Youth in Action - Youth Cross Boundaries / the Swinglish Exchange Project Report on the Preparatory visit to partner organisation in Karlskrona, Sweden Saturday 11 September - Wednesday 15 September 2010

Introduction The purpose of this report is to provide feedback about the Advanced Planning Visit (APV) to Karlskrona, Sweden. The APV was undertaken in order for the planned programme to be finalised and to help cement the dialogue between the two groups. It was also an opportunity to be able to meet face to face with the leaders and young people and jointly plan the programme in more detail, scope out the travel itinerary and accommodation and discuss working methods and other practicalities. During the APV the youth leaders and young people from Sunderland and Karlskrona discussed who will lead the team exercises and workshops and what the themes will be for the main exchange visit. One adult and two young people undertook the APV, funding through Youth in Action. An additional adult travelled with the group as a volunteer, self funded. The information and findings from the APV would be fed back to the young people in order to be able to prepare group tasks for the main exchange in late October 2010. Background Connexions Youth Engagement Group is made up of young people aged 13-19 years of age consisting of approximately 23 members. The remit of the group is to help Connexions shape the service that is provided to young people. They do this by getting involved in the recruitment and selection of staff, observing activities and inspecting Connexions facilities. They have also attended not in education, employment or training (NEET) and curriculum conferences. The group were keen to take part in an exchange with a European country. They hoped to understand and learn from how another country helps and supports young people into learning, work or training. They wanted to compare and contrast young people’s life chances and how these can be affected by a range of issues including social deprivation. The young people hoped to do this whilst making new friends and breaking down any barriers associated with encountering young people from a different culture. The young people decided an exchange with Sweden would provide a unique opportunity to understand some of these issues. An expression of interest was sent to Sweden and two replies were received. The young people examined both and decided that the group from Karlskrona had more experience of taking part in this type of exchange and would offer a better opportunity for them to learn from.

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The young people have met with the Strategic Programmes & European Team on a number of occasions and participated in the writing of the funding application. They have met several times in order to discuss what they would like to learn from the visit. To help prepare for the visit the young people spent a weekend planning. They visited Keilder Cabins in Northumberland and stayed overnight. The purpose of the weekend was twofold. Firstly, the group got to know each other a little better through the planned team building exercises and it was an opportunity for the Workers to get to know the young people better too. Secondly the group worked on the theme of “social inclusion” and looked at what opportunities exist in the Sunderland area. They focussed on Education, Training, Employment, Health, Leisure, and Cultural activities. Connexions Workers have met several times with parents to explain the project and provide as much information about this exchange as possible. Within Connexions we also had to secure approval for staff to undertake this work. Preparation work with the Sunderland Youth Engagement Group continued throughout the months leading up to the APV. The group set up a Face Book site named Swinglish and posted photographs and a short introduction about themselves. The young people took part in a web link and spoke to the Swedish organiser. We used Digital Challenge’s site at Doxford Park to do this. The young people prepared an introduction about Sunderland and sent this to the Swedish group. Our Swedish partner sent details about websites where the young people could access information about Karlskrona. The group had to think about how they were going to raise the match funding required for the project. Several meetings took place about this and we also met with parents in order to have then on board and fully committed to supporting the young people in this endeavour. Two groups of young people then applied for funding through a Key Fund Panel, and were successful. They received money to help with two fund raising activities. One a “Swedish Fund Raising” fun night and the other a “Band Night”. They also agreed to contact all the major supermarkets and request an opportunity to undertake a “bag pack” activity. Overview of the meetings and activities undertaken during the APV Day

Time

Meeting / Activity

Saturday 11 September 2010

Evening

Overnight stay in Copenhagen due to the lateness of flight.

Sunday 12 September 2010

Arrival in Karlskrona early evening

Transported to the Hostel. Met with our host Ann-Christin Bohman who took us for a meal and a very quick look around the town.

Monday 13 September 2010

Early morning

After breakfast we had our first meeting with one of the town’s officials.

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Tuesday 14 September 2010

8.30

We met Ann-Katrin Olsson, Head of the Sport and Recreation Department.

9.30

Visit to one of the local schools (Chapman School) to meet other teachers, the Principal, Social Worker and Youth Worker.

12.00 – 13.00

Lunch – provided at the school.

13.00 – 14.30

Met with young people in various lessons, shared information about education system and life in school.

15.00 – 16.00

Met with the Chief Executive of the City Office of Karlskrona. Mrs Ingrid Augustinsson and Mr Jesper Jorjesson Social Field Worker.

16.00 – 18.30

Free time

18.30 – 19.30

Supper at the Porslinan Youth Club and met with the Board of the Youth Club.

19.30 – 20.30

Discussions with the young people about how they can be involved in the project.

07.45

Morning meeting with a class of students under Ann Christin’s care.

9.00 – 12.00

Visits to Tornstromska Upper School where the vocational subjects are taught and Sunnadal School. The latter is a school on the outskirts of the town where 95% of the school population is from various ethnic groups and only 5% of the school’s population is Swedish).

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Wednesday 15 September 2010

12.00 – 13.00

Lunch taken in school.

13.00 – 14.00

Met with Mr. Tobias, Principal of Chapman School and other teachers.

14.00 – 15.00

Break

15.00 – 16.30

Met with staff and young people to plan activities for the main visit.

17.30 – 19.00

Visit to Oden – Music House which is a project run by young people.

19.30

Evening meal with our hosts.

06.30

Farewell to hosts and train to Copenhagen and then return flight to Newcastle.

Summary of Discussions Meeting with Officials In our meetings with the Principal Officers from various departments and the town’s Chief Executive we were impressed with their knowledge about Sunderland and their keenness to set up a partnership relationship with our City. The Chief Executive provided an overview of the history of the town. Karlskrona has a population of 63,000 and a Naval Port, with a history of ship building. The town has ferry links to Poland and Eastern Europe and in recent times they have seen an influx in migrants from all over the world. The town is trying it’s best to cope with these new demands. We discussed the Education system in Sweden and aspirations of young people. Most young people remain in Education until they are 19 or 20 years of age. There is no “law” to make them stay in Education beyond 16, or the end of their compulsory education, but most young people do stay. We discussed how young people who drop out are supported and encouraged to return to education. We also discussed other provision for young people and how the town endeavours to support its young people. As well as education we discussed leisure, personal development and employment opportunities. The Field Social Worker and the Principal Head of Social Work described in great detail the preventative work that is undertaken to support young people at an earlier age and thus prevent some of the potential difficulties that might arise with young people in their teens. The town 4

heavily invests in their early intervention strategy. An example given was of a young person “stealing a chocolate”. If this was to happen then immediately “social care” would descend on the family and put a package of care around that young person. They would have a field social worker attached to the family and they would work with the family to ensure this type of behaviour did not lead to further anti social behaviour. Families cooperated with their social care department and it was viewed by families as very serious if they were visited by someone from social care. The police, social care, leisure and youth work departments work very closely together. For more problematic families a special social worker would be attached to a young person. The description given seemed a personal mentor. These social workers would work with a caseload of 8-10 and would stay with the young person as long as they needed it. They would have contact as frequently as was needed and in as many situations as was required. They talked about these social workers as surrogate parent’s even friends to the young person and their job was not to let the young person down, but to show them that someone did care about them. Field Social Workers were deployed on the streets working in any “hot spots” where disorder took place. Drinking and drugs were main concerns and field workers would attempt to engage with groups and provide alternative activities. There was huge concern about drinking and “narcotic” use among young people. There was also a strong message from everyone we met, that drinking and drug use was not to be tolerated. There was no debate about whether some drug use should or should not be legalised. There was a definite message that drug use was not good for society. Leisure/Youth Work This was an integrated department and provided a range of youth services. It seemed literally anyone could set up a “youth club”. This could be in a leisure centre, in a vacant house on an estate, and payment for these came from the town’s budget and paid on the number of young people who attended activities. If no one attended; the “club” didn’t receive any money. The officials were also proud of a couple of youth centres that were entirely run by young people. Education We met with several teaching staff at each of the schools we visited. Chapman School is where Social Sciences subjects are taught. Pupils are aged 17 to 20 years old (Upper Secondary School). They study up to 14 subjects with English being a compulsory subject. We met with a group of pupils who are keen to take part in this exchange. Our young people (Ruth and Patrick) gave a talk about their experience of education in Sunderland and discussed their aspirations and plans. A group of young people then took responsibility for Ruth and Patrick and showed them around their school. We visited Tornstromska Upper School which was within walking distance of Chapman School. This school taught all the vocational subjects on a huge site and each floor housed a different discipline, e.g. construction trades on the basement, music art drama on another floor, ICT/Media design on another. We met with some enthusiastic teachers who were really keen to set up partnerships with school/college staff in Sunderland. The tutor in the Music Department for example would welcome an exchange with someone from Sunderland to learn how music is taught here. The music industry in huge in Sweden. The ICT teacher was exceptionally enthusiastic and really keen to set up a virtual link with Sunderland. His students have just designed a virtual site where people can walk around their school. They have also just won a 5

contract from council officials to design a site that will enable people to walk around a virtual Karlskrona town site. We talked about the City Learning Centres, Digital Challenge and Sunderland winning the Microsoft bid. Again, this teacher would welcome any potential opportunities for an exchange. We met with a group of apprentices and they described their courses. They too are keen to take part in this exchange. The apprenticeship scheme is part of their Upper Secondary School education; they attend three days with an employer and continue their studies in core subjects on the other two days and are not paid for this. The employer undertakes an agreement at the beginning of this arrangement and there is the promise of work on completion of their apprenticeship. Some apprenticeships can take up to 4 years to complete. Employers have a great deal of input in the development of the school’s curriculum. Courses on offer are matched to job opportunities. In Chapman School we met with the Principal Tobias Ekblads and some of his staff who are keen to take part in this exchange. He would welcome closer contacts with Sunderland and to develop this partnership. All the students we spoke to had high aspirations, excellent English and ambitions to travel around the world or find work abroad, before settling down or undertaking their University education. All young people have access to a free school lunch, there is one healthy option available for all. Young people start their school day at 8.00 a.m. and remain there until 4.00 p.m. They have one hour for lunch and while the Upper School buildings are in the middle of the town, young people remain within the school. Leisure/Youth Work We visited two youth centres run by young people. The first, the Porslinan Youth Club was a former porcelain factory and the huge kilns where pottery was fired now makes an interesting feature within this youth club that is funded by the local community. The second was the Oden-Music House, again run by young people. This centre also holds music festivals, many famous bands patronise the club because they wish to support the ethos of the Music House and those who run it. This property is owned by an organisation that opposes drink and drugs. It is a prominent organisation in Sweden and has huge kudos in political circles and they pay for full time workers to run the centre. Everyone who visits or uses the centre must agree not to use drink or drugs. If this agreement is broken the organisation would withdraw its funding. There seemed to be a huge respect amongst the young people to ensure that this agreement is not compromised. Our hosts explained that Nykterhetsrorelsens Bildningsverksamhet (NBV) was a huge political organisation with a great deal of influence and part of its remit is to encourage people not to drink. Discussions with school based social workers / counsellors, focussed on how they support young people who drop out of education and projects to encourage them back into school. The town had hardly any teenage parents, so few in fact there was no particular provision for any young parents aged 16-19. We visited Sunnadal School on the outskirts of the town. The school is surrounded by two large social housing estates and this is where the main ethic minority population can be found. The 6

town has seen an influx in migrants and asylum seekers and they are trying their best to “integrate” people. The school we visited had pupils from nursery age through to 16. Everyone is taught English and Swedish and if there are more than 3 people in a group they are entitled to a lesson in their mother tongue. Over 42 languages are taught in this school. Teachers encourage parents to come to school to learn English and Swedish too. The debate during the recent Swedish election was about integration versus assimilation and how this can be achieved. The Swedish teachers we met appeared to encourage the integration programme in this school and hoped that the young people and their families would assimilate into Swedish society. Once the young people reached 16 they transfer to Chapman or Tornstromska Upper Schools. They will join one of these larger Upper Schools and meet/mix with other Swedish young people, leaving a school where there is a 95% intake from ethnic groups and only 5% of pupils come of a Swedish background. The lower school a few miles away has a 95% Swedish population and 5% intake from ethnic groups. A programme of integration is in place to try to help young people settle into their new environment. Conclusion I think we have met many of the objectives set in the project’s proposal. Our main visit in October will give us a huge opportunity to develop an interesting partnership with our hosts in Karlskrona. During our short visit there was a balance between formal input from the hosts and visiting participants and the informal learning through the social interaction between both the young people and adults. Our hosts were gracious, polite and we were warmly welcomed to their town. They have a huge pride in their town and its history. The young people are keen to learn more about Sunderland; they knew about our football team and are keen to experience a football game at the Stadium of Light, it would be good to visit there on their return visit during 2011. Both teachers and young people are keen to learn more about our history, cultural heritage and education system. There was a huge appetite for exchanges and learning from each other. The Chief Executive talked about exchanging data sets for research purposes. The Education Social Worker was keen to learn more about how to engage young people who have dropped out of learning. Our young people, Ruth Finley and Patrick Binks, were brilliant Ambassadors for Sunderland. They were asked if they were proud to be English and to live in Sunderland. They answered without hesitation and explained “yes, they were proud” and they recited reasons why they were proud of their City which really impressed our hosts. Everyone we met spoke English, our hosts and the young people we met enjoyed the opportunity to be able to practice their English skills and there was absolutely no language barrier. We encountered very few other difficulties. The transport system was excellent, and accommodation in the hostel while basic was also adequate for our needs. 7

Next Steps Karlskrona are keen to come to Sunderland and we discussed the end of March or the beginning of April. This will fit with their education calendar. The group did not want to travel either side of / or during Easter, because of the expense. Teachers are keen to learn about our education system and particular examples have already been quoted. The young people are keen to attend lessons here in Sunderland and would like to spend time in a school. We talked about our football team, our industries, history and culture and there were many suggestions from the young people. The teaching staff would like to know more about our City and it would be good to meet our officials in a similar way to how we were welcomed by the officials in Karlskrona. They spent about 30 minutes giving us a presentation about their town on a particular subject and answered questions posed by ourselves and the young people. It would be good to offer a similar experience to the young people and our hosts from Karkskrona. We need to liaise with the Chief Executive’s Department about putting in a return bid to our Youth Council. We need to ask schools/colleges if they are willing to welcome the young people and teachers to their establishment. Our hosts in Karlskrona and ourselves felt we had much to learn and share with each other. We can compare and contrast their education system, learn more about how we support our young people, their approach to early intervention, how we support young people who struggle to remain in education or drop out. We can also learn and explore about how to inspire aspiration, job opportunities and coping with issues of equality and diversity.

Pat Garrigan Area Co-ordinator Connexions Sunderland

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ANNEX 1

The IKEA flat pack challenge at the Sweden Fund Raising night.

Fundraising for the exchange trip. Bag packing endeavour undertaken at a large Morrison’s supermarket.

Fundraising night. We dressed in blue and yellow (Swedish flag).

Ruth and Patrick visiting the Porslinan Youth Club.

Ruth and Patrick on a tour of the vocational facilities at Tornstromska Upper Secondary School.

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Patrick spies a poster of Sunderland on a visit to the Oden Music House run by young people.

Patrick and Ruth with the Little Mermaid in a hotel in Copenhagen and outside the Youth Hostel in Karlskrona.

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