.
Student support funds are targeted to support students from low-income
backgrounds and those with specific additional financial needs relating to
dependent adults, dependent children and disabilities. That is an important
part of the whole if we are to realise our ambition to ensure that
educational opportunities are freely available to all.
There is not enough time to talk about international links, but suffice it
to say that the world is becoming an increasingly small place and it is
important that Scotland attracts talented students from overseas. In
2003-04, more than 27,000 overseas students from 180 countries across the
world studied at Scottish educational institutions. We hope that, as well as
studying in Scotland through our groundbreaking fresh talent scheme, many
will choose to live and work in Scotland after graduation. That has
important implications for our overall priority of growing the Scottish
economy and making sure that Scotland is a good place to live, work and do
business.
Widening access measures and local school and community links, as
exemplified by the Strathclyde example, have a clear impact on admissions to
further and higher education. We are moving in the right direction through
initiatives such as the summer academy, the GOALS and LEAPS projects and the
aimhigher programme. We have made good progress, but we cannot be
complacent. We must continue to encourage every individual to fulfil their
potential and we must break down barriers to learning. The initiatives and
programmes discussed today provide the requested potential for models in the
further and higher education sectors.
In that context, I am pleased to respond to Bill Butler's specific call,
repeated by Wendy Alexander and Patrick Harvie, to look at the undisputed
success of the Strathclyde summer academy to see what it can offer to the
overall objective of widening participation and retaining people in higher
and further education more generally, as another member mentioned, and to
see how we can repeat that success throughout Scotland as appropriate.
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