Community Programme
The Children’s Parliament has created an innovative community programme.
To date community groups have been run in Fife, South Ayrshire, Midlothian, North Edinburgh and the Western Isles. Our aim is to establish community groups throughout Scotland.
Find out more here about our work – in general and through the profiles of our work in Fife and the Western Isles.
An independent evaluation of The Children’s Parliament community group programme was completed by The Global Citizenship Unit at Glasgow University.
They said: “This is the sort of curriculum that schools should offer. Learning is taking place; it is inclusive, exciting and motivating. There is not a single reluctant learner.”
You can download the report HERE
The Children’s Parliament community programme is delivered over 3 years.
- Year 1 is called The Tree of Life in which the programme takes MCPs (Members of the Children’s Parliament) on a journey through the CP themes and encourages children to share their learning and work with others.
- Year 2 is called We are Bards and Artists in which MCPs focus more specifically on aspects of children’s lives which they would like to influence and change: MCPs reflect on children’s lives and how they should be while continuing to inform and influence others.
- Year 3 is called We are Youth Ambassadors in which MCPs design their own series of projects and investigations with the continued purpose of continuing their journey, now as peer educators and active citizens.
A Children’s Parliament community group is made up of around 20 children chosen from 10 or more local schools. Reflecting our commitment to equality and social justice our MCPs come from a range of social backgrounds and abilities to work together to share experiences that make active citizenship a reality. A Children’s Parliament group challenges the notion that only the most confident and articulate can understand or participate in our society.
Each group meets locally on a monthly basis during school term time. Using the creative arts, the children work on a three-year programme that is built around our six core themes. Children get the chance to participate in projects and investigations and also to engage with other children and adults to voice and explore their issues, passions and concerns. Each group is supported by an outreach worker in their area and locally recruited volunteers (ambassadors) as well as the Children’s Parliament staff.
Funding for Children’s Parliament groups comes from a range of sources including Local Authority, NHS and other partner agencies such as Police, other local voluntary sector partners or trusts.
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