NATIONAL EVENT - Breakout sessions announced!

29 October 2019

NATIONAL EVENT - Breakout sessions announced!

We are pleased to announce we have confirmed the Breakout Sessions which will be available at our National Event 2019! 

 

You can read the synopses of the Breakout Sessions below:

Reporting using stats and stories: a peer learning session– Evaluation Support Scotland 

This will be a participative session using some of the exercises in the resource ‘Stats and stories in community settings: a guide to blending different types of evidence in evaluation reports.’ 

We will outline what is in the resource and then focus on reviewing reports to identify if they are combining and blending your stats and stories well? 

At the end of the session participants: 

  • will be familiar with the resource and how it might be used to reflect on their own use of stats and stories in evaluation 
  • will have some ideas for how to improve your reports   

Bring along:   

  • reports that you are willing to share and receive comments on or  
  • examples of reports that you like/ dislike 
  • stats and stories that are challenging to report on 

Dekko Comics - Rossie Stone 

Rossie will talk about his experiences with dyslexia and how he developed the Dekko technique of making education entertaining and pictorial to overcome it. He talks of how a self-embracing discovery he made changed everything for him. The interactive workshop teaches the art of transforming a distraction into a solution, creating an enjoyable environment of willing activity and engagement.  

Behavioural Science with Youth Work and Mentoring– YMCA Scotland  

Over the past 30 months YMCA Scotland’s Queen's Young Leaders project 'YouthWorks Mentoring' has been providing employability mentoring support for hard to reach young people including those on employment training programmes and young people who are early school leavers, often with no planned positive destination. Through the programme we have identified that that for early school leavers there often needs to be a concentrated piece of work on their resilience, self-confidence, self-esteem and self-efficacy before they are ready to even consider looking at employment or training. 

In order to develop the Youthworks Mentoring programme YMCA Scotland engaged with Esher House (Australia) to bring a new level of research based Behavioural Science rigour to our programme in order to improve employability outcomes for young people. We trained our staff in the use of an academically validated Behavioural Science assessment tool that analyses an individual's readiness to change, and then tailor their training and mentoring intervention to their state of readiness. This comes from the academically validated, principle that, “By timing interventions to an individual’s genuine readiness to change, you can greatly increase outcomes.” (Esher House).  

This has meant that we can use academic evidence based Behavioural Science practice to refine the training offered to young people, with the additional confidence that it is targeted at their individual needs. This approach also addresses the issue of their receptiveness to change and the development of training interventions, building on the person-centred approach used to date through YouthWorks mentoring.  

This workshop will look at the following:  

  • How does Behavioural Science link with Youth Work and Mentoring 
  • Working across differing sectors to improve programme effectiveness 
  • The impact of using evidence-based practice
  • Developing good partnerships 

The Voice of Mentoring Scheme Leads - Dr Judie Gannon

This session will explore recent research across the UK on formal mentoring schemes and how they are managed. It will highlight the value of listening to those who manage and coordinate formal mentoring schemes. Finally, it will explore why their voices are often missed in mentoring research and how their experiences can inform formal mentoring scheme practice. Come along to this session to find out more and participate in current mentoring scheme management research.    

Exploring Online Learning – Sarah Barr, SMN / Mark Rees,vLearning 

As online training is becoming more popular, more and more organisations are offering different online courses on different topics. There are some who believe that regular face to face training is much more valuable. Scottish Mentoring Network are investigating how we could incorporate online learning as part of our training delivery options to make our training as accessible as possible to our member projects, whilst maintaining the connection and sense of involvement face to face training allows. This session will be an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of online and face to face learning for mentors and coordinators. Drawing on the experience of vLearning Solutions, the session will look at the innovative methods of delivery available to those interested in either accessing online courses or considering developing their own. As part of this session we will show case our new online mentor knowledge assessment. 

Remember to book your place at the National Event and Recognition Awards 2019!