As educators we can increase our knowledge of local services and opportunities and be able to talk about them and recommend them to students.

It is good to make contact and collaborate with youth centres, and share knowledge and information. Youth workers will have information and advice in return on how best to support children too. 

National Youthwork strategy:

“Strengthening partnerships between school staff and youth work practitioners remains a priority for [the] Curriculum for Excellence programme…”

Collaboration between professional groups to support children and their families is seen as advantageous in the Scottish Government’s Educational governance 2017.

There is a recognition that time constraints can make these collaborations difficult but networks of collaboration are beneficial for supporting children with additional support needs, and for closing the attainment gap. (Marcus, 2016)

Involving community services and families when appropriate can be a great benefit to a young person’s learning and development. Community services play a vital role for many children, but face severe budget pressures. It is important that we as educators support youth work however we can.

Many approaches taken by youth services to encourage confidence, autonomy, create a nurturing environment, and to develop positive relationships can be employed within a school setting too and can promote successful transitions (Field & Hoffman, 2012) - In conclusion, we can learn a lot from other partners in education and childcare and work together to help deliver the best for Scotland’s children.