Plenary, 26 Oct 2005

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Official Report 431KB pdf

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Summer Academy @ Strathclyde

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.

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.

The 10 days are challenging and difficult. One of the main things that I learned from speaking with students who have taken part is that they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves and found the 10 days at Jordanhill campus stimulating.

An article in The Herald of 12 July described the teaching technique at the summer academy as "learning by stealth". I do not know whether I agree with the use of the word "stealth", but the academy certainly takes aspects of the curriculum and presents them to young people in new and imaginative ways that grab their attention and spark their interest in subjects that they thought were not for them.

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.

The study support programme has grown considerably since 1999. Today, it includes specific study advice and explores study techniques such as brainstorming, mind mapping and strategic planning. Personal help and guidance is on offer to any student who makes summer academy staff aware of particular study problems or whom mentors identify as having a particular difficulty.

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.

Does it work? It does, because evaluative studies of the work done with students at the summer academy have confirmed that it exercises a major impact on the educational success and career aspirations of the young people who participate. It is precisely because of that success that schools are becoming increasingly keen to participate in the spin-off outreach programmes.

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.

Since its inception, the summer academy has become widely recognised as one of Scotland's most innovative education projects. It has been a phenomenal success and has helped to improve the opportunities of thousands of young people in the west of Scotland. Fundamentally, it is a truly socially inclusive project that offers young people a dynamic programme addressing all key curricular areas and, significantly, all the national priorities for education. I know that members will wish to note that participants also tend to gain higher passes in their standard grade exams—their passes are at twice and, in many cases, three times the national average. That is good news.

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.

I was pleased to sign Bill Butler's motion about the summer academy because I had the privilege of attending an open day that took place at the end of one of the fortnightly academies and was extremely impressed by what I saw. Bill Butler has outlined what the academy does, so I will give my impressions of what I saw on that day.

I was invited by the principal, but that invitation was at the instigation of Kirsteen Currie, a family friend who has been one of the summer academy's mentors for a couple of years, during which time she has told me how much good is done through the work of the summer academies. I turned up that day and the place was busy, because it was the day when parents were coming to see the young people graduate. There was an exhibition of the work that had been done during the previous fortnight. I was absolutely stunned by the amount of work that had been packed into those two weeks, by the standard of the work—some of the projects were extremely detailed—and by the variation in the work. Most of all, I was struck by the socially inclusive nature of the academy. Young people from all walks of life and from all sorts of schools were taking part in the on-going teamwork. Although the two-week academy could make some academic difference, it was primarily about motivation and confidence building.

Two things stuck in my mind from that day. First, one of the teams had carried out a healthy eating project and had produced a billboard with "healthy eating" on one side and "unhealthy eating" on the other. In the middle of the "unhealthy eating" side was a big picture of Alex Johnstone stuffing his face with a pie. When I said to the team, "I know that chap. Do you know who he is?" they said, "Oh yes—he should know better." That was why his photograph had been used. I apologise to Alex Johnstone for telling that story, but I have already told him about it, so I hope that that was okay.

The other thing that stuck with me was much more serious. I got talking to two young girls who had carried out a somewhat forensic project on different elements of the bladder, how people's bodies work and so on. It was complicated and interesting. One young lass said to me that, when they first went to the academy, they thought of leaving immediately because everyone else spoke much better than they did and they felt a bit out of their depth. However, they were amazed to have done better than some of the people who spoke better than they did. That is an important issue—some people in that age group are not confident that they can compete and go on to higher education. In that regard, some of the parents who I spoke to were absolutely delighted that their children were doing so well at the summer academy. They were being motivated to push their children a little more because they had found out what they were capable of.

Just before the graduation ceremony, there was a concert during which some of the work that had been produced was dramatised. Again, the standard of work was high and it was amazing to think that that had been achieved in two weeks.

Bill Butler introduced the topic as a good news story—it certainly is and its benefits should be spread. I understand that this year pupils from 119 schools in 13 local authorities in the west of Scotland attended the academy. I would love to see that rolled out further across Scotland. The University of Strathclyde is leading the way in this initiative in Europe, and the University of Barcelona initiative proves that. Let us roll it out across Scotland and send the benefits further.

I congratulate Mr Bill Butler warmly on his success in raising this important issue in Parliament. He is right to support this extremely worthwhile programme; indeed, the summer academy @ Strathclyde is an ambitious and highly successful project that provides young people from diverse backgrounds with an opportunity to experience university life at a pivotal point in their school careers. Through their experience of the academy, participants can improve their self-esteem, develop a more positive attitude to education and realise that applications to college and university are an achievable reality. In other words, opportunity knocks for those who are interested in pursuing a good deal.

The academy can attribute much of its success to the sophisticated planning and dynamic delivery of its programme of academic and extra-curricular activities. The programme sets out successively more challenging tasks for participants and provides settings in which young people can achieve the final maxi-challenges. They range from producing a radio or video news broadcast, to promoting and marketing a company that is fighting to win a contract, to designing a cityscape, to producing a cooking programme in French. Now that we are commemorating the battle of Trafalgar, I suspect that even Admiral Horatio Nelson would warmly approve. Each challenge is based on a core area of the curriculum, with emphasis on promoting national priorities for education, citizenship, enterprise, health, and Scottish culture.

As well as academic and recreational activities, participants learn team skills including brainstorming, mind-mapping, time management, and career guidance, to mention but a few. In addition, the programme involves visits to other parts of the university campus and to business venues to demonstrate the relevance of what is being learned and to highlight that learning and working are linked and are a continuing process.

The undergraduate and post-graduate student mentors act as valuable role models for young people who may aspire to go to university, but who have not always considered it to be "for the likes of us". Bill Butler made that point. The increasing complexity and fast-paced nature of the programme ensures high levels of motivation, demands continuing self-improvement and allows realistic opportunities for achievement and success.

The summer academy is supported by local authorities, the Hunter Foundation and Scottish Enterprise. Their involvement is very much to be welcomed, although it would be encouraging to see even more involvement and sponsorship from industry. One point that Bill Butler and Linda Fabiani stressed was that the summer academy helps to instil confidence in the young people who attend it—they are absolutely right. Our economy would also benefit from successful schools that produce well-qualified young people who have the skills and aptitudes to equip them to be confident and vigorous contributors to the Scottish economy.

There would be merit in expanding the scheme into other parts of Scotland and beyond. Many of the key elements such as teamwork, problem solving and relevance for employment could also be given greater emphasis in schools. The two-week course at the summer academy creates an ethos of enlightened endeavour and presents university education as providing opportunities for accessibility and educational excellence.

We wish the summer academy every success.

It is traditional in members' business debates to congratulate the member on 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 benefits of the scheme will stay with many of the young people who take part in it for many years, whether or not they end up in higher education; if such schemes can give young people a fresh perspective on their choices at secondary school or thereafter without their going into higher education, we should recognise its value.

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 between educational institutions, and 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.

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 from Glasgow to join us this evening.

I should declare an interest because I am a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde. One of the reasons that I chose to join that institution three years ago was because of how impressed I had been the previous summer when I had a chance to visit the summer academy. It was a real hive of activity.

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.

Obviously, creating a microcosm of university life does not come cheap. The places are largely funded by local authorities but it is right that we acknowledge the generous in-kind contribution made by the University of Strathclyde and so many of its staff and tutors.

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.

Other members have talked about the challenging aspects of the summer academy, but I suspect that part of its true success over the years lies in the fact that it tries to replicate some of the fun and exciting elements of university life. Looking at the academy's programme, I see that it offers a lunch time drop-in every day, at which students can enjoy relaxation techniques, live bands, guitar jamming, the climbing wall and so on—in short, all those things that make university life great fun.

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. I am told that cheap breakfast facilities are the most important of the various supports that the college provides; those measures are a genuine help in ensuring that students stay once they have arrived.

We are now learning how to reinforce the message that education is for all and is for life. Once they arrive at institutions, students need to be given positive feedback and encouragement of the kind that they get at the summer academy; they also need to have the chance to involve themselves in work-related activities so that they have a clear goal and a strong sense of the relevance of the studies that they are pursuing.

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.

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.

Meeting closed at 17:48.