Resources for Community groups

Engaging with Ethnic Minority Parents

Over the course of the project Gathered Together has run over 40 workshops with over 350 EM parents in partnership with other organisations (including ESOL classes, faith groups and community projects)- you can read the full report from our work here. Ethnic Minority parents are often viewed as being “hard to reach”, particular when there are language and cultural barriers to engagement. The Gathered Together team were able to use what we have learned from our work with EM parents to feed into the work of the Networking European Citizenship Education (NECE) focus group on “hard to reach learners” and, together with our colleagues at Bemis developed a set of guidelines

how-to-engage-em-htr-groups-cover  How to engage with ethnic minorities and hard to reach groups

These guidelines have been designed to facilitate the challenging process of reaching ethnic communities and migrants and building capacity in order to support inclusion and integration of the group members, stakeholders and networks. They consist of a range of creative, ready-made activities that, taken together, offer a toolkit for tackling exclusion of diverse ethnic and migrant groups.

 The Gathered Together Toolkit- “Understanding the Scottish Education System”

For parents new to Scotland the education system can be bewildering. Many parents do not feel they understand how their children are taught, the way they are assessed and all the supports that are available. We believe that it is vital parents have the right information so that they can support their children’s learning and give them the help and advice to fulfill their potential. Our toolkit is designed for anyone working with ethic minority families and designed to give an overview of four key areas:

  • The Scottish education system
  • Post 16 Choices
  • Parental Involvement
  • Keeping children safe, healthy and happy

For more information and to download the toolkit click here

Community Action Learning set

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In October in 2015 we ran an Action Learning Set for community practitioners who answered yes to these questions:

Are you a community organisation working with Ethnic Minority families?
Do you support them with their children’s learning and school matters?
Would your organisation like to develop greater confidence in supporting parents with these issues?

The Action Learning Set offered a unique opportunity to community organisations to come together to develop their skills and knowledge to better support families.The  Set gave community practitioners the opportunity to:

  • share their knowledge and experiences
  • reflect on their practice
  • enhance their listening, questioning and feedback giving skills
  • enable them to provide a better informed service for families

For more details about Action Learning Sets click here. A full report on the findings from the Community Action Learning Set will be available on the website shortly

Community Champion training

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Who are Community Champions?

Community champions are volunteers who have strong links with local ethnic minority communities.  Initially, we are supporting our Champions to promote parental involvement within these communities.  As time progresses, this role will grow and be shaped by the Champions

What training and support do we offer?

The short answer to this is, “As much as we can!”

We offer all volunteers a full day training session at the start where we explore the role and look at what support will be needed.  At the end of this day, we develop individual plans.  We will then organise follow up days for all of the volunteers.  We stay in regular contact with the Champions and will do whatever else we can to help them in their roles.

What do I need to do if I want to become a Community Champion?

Get in touch with Richard at Gathered Together at richard.bloodworth@bemis.org.uk or phone on 0141 548 8047.  He will talk through how we can move things on for you.