Activate - video transcript
I've been running Activate clubs with school leavers now for about four years and I really do feel that this programme makes a difference to the young people involved. They're much more confident about leaving school, they know what they want to do and they know how to get there. They've got the sorts of skills that the employers are looking for, such as team skills and communication skills. They also know how to do application forms, how to do interviews and they've all got a CV as well.
We work with guidance teachers to identify the sorts of pupils that would be suitable for Activate and once they've signed up on the programme they get involved in a mixture of group work and mentoring with their Careers Scotland adviser.
The group work that we do in class is fun and it is practical and we also have a lot of out of school activities as well such as team building days, fund raising events, visits to colleges and visits to employers.
Local and national surveys back up our positive findings about Activate, in fact in Scotland over 88 percent of young people that left Activate were still in a positive outcome three months later, but why don't we see what a couple of pupils that were involved in Activate think about the programme and their guidance teacher.
"I've been in Activate for about five months, we've done some activities like walk across the Forth Bridge to raise money for a charity. I've enjoyed all the activities that we have done."
"Activate has helped me learn more about college and helped me figure out what I want to do in the future."
"If other pupils ask me about Activate I say it's great fun, you get to meet loads of new people, helps your learn more about what you can do for your career and gives you more confidence."
"I've had a great experience on Activate club, learned lots of new things, team building exercises, what to do to be a team leader. It helps me think about careers, what I could do when I leave school and what I'd like to do when I leave school. I've had such a great time."
George Lindsay, Principal Teacher of Guidance at Kirkcaldy High School and Activate co-ordinator for the school.
"The thing we like about the Activate course is it brings together pupils of all backgrounds, all abilities and it gets them to work as a team. They pick up good life skills, things that they'll need when they leave school. The team bonding is one of the main positives about this course, it gets the pupils to work together, whereas at the beginning of the course they just wouldn't entertain even talking to each other, whereas at the end they are all working together as a team and this is a real, real positive attitude that they have."
"So we would recommend Activate to anybody, it is a really good course."
