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Insider Solutions
Case Studies 2005 - Girls in Sport
Girls in Sport is part of the 3 year Get Active Programme run by South Lanarkshire Leisure. YDance (Scottish Youth Dance) is working in 8 schools, running weekly after school hours dance sessions targeted at girls aged 12-16, plus holiday dance projects and training for teachers and youth teachers. When? 3 year project: September 2003-March 2006
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What paid staff took paid and what were their roles? YDance professional dance workers led workshop sessions and in-service training for teachers and youth leaders. Training was also provided for older girls to enable them to work with a younger age group and sustain activity. How many volunteers took part and what were their roles? 12 volunteers are training to carry on dance sessions after the formal project ends, and a further 12 are expected to train later in 2005/06. What was the aim of the project? The project seeks to address the marked decline in physical activity amongst young teenage girls, by offering an attractive alternative to traditional PE. The aim is to encourage girls to become more active both in and out of school time, by offering street dance and contemporary dance workshops in place of the usual sports which are seen a "uncool". in addition, the project is building a sustainable pool of teachers and older teenage girls who are trained to work in dance with younger girls. Girls in Sport focuses on both the development of physical activity amongst teenage girls, and the development of self-confidence and other related skills. The project links to the Cultural strategy, in promoting participation in dance and the opportunity for girls to be creative. It also has links with the SAC Education Strategy, and Health Improvement Strategy. How did the young people get involved? Participants were contacted through their schools, with YDance working with the Active Schools Co-ordinators and PE staff who identified particular girls who were no longer participating in PE. What 'needs' were you trying to address? There is a major drop-off in physical activity amongst girls after the transition form primary to secondary school. The project is designed to address the needs to increase the number of girls who are physically active, and ultimately reduce the level of obesity, and promote healthier lifestyles in these girls as they grow up. YDance staff worked with South Lanarkshire Leisure, the Active Schools Co-ordinators, school sport specialists and PE teachers to set up the project, based in eight schools in Hamilton, Cathkin, Rutherglen, East Kilbride (2 schools), Biggar, Lanark and Blantyre. Did you use any specific planning tools or processes? The pattern of workshops offered in each area was specifically tailored to meet the needs of that school, as identified by teachers most closely associated with the pupils targeted. Each year, over the course of 3 years (2003-2006) a series of ten weekly dance workshop sessions is held in each of eight schools covering the South Lanarkshire Council area. These after-school or lunchtime sessions are open to girls aged between 12-16, and teachers encourage girls to attend who otherwise take little or no part in physical activity. The sessions worked towards a final performance of participants own work for parents and friends. The project also provides four in-service training days each year, aimed at PE teachers and older pupils. The trainings use the YDance CD-ROM resource AnyBodyCanDance and are designed to encourage the teaching of dance in PE lessons, and develop a pool of older girls who will lead dance workshops with younger pupils out of school hours. During the first two years, four week-long dance projects were held in the October and Easter breaks. In year 3, these have been developed to offer residential training for older girls (15-18) who are interested in carrying on the work with younger participants. The first of these is held in August 2005 at the SportScotland National Centre Inverclyde.
Partnerships between youth work and the arts? The partnership in this case was between art workers and sports workers/PE staff. This has worked well, as sports and PE workers are highly aware of the need to expand the range of physical activity to encourage young people to take part, and recognise how attractive dance is to girls in particular. How was the project evaluated? The project is evaluated by South Lanarkshire Leisure and YDance by means of questionnaires completed both by participants and school staff, and through video recordings. What were the main outcomes measured? The project is still ongoing, however, evaluations from the first two years show a high uptake of sessions with each of the groups involving 20-30 participants. In four of the areas, older participants have continued to work with younger girls thus achieving the aim of sustaining the project after YDance's sessions have ended. There has been a high level of demand for places in the in-service training, with PE teachers keen to use more dance in school time sessions. Why was this a good piece of work with young people? Girls in Sport takes anew approach to the problem of teenage girls lack of physical activity, by introducing a creative activity (dance) into a traditionally competitive area (sport). The girls involved are encouraged to learn new skills and to share them with others, both in the informal performances of work in progress at the end of each block of workshops, and by attending training and learning to use YDance CD-ROMs to take their interest further. The style of dance used (street dance and contemporary) is accessible to girls with no previous experience and attractive to those who are not interested in sports. How were young people's achievements recognised? Each workshops block culminated in a sharing of work, performed for parents and friends, if the participants wished to do so. Girls who took part in the training events were awarded certificates of participation from YDance,and at the residential training also gained sports qualifications. Working closely with PE staff and school sport co-ordinators was a very successful way of bringing dance into schools. YDance will continue to develop contacts with the PE/Sport sector, and the company is supporting moves to have dance established as a subject in its own right in the curriculum. The only problem encountered was lack of take-up on holiday projects in the October break, and in the second and third years of the project these were replaced with training events in order to offer more development opportunities for participants.
The project runs until March 2006 and YDance will continue to work with South Lanarkshire Leisure to promote dance for girls. In October 2005, YDance begins a major three year programme of Dance in Schools, in partnership with the Scottish Executive Health Improvement Strategy Division, which will take dance into primary and secondary schools in every local authority area in Scotland. Details provided by: Carolyn Lappin, Executive Director
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