INFORMALLY ACCREDITING YOUNG PEOPLE'S INVOLVEMENT IN PROJECT PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND/OR DELIVERY

What is it?
Informal accreditation enables young people to demonstrate that they learn from informal experience. Young people, like any other people, are continually learning but frequently do not recognise what they have learned or do not think that it could have value.

Informal differs from formal accreditation only in that there is no assessment of a 'level' of ability. It fully recognises the specific skills and/or knowledge that have been gained or improved. This means that anyone working with young people can put an individual forward without having the 'permission' of an awarding body. Essentially, an informal system puts none off, neither young people nor those working with them, through being complicated.

How will it work?
The Mayor of Torfaen, as its promoter, gives credibility to the scheme to young people, their parents and employers. The quality of work and presentations must reinforce this credibility.

 Young people join the scheme through being directly involved in experiences or projects but do not have to 'sign up' to it until they see its value. It will be up to the person working with them to decide the best time to bring out the accreditation possibility. This recognises that, for many young people, it is the last thing they would expect to do in their own free time.

 Six areas have been selected in which young people show the development of skills and abilities during everyday life. Examples of each of these are on the next page. They are:-

 Organising and running projects                                                    Working with younger children

Leadership and representation                        Youth Action in Communities

   Caring for/supporting people                                                              Environmental Awareness

 By having several areas for accreditation, young people have more chances to try it out and gain confidence before, perhaps, taking the plunge into formal accreditation. Additionally, it gives prospective employers a wider view of the skills, knowledge and commitment of the young people which may not be evident from their formal certificates.

Who is it for?
While the scheme is for targeting at those who do not have, or are unlikely to have, formal accreditation, it must be available to all young people. In particular, where young people's self esteem and confidence are low, they benefit all the more when have success at the same time as others who they recognise as achievers.

 All kinds of activity can be accredited such as running a coffee bar in a youth club, being involved in a community or youth committee, arranging a sports tournament, helping at a play scheme, doing a mural or being involved in an environmental project,

Young people should be aged 13-19 and another may be devised for those under 13. To offer this scheme to those under 13 would particularly lessen its value to and decrease' its uptake by those 15-19 year olds who we wish to progress on to formal accreditation.

EXAMPLES OF THE SIX AREAS

While some of the examples may seem to be very time consuming, a young person would not have to be involved in all aspects (of planning, development and delivery). Equally, the amount of responsibility each of them took on would have to be relevant to the capability, trust and experience they could carry. This would then be reflected in the skills they gained.

 1.            ORGANISING AND RUNNING PROJECTS

·      Arranging a trip to the seaside.
·      Helping to organise a holiday / exchange. 
.      Working to set up a skate park.
·      Running the youth club coffee bar (including stock purchase and account keeping).
.      Taking part in organising a tournament.

 2.            LEADERSHIP AND REPRESENTATION. 

·      Being a member of a youth forum in a school or local community. 
·      Going to a community association to give the views of young people. 
·      Leading a team (sports, out-doors, quiz!). 
·      Being a committee member and learning committee skills.
·      Going to a youth conference.

 3.            CARING FOR/SUPPORTING PEOPLE 

·      Doing the shopping for an elderly person.
·      Babysitting for a neighbour.
·      Helping a disabled young person to go to the youth club.
·      Arranging a gardening scheme.
 ·     Taking a relative's children to the park.

4.             YOUTH ACTION 

·      Arranging and doing a community clean up.
·      Organising and taking part in a Carol Concert at the Elderly People's Home.
·      Arranging a volunteering scheme for the locality.
·      Consulting on local views on crime.
·      Making a video on drugs or health issues.

5.             WORKING WITH YOUNGER CHILDREN. 

·      Helping at a play scheme. 
·      Working in a junior club.
·      Helping take a group to a theme park.
·      Help training a junior sport team.
·      Doing craft with children at an after school club.

 6.            ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS.

·        Working or caring for small animals (not personal pets).
.        Participating in gardening projects.
.        Creating wildlife gardens or ponds.
.        Participating in community environmental projects.
.        Organising a recycling scheme, newspapers, bottles, cans etc.

GUIDELINES FOR THE MAYOR'S AWARD
THE PROCESS

 Young person becomes involved in a group/project. They can at any time during its planning, development or implementation stages.

A significant adult involved with the group/project observes the young person and his/her involvement and keeps a note of what she/he has done.               

When this adult’s judgment considers the young person will respond positively, the former seeks to interest the latter in the advantages of getting a certificate for her/his involvement in the most appropriate of the five areas.

The adult and the young person discuss what the latter has put into and got out of the project. From this, they find out what skills and knowledge have been demonstrated and developed. They can then fill out a proforma in the young person's own words though not necessarily filled in by her/him. They include an estimated time spent on the project/activity (the only value that is 'measured')

 The proforma is sent off to the scheme manager who issues a certificate, which includes a description of the skills and knowledge gained (i.e, not just a certificate with the project name on it) and arranges an official presentation at a venue agreed with young people.

EXAMPLES OF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPED

In addition to the obvious examples of hard skills young people learn or improve upon, such as painting and decorating, art work or children's play, there is a range of soft skills they gain and in which potential employers claim to have greater interest. Some of these are:-

consultation               negotiation         time management             expressing opinions

decision making                  organisation         honesty                  keeping diary

finding information             keeping information           using information               giving information             

equal opportunities             planning                passing messages               publicity               

problem solving   using initiative     confidence             teamwork

Soft skills should be as prominent on the certificate as the hard skills.

The scheme can be used for progression to formal accreditation but has its own value.

Need more information?

Then please telephone Ruth Saunders on 01495 758868

TOP OF PAGE
Contact Us   Home   Back  A to Z index