wayneholt
Well-Known Forumite
V Talent Staffordshire – Successfully Unknown
On Monday 2nd March I delivered a short speech in front of local counsellors’, parents, young people and staff from Staffordshire Young Peoples Service about the hard work and dedication that 15 young people made over the course of a year. They were met with rapturous applause and the pride and respect given to them by important figure heads in Staffordshire County Council filled me with very positive emotions, but looking back I realised hardly anyone knows about this. I feel compelled to write this article to highlight their efforts and to hopefully quash any common stigmas that people have towards young people.
So what was V Talent? The scheme was being piloted with 33 local authorities and 28 Further Education colleges offering 44 week long placements in Children's and Young People's Services. The aim was to give 2,000 volunteers aged 16-25 the opportunity to directly influence and enhance public sector services and gain skills to improve their employability.
The high quality, structured placements in areas such as nursery education, play, youth work and supporter learning would last 44 weeks, lead to a minimum of a level 2 qualification and offer personal development grants of up to £1,500 for young volunteers on completion of the programme.
Residential weekends prepared young volunteers for their placements, and enabled them to undertake a skills audit. Delivered by the Duke of Edinburgh Award, these would encourage young people to develop social networking groups so they can keep in touch with each other during their placements and foster a group identity.
Staffordshire County Council was successful in bidding and a 2 year pilot was issued. Under the guidance of Lisa Blairs the Project Supervisor, V Talent Staffordshire has had a 100% pass rate on both years, with the volunteers moving on to either College, University, Further Development Opportunities and even Full Time Employment. But, due to the change in government this programme has now been DISCONTINUED, something I find very distressing and disheartening. Having experienced first hand the benefits this has given to young people of various ages; it’s an absolute shame that this will be no more.
Having actually been a participant in its first year (2009-2010), I was given an opportunity to support with this years participants (2010-2011). All the volunteers came from different backgrounds. From a girl who left school at 15 with no qualifications to a young person who had no confidence to even say their name in front of a group of people, I have seen them flourish to proud upstanding members of the community who have a clear outlook on what they want in life and now recognize the benefits of hard work.
They have built an impressive portfolio of certificates and qualifications over the course of 44 weeks such as NVQ Level 2 in Youth Work, Deaf Awareness Training, First Aid, Gym Instruction, Teaching Support, Support Work for Special Needs and a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. Considering their prospects before the project, it is a testament to them that they have achieved this. Some of the volunteers are continuing to volunteer at their local youth club to aid their development.
These young people were NOT paid and NOT ordered to attend this course. They gave up their own time to give themselves a chance in bettering themselves but, more importantly, given up their time to help others. It’s funny that the media have not ever mentioned anything like this compared, to say the constant negative press they receive and the common stigma adults can have towards them.
To anyone who has taken the time to read this, I say thank you. I hope this has shed some light on to what we try to do as youth workers and hopefully, as a community we can do more to give young people a positive start in life.
I just want to give a major highlight to Lisa Blairs. This woman has handled so much over the course of 2 years and she never gave up on these people. Because of her, around 30 young people now have an opportunity to become positive role models to other young people. If there were more people in the world like Lisa, then our youth would flourish even more.
On Monday 2nd March I delivered a short speech in front of local counsellors’, parents, young people and staff from Staffordshire Young Peoples Service about the hard work and dedication that 15 young people made over the course of a year. They were met with rapturous applause and the pride and respect given to them by important figure heads in Staffordshire County Council filled me with very positive emotions, but looking back I realised hardly anyone knows about this. I feel compelled to write this article to highlight their efforts and to hopefully quash any common stigmas that people have towards young people.
So what was V Talent? The scheme was being piloted with 33 local authorities and 28 Further Education colleges offering 44 week long placements in Children's and Young People's Services. The aim was to give 2,000 volunteers aged 16-25 the opportunity to directly influence and enhance public sector services and gain skills to improve their employability.
The high quality, structured placements in areas such as nursery education, play, youth work and supporter learning would last 44 weeks, lead to a minimum of a level 2 qualification and offer personal development grants of up to £1,500 for young volunteers on completion of the programme.
Residential weekends prepared young volunteers for their placements, and enabled them to undertake a skills audit. Delivered by the Duke of Edinburgh Award, these would encourage young people to develop social networking groups so they can keep in touch with each other during their placements and foster a group identity.
Staffordshire County Council was successful in bidding and a 2 year pilot was issued. Under the guidance of Lisa Blairs the Project Supervisor, V Talent Staffordshire has had a 100% pass rate on both years, with the volunteers moving on to either College, University, Further Development Opportunities and even Full Time Employment. But, due to the change in government this programme has now been DISCONTINUED, something I find very distressing and disheartening. Having experienced first hand the benefits this has given to young people of various ages; it’s an absolute shame that this will be no more.
Having actually been a participant in its first year (2009-2010), I was given an opportunity to support with this years participants (2010-2011). All the volunteers came from different backgrounds. From a girl who left school at 15 with no qualifications to a young person who had no confidence to even say their name in front of a group of people, I have seen them flourish to proud upstanding members of the community who have a clear outlook on what they want in life and now recognize the benefits of hard work.
They have built an impressive portfolio of certificates and qualifications over the course of 44 weeks such as NVQ Level 2 in Youth Work, Deaf Awareness Training, First Aid, Gym Instruction, Teaching Support, Support Work for Special Needs and a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award. Considering their prospects before the project, it is a testament to them that they have achieved this. Some of the volunteers are continuing to volunteer at their local youth club to aid their development.
These young people were NOT paid and NOT ordered to attend this course. They gave up their own time to give themselves a chance in bettering themselves but, more importantly, given up their time to help others. It’s funny that the media have not ever mentioned anything like this compared, to say the constant negative press they receive and the common stigma adults can have towards them.
To anyone who has taken the time to read this, I say thank you. I hope this has shed some light on to what we try to do as youth workers and hopefully, as a community we can do more to give young people a positive start in life.
I just want to give a major highlight to Lisa Blairs. This woman has handled so much over the course of 2 years and she never gave up on these people. Because of her, around 30 young people now have an opportunity to become positive role models to other young people. If there were more people in the world like Lisa, then our youth would flourish even more.
