• West Lothian College
  • Ayrshire and Forth Valley College
  • City of Glasgow College
  • Dundee & Angus College
  • West College Scotland

West Lothian College

New employability partnership is launched to support young people with disabilities

West Lothian College Case StudyJabil, West Lothian Council and West Lothian College have launched an exciting and innovative employability partnership ‘Project Search.’

‘Project Search’ is a highly successful business-led programme that prepares students with a developmental disability for competitive, integrated employment. As part of this partnership, Jabil Livingston site will host nine West Lothian College students, who have learning disabilities and autism, for 12 months and provide them with an opportunity to gain a college qualification and valuable on-site work experience with a goal of getting all nine students into full-time employment at the end of the programme.

“Developing the Project Search steering group and working with West Lothian Council and West Lothian College has been extremely positive. We are delighted to be the first manufacturing company in Europe to run the ‘Project Search’ programme. It is a fantastic opportunity for the site to develop deeper connections with the local community in Livingston and help bridge the gap for young people with additional needs to progress from education into full-time, gainful employment,” said Debbie Hume, Human Resources Manager at Jabil Livingston.

Participating in this partnership and supporting students and Jabil’s staff on site are two college lecturers from West Lothian College and a job coach from West Lothian Council.  At Jabil, each student is paired up with one of the employees in order to have a point of contact within the site to support and guide them throughout the programme. The programme follows the same pattern as a college calendar year and the students are on site five days per week and carry out three job rotations, allowing them to gain and enhance different skills, as well as developing preferences in terms of job roles.

Ayrshire and Forth Valley College

‘Colours of our Scarves’ support college students in multi-sports & equality event’

Sports 1

Supporters Direct project ‘Colours of our Scarves’ has been working with Sport and Fitness students at Ayrshire and Forth Valley Colleges to support them in organising two multi-sports events. They brought together children from different schools to take part in a number of activities including rugby, football, athletics and dance as well as taking part in a workshop on sectarianism run by Mark Reid.

Mark said “The students deserve great praise for their effort and commitment in hosting this event with Supporters Direct. We have been working with the sports students over the last six months trying to give them a better understanding of issues relating to equality in sport at a community level as part of our nationwide delivery programme.”

Paul Tannock, Sport and Fitness lecturer at Ayrshire College said “This is an excellent initiative and a great experience for the students. Supporters Direct, and Mark in particular, were great in assisting and motivating the students in planning the event. It allowed the students the opportunity to pass on some of the knowledge that they had gained onto younger groups through sport.”

A video with input from the students, Mark and the lecturers will be available on Action on Sectarianism soon.

City of Glasgow College

City of Glasgow College: Student Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Induction E-Module*

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) is central to the College’s ethos as detailed in the College’s Diversity & Equalities Strategy, 2013-2017.

A college-wide staff survey taken in 2014 indicated a lack of confidence in tackling issues around ED&I. It was recognised that staff and student attitudes to equality and human rights are diverse and potential conflicts exist between protected characteristics.

These issues are compounded by international differences in attitudes towards equality and human rights amongst students from the 135 different countries represented in the college.

An intervention was required to tackle discrimination and/or disadvantage (i.e. ensure fairness), promote equality of opportunity for people of different groups (i.e. advance opportunity) and encourage good relations between people of different groups (i.e. foster respect).

To support College strategy, develop staff capacity and tackle these issues the College assembled a project team to develop a bespoke Student ED&I Induction E-Module*, accessed via the student Virtual Learning Environment.

All Full-Time and ESOL students complete the module within the first 6 weeks of enrolling. The introduction of this innovation has seen a marked increase in understanding, acceptance and commitment to a progressive ED&I culture across the staff, students and partners of the college.

Dundee & Angus College

Dundee & Angus College: See Scotland

As the international student body grows, the importance of effective integration into the local population becomes greater than ever. But although communication in the digital age is fast, efficient and global, human perceptions and emotions are taking longer to catch up.

‘See Scotland’ is a project designed to break down barriers between international and local students by using a mentoring process. A deceptively simple concept, this ‘buddy’ system has outstripped all our expectations, creating strong, close friendships between the two groups, improving language skills and empowering the local students.

So successful has this project been among the students there are already plans to extend it next year.

West College Scotland

West College Scotland: The West Employability Hub – You Only Have to Knock Once

With unemployment, deprivation and economic inactivity in West Dumbarton at an all-time high, three of the largest organisations in West Dunbartonshire; the Department of Work and Pensions, West Dunbartonshire Council and West College Scotland, came together to provide a one stop shop community resource with a focus to improve employment prospects for people in Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven. Initially a project focused on 18-24 year olds, the project has now expanded to focus on all unemployed people in receipt of benefits.

The West Employability Hub partnership essentially created an aligned service model that facilitated improved access to jobs and contributed to the enhancement of skills and educational achievement. It reduced duplication and maximised the impact of this range of services on Dunbartonshire’s most vulnerable clients, based around the principle ‘you only have to knock once’.

The West Employability Hub (WEH) was formally launched in March 2014 remains the only service of its kind in the area.

The following services and funds are available: Community Development, Job Centre, Working 4U (West Dunbartonshire Council Adult Learning), Modern Apprenticeships, Employability Funds, European and CPP funded Employability Programmes and Welfare Rights and Money Advice Services.