Rural Community Gateway

‘The rural family matters’ was the theme of the recent annual conference from the Growing up in Rural Scotland project. In her opening remarks, Chair Ruth Wishart said that there are privileges and problems associated with growing up in rural Scotland and that the day would tease out some of the major themes. For me this was the great thing about the conference. There was a sense of looking forward to opportunities and celebrating current successes, but also important discussion about some of the real issues that face Scotland’s rural families and young people and those working with them.

Growing up in rural Scotland is a Children in Scotland project. The conference was held, fittingly, at Our Dynamic Earth attraction in Edinburgh on 14th March 2008.

Double devolution

Agnes Rennie, councillor for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar which was bought by the community in 2007. She gave an inspiring presentation about ‘double devolution’ which involves decision making and policy making being devolved to a local level.

She said that double devolution shouldn’t just be a phrase that is used but doesn’t mean anything and resources, not just money, need to be made available to make it work.

A voice of my own

Delegates were next treated to a DVD from ‘A Voice of My Own, Scottish Borders’ which asked children in a rural school, from nursery to primary seven why they like living in rural Scotland. The answers varied from more room to have pets to less pollution than cities to playing at the burn. It was a great reminder, in children’s own words, of the reasons why rural Scotland is often a wonderful place to grow up.

Children at the heart of rural communities

Dr Kate Braithwaite, Director of the Rural Development Programme of Carnegie UK Trust talked about the importance of placing children at the heart of rural communities. She highlighted some good examples of place based learning including Whalsay School in Shetland’s Rural Skills Course. The school has a croft which the pupils use to learn skills such as fencing and animal husbandry. They even have a webcam in the lambing shed!

Dr Braithwaite also discussed Carnegie’s Charter for Rural Communities report which was the culmination of two years of consultation across the UK and Ireland. She said that every area has a unique and special set of qualities which are their assets.

Questions to Dr Braithwaite and Agnes Rennie covered subjects such as intergenerational working, community ownership and the pressures on teachers to deliver against curriculum. The issue of health and safety was also raised and how this affects place based education, making it much more difficult for teachers to teach in this way.

Politicians address conference

In the afternoon, Minister for Children and Early Years Adam Ingram addressed the conference. He talked about the introduction of a presumption against the closure of rural schools. He also highlighted the Early Years Framework which will be launched later this year. This long-term strategy will look at building family and parenting capacity, creating communities that support children and families, delivering services in a holistic and integrated way and building a workforce that can deliver service delivery in this way.

Panel discussion

Following the Minister’s address, delegates had the opportunity to put their questions to a cross party panel made up of Roseanna Cunningham MSP for SNP, John Scott MSP Conservative and Mike Rumbles MSP Liberal Democrat.

This was an interesting session with issues raised about rural schools and the presumption against closure, funding and the need for 'rural proofing' of childrens' policies, and rural policies being proofed for young people.

Issues were also raised about local decisions being made locally, lack of facilities for young people and problems of public transport. It was also thought that problems facing rural children are not taken as seriously as those facing their urban counterparts.

Rural ghetto?

Gary Coutts, Convenor of the Scottish Social Services Councils gave his presentation from a governance perspective. His speech had four themes:

• Are we running into a risk of getting into a rural ghetto?
• Necessity is the mother of invention (in rural areas)
• Focus on outcomes is important
• How can we support the education and children’s services workforce without them feeling suffocated.

Importance of outdoor play

I chose to attend the study session on community-led approach to outdoor play, chaired by Marguerite Hunter-Blair with a great presentation from Gail Cunningham of GAIN who run the Eoropie Dunes Park in Ness, Isle of Lewis. In 2007, they won a Nancy Ovens Award for Oustanding Contribution to Play and were runners up in the National Lottery Awards Environmental category.

GAIN puts the success of the project down to the individuals who made up the committee. Local children were also heavily involved in the project and helped to make decisions about equipment for example. There has been no graffiti in their first five years and there has been very little vandalism. GAIN believe this it because the young people where involved from the start.

You can read more about the park in Your Project – Eoropie Dunes Park.

Kinship carers

I also attended a very interesting study session on kinship carers chaired by Maggie Mellon Director of Children and Family Services at Children 1st with a presentation from Penny Halliday, manager and co-founder of You Are Not Alone Support Services based in Dumfries and Galloway.

Kinship care is care undertaken on a full-time basis by a relative or family friend of a child or children. Often the child is in kinship care because of their parents’ alcohol and substance misuse. Kinship carers are not currently recognised as carers formally and do not get financial support, although some local authorities do give support.

The You Are Not Alone Family Support Services is funded by Lloyds TSB and the Voluntary Action Fund. They provide a befriending Community Visitor Scheme, respite for families, lobby and campaign for change and more.

What do you think?

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in rural Scotland? If you are a young person, we’d love to hear what you like and don’t like about growing up in a rural area. And has rural childhood changed? Do health and safety restrictions put too many restrictions on parents, teachers and carers? Or are these rules necessary? We’d be interested to know what you think about these issues, and you can give us your views by going to the bottom of this article and adding your comments.

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Norette Ferns

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