Give Learning a Sporting Chance

1st January 2008 – 31st March 2010

The Give Learning a Sporting Chance project uses sport as the hook to encourage young people aged 16-25 back into learning.

After an unsuccessful bid to Learning Connections at Communities Scotland for Pathfinder Funding in 2004- the first series of projects began in five local areas in 2005 with seed funding from ESF to help match the literacies money local partners. 

Sixty young people worked to improve their literacy and numeracy skills by learning about football-the industry with football clubs Rangers and Celtic working alongside staff from Glasgow City Council; North Lanarkshire Council working to support twenty young people through a programme at Motherwell Football Club; Livingston Football Club opened their doors to West Lothian young people supported and delivered by West Lothian Council.

Due to the lack of funding available for our work in the North of Scotland Highlands and Islands Council began a project with Ross County Football Club and extended this to work with Inverness Caledonian Thistle later.

Each area ran their own style of project with the club, but used the basic premise of using football the industry as the course content.

Participants were encouraged to focus on: developing interview skills and techniques, planning and writing a newspaper article, using a dictionary and using computer software to make a storyboard.  

The Next Stages

The project's next phases of development will move to working with older people and sport and encouraging greater participation in learning and sport from the over 50's

For further information, please contact Deborah on 0131 220 5567 or deborah.bowie@scotlandslearning.org.uk

See all themes running in January 2008 or the whole of 2008.