I'd like to go to college

New research published by SCSH shows that homeless people can gain college qualifications without attending college

It is widely recognised that homeless people face enormous barriers to accessing further education. Many have the capacity to achieve qualifications, but may lack the stability, confidence or skills necessary to travel to college every day, attend classes, and do the necessary homework. Nevertheless, given adequate support, many homeless young people would like to go to college.

This new report from Scottish Council for Single Homeless, funded by the Edinburgh Youth Social Inclusion Partnership (EYSIP) and supported by Stevenson College , presents one innovative way of facing the challenge.

Homeless young people are frequently in the process of informally acquiring knowledge and skills that sometimes overlap with knowledge and skills taught in colleges. Often such skills are acquired through participation in voluntary activities organised by outreach or support projects, which provide opportunities for team-work and personal and social development.

With this in mind, SCSH entered into dialogue with Stevenson College regarding ways of accrediting such learning without requiring participants to attend college. The aim was not to invent a new qualification but to see whether through their involvement in a project we could generate the evidence required by a college.

Ismael Velasco, SCSH Research Co-ordinator, who planned the project, comments:

"The research provided clear evidence that young homeless people want the chance to go to college and, given the right support, can succeed in gaining accreditation for skills they acquire through user involvement.

The strength of the approach is shown by the fact that one participant has signed up to a course at Stevenson College and another is applying to Telford College ."

The final word, though, should go to some of the young people who participated in the research. Their comments included:

"If you like what you’re doing you’ll learn. We didn’t have to come along to any of the sessions on this but we came because we enjoyed it"

"Even if I say stupid things, people don’t laugh at me"

"More confident about speaking to adults in a different, more formal way – because I had to do it in the study visit"

The report is available from SCSH at £10. Projects in the Edinburgh area can receive a free copy thanks to the Edinburgh Youth SIP funding of the research.

Additional details on the research

• A recent survey of New Futures Fund clients noted that more than 45% had no qualifications at all.
• The methodology developed in this project was named accreditation through participation, and arose out of a desire to relate the educational approach of youth work to the formal systems of further education.
• SQA accreditation functions by the gathering of a portfolio of evidence that demonstrates skills or knowledge. By matching the evidence that would be generated in our participatory research project to the menu of courses delivered by Stevenson College , the SQA "Local Investigation Unit" was identified as the accreditation which best met the learning programme envisaged.
• A study visit to Aberdeen for the participants was organised to examine two separate agencies. Full details of the programme are outlined in the report.