Glenkens Community and Arts Trust event promotes innovative solutions for rural education

Education and learning event a great success

The Glenkens Community and Arts Trust (GCAT) hosted an Education and Learning event in Glenkens last week (11 July), on behalf of the Glenkens and District Community Action Plan Steering Group. The event was organised in the context of the Community Action Plan’s goal that Glenkens will be a connected, resilient and carbon neutral place where people want to live, work and raise their families.

The event was designed to inform and inspire, and welcomed 6 excellent speakers who gave up their time to advance this important topic. On the ‘Industry’ panel, Richard Nash from Natural Power, Matthew Bacon from Vattenfall Wind Power and Abi Mordin from Propagate gave fascinating insights into the pipeline of skilled jobs that will be needed in the land and energy sector in Glenkens over the next 20 years. Matthew highlighted the increase in operational positions needed on wind farms, which is predicted to increase by 250% by 2030 in Dumfries and Galloway, from 112 to 395 positions. These are long-term roles that are well paid. Similarly, Abi highlighted that the changing agricultural subsidy regime requires new skilled roles in a range of areas, including nature restoration and enhancement. Richard referred to his non-executive role at Dumfries & Galloway College to highlight how the college’s partnership with Natural Power had resulted in a new permanent course in wind turbine maintenance. This course trains technicians in the relevant skills so they can enter the industry straight away.

The ‘Education’ Panel consisted of Anne Paterson, former head of the Argyll & Bute Education Department and now a researcher into small rural schools, and Andrew Pyle, head of the Kilquhanity Children’s Village near Kirkpatrick Durham. Suzie Dick from Queen Margaret University was due to attend but was unfortunately ill with Covid.

Anne highlighted previous research into the problems and possible solutions associated with small rural schools and reflected on the importance of such schools both to the communities in which they are embedded and to a local government’s vision of rural sustainability. Her own research emphasised the need for due consideration of context and place in implementing national policy, the need for mutual understanding between local government and communities and the need for innovative thinking to find new solutions. Andrew provided insight into a very different model of education, as embodied by Kilquhanity Free School until 1997 – one that placed learning above teaching and embraced radical democracy for and by the children.

Finally, Theona Morrison, a founder of CoDeL, a community development organisation on Uist, and chair of Scottish Rural Action, gave some inspiring examples of Uist communities working with their local authority to design new courses that give their young people the skills they need to stay on the island – including entrepreneurship and leadership – rather than training them to leave. As a result of this and other efforts, Uist’s depopulation has been significantly reduced. She also highlighted the research work they have done on behalf of the Glenkens & District Trust. They plan to publish a final report on the Glenkens Hub in the autumn and will be reaching out to members of the Glenkens community and other rural communities worldwide in the summer.

The event was very well attended, with over 60 people attending, including children and young people. Representatives from local businesses, Dalry School Parent Council and the D&G Council Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing department were all present. Representatives from Carsphairn Community Woodland, Scottish Childminding Association and the now completed Galloway Glens Apprenticeship Programme also had stands to share how they support this issue within the wider Glenkens area.

Caroline Reeves, member of the CAP Steering Group and Crossmichael resident, moderated the evening. She said: “As ever at Glenkens, the level of engagement, creative thinking and knowledge in the audience was inspiring in itself. Combined with the fantastic presentations and insights, this made for a very interesting and thought-provoking evening which we hoped helped everyone to look at education and learning in Glenkens and other rural areas in a new way. Many thanks to GCAT who organised the event and delivered an excellent event for us all.” Helen Keron, Executive Manager of GCAT, said: “Many thanks to all the speakers, staffed stands, Caroline, GCAT staff and all the volunteers who made this event such a success. It is always inspiring to see the communities of Glenkens come together on issues that mean so much to them and I am optimistic that we can continue to work with all members of the community, local businesses and the council to find a great solution for education and learning in Glenkens, one that fits in with modern rural life. As a result of the event, representatives from Dumfries & Galloway Council have been in touch to arrange further meetings with the communities and businesses and have offered to share relevant data, which is very welcome.

A written report of the event will be available here shortly: https://glenkens.scot/education-and-learning