Many young people respond to gaming technology, and LearnPlay Foundation has capitalised on this interest to engage some of the hardest-to-reach in deprived areas of the Black Country. With an ESF community grant co-financed by the Skills Funding Agency and West Midlands Councils, LearnPlay delivered innovative sessions utilising gaming consoles, creating an environment that felt safe for even those most removed from education, employment or training.
In this area both schools and community organisations have difficulty with engagement. Working with local centres, LearnPlay Foundation facilitators delivered sessions to 600 learners, helping them to identify their talents and skills and to recognise their potential for further learning that could lead to employment. Varied backgrounds within the team meant that a facilitator who was suited to the participant group could be chosen to deliver the training; LearnPlay found that many participants responded better to those from a similar background. Engagement and training was tailored to identifiable progression routes.
The Black Country area of the West Midlands contains a diverse ethnic and cultural mix of people, and pockets of deprivation. One critical issue facing some schools and communities working with young people in deprived areas is difficulty with engagement. It can be difficult to get young people to come to courses. Local community organisation who work with LearnPlay report that some young people say they will attend training but lack commitment often due to lack of self-esteem and the confidence to continue.
LearnPlay Foundation delivered its programme through the use of technology familiar to the target age group of 18- to 21-year-olds. They created games according to the needs of a particular participant group or client, making learning more accessible. With the support of an ESF community grant from the Black Country Consortium, as part of the West Midlands Councils and Skills Funding Agency’s ESF programme, the project targeted young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), inviting participants to attend sessions they hosted through local community centres. The project was designed to help participants recognise their potential, talents, and transferable skills that would offer a pathway forward into further training, education or employment.
The organisation has well established links with Sony and Apple, using source development kits to develop games for a particular platform or console. Working business to business, they developed learning games, purposely-designed for an individual participant. For example, LearnPlay could take a week of lessons from the school curriculum and develop it into a game.
According Ro Hands, managing director of the LearnPlay Foundation, young people are more likely to attend the sessions than learning provided in a traditional format. She said: “They see ten X-boxes and all the things that go with it – projector screens, steering wheels, Wii fit boards, Wii’s, PSPs, PS3s. It is like walking into a sweet shop so, of course, we’ve got their attention.”.
LearnPlay’s strategy is ‘learning by stealth’ – engaging young people and encouraging their ongoing attendance by creating an environment in which they feel comfortable, and then stretching them beyond their comfort zone. Many of the young people who participated in the project would have been on courses through Jobcentres and are not motivated by a traditional learning environment. The first session of the project was based around ‘breaking the ice’ – making participants feel comfortable and confident while developing an understanding of their profile and skill set. The facilitators gently challenged the young people’s perceptions of what they could and could not do. For example, they would ask someone who says he cannot present in front of a group, to tell everyone why a 10-year-old shouldn’t play Grand Theft Auto. After confidently speaking about this, they would point out that he has effectively made a presentation, causing him to see that he does have that skill set, and they could then work on the journey of transferring those skills towards a work context.
The project delivered the programme to nearly 600 learners (40 sessions with up to 15 participants in each session) – greatly surpassing their target of only 60 participants. The programme relied on community networks and word of mouth to reach the young people, supported by leaflets produced in collaboration with the centres. With two facilitators in each session, there was scope for individual attention as well as work in groups. Delivery ranged from single, one-off sessions to a series of two-hour sessions over a six-week period – each one adapted to meet the needs of the specific group. It was generally the case that having more time with them offered greater opportunity to ensure they moved onto a progression route. A key factor for the choice of a delivery centre was its links and accessibility to appropriate progression route/s – whether apprenticeships, college, ASDAN qualifications, or other courses – and capacity to build on the engagement programme. LearnPlay Foundation tailored the engagement training to an identifiable progression route to create a smooth transition. Working with centres that already had the contacts but were having trouble engaging participants also meant that LearnPlay didn’t have to spend valuable time and resources in contacting them to attend, resulting in zero attrition rates.
Many of the game or task working with a game console involved group work. Participants may not have thought themselves to be good at leadership or management and yet they undertook tasks that involved problem solving, deciding who would carry out each role (task allocation), and agreeing to complete within a specific time frame (time management). They were surprised when told which skills they were demonstrating. All participants received a certificate if they completed the session or group of sessions and, for some, it was the first certificate they had received, engendering pride in new-found abilities. The project was able to help participants break through barriers without casting judgment or challenging family and cultural structures and beliefs.
Ro Hands explained, “The programme stops them focusing on their differences. You give them something else to focus on and their barriers don’t enter their thinking. Diverting their attention to a common purpose, a shared interest, means they don’t have time to remember some of the organised thinking or prejudices that they may have. Some of the young people who are classified as ‘difficult’ are simply masking their own perceived inadequacies. They don’t want you to know that they can’t do x, y or z. It’s much easier to be the aggressor and they don’t feel a loss of control. With gaming type interventions they forget they have to have that bravado or attitude. They see others like themselves, find themselves in a safe environment and can drop the pretence.’
Impact
One of the organisations in the community centre network that identified the young people to participate was the Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) in Sandwell.
Abdul Kahar, senior youth officer at Sandwell PAYP, said: “Some young people have difficulty with basic skills such as team working, interpersonal skills and social interaction, which can be a barrier to further learning or finding employment. LearnPlay has developed an innovative approach of engaging learners to help develop these skills and encourage interaction with other learners. The sessions had high impact in regards to attracting and keeping young people and developing their confidence and soft skills.”
A LearnPlay beneficiary, Jack Cook, stated that the LearnPlay sessions “Helped me develop my confidence skills and self-belief. By working in a team, I met other people and developed friendships. I am aware of a number of things that I can do as a result of the sessions and I now want to go to college to further develop my basic skills, take GCSE exams and look at career opportunities.’
Article via esf-works.com
