Services for Young People

Memorandum submitted by the Museums and Libraries Archives

1. Introduction.

· The MLA is the government’s agency for museums, libraries and

archives. Leading strategically we promote best practice to inspire innovative, integrated and sustainable services for all.

· The MLA welcomes this opportunity to respond to the Education

Committee’s inquiry into the provision of services beyond the school / college day for young people aged 13-25.

2. Relationship between universal and targeted services for young people.

· Museums, libraries and archives are universal services open to all, supporting children, young people, adults and families to access learning opportunities throughout life.

· Museums, libraries and archives offer young people: the chance to

actively shape services and activities; volunteering opportunities;

positive activities to develop skills and knowledge for learning, life

and employment; free, safe and welcoming community spaces;

formal and informal learning support for educational attainment;

inspiring collections and reading materials, including online

access; support from trained and knowledgeable staff and

information on education, training and careers opportunities.

· As local community spaces they are particularly accessible to disadvantaged young people and families.

· The sector also reaches out to priority audiences through targeted

activity and outreach.

3. Meeting the Government’s priorities for volunteering.

· Young people, particularly within hard to reach and less well off

groups, need more information, advice and guidance on the

volunteer and work placement opportunities available to them.

Public libraries act as local community information hubs, providing

a network for disseminating this information through the community

internet service. Libraries are accessible local services, with trained

staff and are open extended hours, including weekends.

· Museums, libraries and archives provide out of school opportunities

aimed at helping young people to access volunteering opportunities

which offer a bridge between unemployment and training or work.

· MLA evidence suggests that young volunteers increasingly recognise

the potential benefits of volunteering for themselves in enhancing their

confidence and skills levels and realising the long-term benefits of

greater educational attainment and employability.

(See Stepping Stones into Work case study).

· In both disseminating information and providing their own volunteering

and work placement opportunities museums, libraries and archives are well placed to contribute to meeting government priorities for

volunteering and the National Citizen Service.

4. What young people want from services and their role in shaping provision.

· A priority should be to increase the proportion of young people

participating in out of school activities, particularly those not currently engaging. In the cultural sector, for example, engagement is greater

with young people of better educated parents than with those young people whose parents have few qualifications.

MLA believes that out of school activities need to be personalised to

the needs of young people who are more likely to participate in

activities they develop and deliver as active creators rather than

passive consumers. There are a number of examples of the success

of this approach in the sector which MLA can share with the Education

Committee. (See The Mighty Creatives and Stories of the World case studies)

· The MLA has worked in partnership with the National Youth Agency

(NYA) to support the sector to develop programmes and policies to involve young people and use the NYA’s Hear By Right participation toolkit.

· In addition youth services and cultural services should make use of

the powerful communication opportunities available through social

media to disseminate information about opportunities and events to

reach the widest possible young audience.

5. Roles of the voluntary, community, statutory and private sectors

· Museums, libraries and archives collaborate continuously with a range

of agencies and local services that support outcomes for young people.

It is important that local services work together to contribute to local authority objectives and in the commissioning climate provide relevant programmes for local authorities and users to access. For example,

RAF Cosford partnership with Juniper Training and l ocal schools to develop employability skills in NEETS and young people and the Wolverhampton Art Gallery partnership with Kerrang Radio for positive activities for young people in Wolverhampton.

· The sector provides unique services for young people, often in partnership with a range of professionals, such as writers, artists, designers, performers and experts in particular specialisms, which young people may not have access to through traditional statutory services.

For example, Literature in Context with the British Library and

Design for Life with the Victoria and Albert Museum.

6. Training and workforce development needs of the sector.

· MLA has invested in effective programmes that support learning

p rofessionals , including existing and trainee teachers and support staff ,

to work in partnership with museums and archives to integrate creative learning approaches in and out of the classroom.

· Whilst the funding for this programme ends in April 2011, we believe it

provides a transferable model to support continuing professional development and facilitate skills sharing between youth services and the wider voluntary, community and private sectors and museums, libraries and archives.

7. Impact of public sector spending cuts on funding and commissioning and maximizing available resources.

· At a time of scarce resources and with the need to achieve more

with less it is important resources are maximised at the local level. Museums, libraries and archives work in partnership with local authorities and other local services to provide a range of learning opportunities for young people, families and intergenerational groups. Co-location of services can be a powerful way of providing joined up services.

See Moss Side Powerhouse Case Study.

· MLA has been upskilling the sector to respond to the new commissioning

model of delivering services for children and young people in partnership

with Campaign for Learning.

8. Impact of local government structures and statutory frameworks

on service provision.

· Museums, libraries and archives have developed partnerships and

programmes that can be embedded in the commissioning cycle within local authorities to deliver positive outcomes for young people and contribute to the localism and Big Society agenda.

9. Case Studies

Stepping Stones into Work

This project explores how twenty museums in the east of England can develop volunteering, work placement and apprenticeship opportunities to meet the needs of those unemployed young people aged 18-24 who are keen to enter or re-enter the workplace. The project looks at the potential role museums can play as a stepping stone to employment, providing work experience in a professional environment, helping young people develop confidence and transferable skills. The museums offer a diverse range of job opportunities in front-of-house, retail, catering and learning. At least ten of these jobs will be offered as one-year apprenticeships linked to a local college, so that young people can work towards a formal qualification.

The Mighty Creatives

The Mighty Creatives in the East Midlands and East of England use a

delivery framework to put young people at the heart of all project

development and delivery. Guiding principles, the 4Cs, ensure that all young people are better informed consumers, critics, creators and commissioners of cultural activities. The 4Cs framework as a model seeks to engage more children and young people in cultural activities for the first time, but also provides a clear pathway for progression. Children and young people can move from consumers to commissioners as they shape cultural activity.

Stories of the World

Stories of the World, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad,

showcases innovation and excellence in museums, libraries and archives by using their rich collections to tell inspirational stories to a worldwide audience. Young people are at the heart of th is t he largest youth participation project ever delivered by museums with more than 1500 young people now recruited as curators to lead and develop the projects.

Creative Apprenticeships in Museums

Through an investment of £425,000 from 2009–12, fifty apprenticeships are being offered into museums to people from a non-traditional backgrounds. The apprentices working over one year will take a

level 2 qualification with the option of progressing to level 3 during a second year of employment. Evaluation of the scheme has shown apprentices have been able to gain vocational skills alongside studying for a qualification, as well as learning useful life-skills, developing the capacity to become self-managing, improving confidence and self-esteem. For many apprentices, the experience can re-ignite aspiration, including influencing choices to progress to further or higher education.

Moss Side Powerhouse

The Moss Side Powerhouse is a powerful example of the positive outcomes that co-location can bring. The centre includes a library, homework centre, youth club, education and training opportunities, careers advice, personal advisors and support for excluded pupils

as well as sport and other leisure activities. Students from Manchester University act as peer supports in the homework club.

Get It Loud in Libraries (GILL)

An exciting and innovative music project for young people in

Lancashire Libraries. Live music gigs are regularly held in libraries outside opening hours, attracting some of the best pop talent in the country. MLA and Lancashire Libraries have developed a step-by-step guide to staging live music events and extending GILIL to libraries across England. GILIL attracts young people and other non-users into libraries and promotes libraries as vibrant and relevant cultural venues by using contemporary music as a way of encouraging volunteering, creativity and literacy in young people. It has attracted large amounts of media interest from a number of sources including NME, The Sunday Times and BBC TV and Radio 3.

December 2010