To mark #iWill Week 2024, we’re very pleased to share this guest blog from the Association of Colleges. Our partnership with the Association of Colleges started in 2018, through the Pears #iWill Fund, working on how to offer high quality, sustainable youth social action opportunities to young people in further education. Six years on, we are delighted to be supporting the second cohort of Youth Social Action apprentices across the country to develop their own skills while making a tangible impact in their colleges, partner colleges and wider communities.
Apprenticeships offer hands-on experience in a variety of careers. But without funding, it might not be possible for some of these training programmes to materialise. For three years, generous funding from the Pears Foundation has enabled Leeds City College, a member of Luminate Education Group, to increase its social action provision. We look at the life-changing impact this funding had on Florence Smith-Drayson’s education journey, turning her passion for creating positive change into a rewarding career.
A pathway to social action
In 2021, Florence was one of five apprentices that participated in a Youth Social Action programme set up by the Association of Colleges (AoC) and funded by the Pears Foundation. The scheme hoped these apprenticeships would encourage young people to engage with local issues.
Florence’s apprenticeship led to the delivery of 61 social action projects, involving approximately 783 students at Leeds City College, Leeds Conservatoire, Harrogate College (all members of Luminate Education Group) and Leeds College of Building. One project, Language Buddies, enabled 40 English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students to practise English outside of lessons.
Eight native-speaking students partnered with these learners, organising events at different campuses while developing their leadership skills. For the ESOL students, the initiative provided opportunities to socialise, expand their vocabulary and gain introductions to different accents and slang.
“As well as benefiting all involved, I think a true measure of the Language Buddies project’s success is that it was included on our College of Sanctuary application, which was successfully granted”, says Florence.
Florence’s apprenticeship even facilitated partnerships with external colleges and organisations, such as Mafwa Theatre. She organised a Latin American Culture Night at Leeds Conservatoire that doubled as a fundraiser for the charity, which provides creative opportunities for female refugees and asylum seekers.
In another extracurricular activity, students at Leeds City College and Leeds College of Building created a garden of sanctuary in Lincoln Green, an area with a large migrant and asylum seeker population. From digging plants to cleaning graffiti and painting handrails, the project allowed the learners to give back to the community whilst building valuable skills for the future.
What made it most worthwhile was how students had the opportunity to connect with residents, including a sanctuary seeker who assisted with the garden work and even joined them for lunch.
“Hearing how students interacted with the community was one of the best moments of my career,” Florence says. “This is what we do it for – to create positive change.”
A subsequent scheme by the Pears Foundation and AoC allowed Florence to advance into a mentorship role after her apprenticeship, facilitating further professional development.
As a Youth Social Action Leadership Coordinator and social action mentor, she took the lead on multiple initiatives, guiding apprentices in the art of organising impactful projects. Her mentorship inspired others to create events that encouraged others to come together and develop a sense of social responsibility.
Her current role as a Social Action Leadership Coordinator, which is part-funded by the Foundation, resulted in 613 students engaging in 24 projects across 2023-24.
Why apprenticeship funding matters
Florence’s career trajectory is a testament to the positive impact that can arise when educators and philanthropic organisations come together and how these partnerships can improve lives.
The success of these projects has led to social action being embedded in Luminate Education Group’s Student Voice Strategy. This means learners at each of its institutions can not only be involved in the initiatives, but have a say in shaping them.
To mark the partnership, representatives of the Foundation visited the Leeds City College North Street and Quarry Hill campuses in September. Sir Trevor Pears and Bridget Kohner, Director and Co-Director of the Foundation, received a personal tour of the facilities, learning first-hand how Florence’s work continues to benefit its 16-18 and adult learners.
This includes anot
her garden project, this time at North Street Campus, where ESOL learners and staff created an outdoor wellbeing space, along with the Planet Earth Games competition that saw 280 students test their skills in various environmentally-friendly challenges.
And as part of the Ask For Angela scheme, Creative Arts students – along with a learner at Leeds Conservatoire – collaborated with Women’s Lives Leeds to produce a training video that promotes women’s safety to bar staff in over 600 venues across Leeds.
Florence says her story highlights the importance of apprenticeship funding, especially in lesser known industries.
“When most people think of apprenticeships nowadays, they think about construction, plumbing, motor vehicle and engineering – not social action or community work”, Florence says. “This is why we need more industries to offer youth work apprenticeships so that more individuals can benefit from this form of training, hopefully making a difference in the process.
“Without the funding from the Pears Foundation, I wouldn’t be where I am today, working in a role that I love.”