A group of young Lanarkshire apprentices recently used their work experience to tell other youngsters about their voting rights in the upcoming Scottish election.
With public health restrictions limiting the opportunities for work experience, South Lanarkshire’s electoral team were approached to see if they could come up with a way to support school pupils undertaking a foundation apprenticeship in business skills.
Working with the Youth Employability Service and South Lanarkshire College, the Election Office came up with the innovative idea of challenging the apprentices to produce a promotional video to help ensure young voters aged 16 and up were aware of their rights at the May 6 vote.
South Lanarkshire’s returning officer, Cleland Sneddon, said: “It took a bit of imagination to come up with a solution that offered a real work experience opportunity despite the COVID restrictions and that allowed us to benefit from the insight of these young people to engage with first time voters.”
Working together the apprentices hit on the idea of creating an animation of a phone text chat between two friends discussing voting to let them put forward a range of frequently asked questions, and the answers, in a fun and informal way.
They added their own voices reading out the text messages to keep a youthful feel on the video, now on social media.
One of the young people involved in the project was John Ogilvie High School pupil, James Carr, and his own experience made him realise it was an opportunity to make a real difference.
James told Lanarkshire Live : “I have personal experience of people my age with additional support needs who can struggle with written information, so I immediately realised the value of presenting this information in an a video format.
“It was a great experience."
Gail Russell from the Youth Employability Service added: “Prior to COVID-19, we’d planned for our students to complete work placement within various council resources.
"With restrictions in place and many staff working from home, we decided to develop council-led industry challenges and projects instead.
“The Election Office created an exciting and creative brief which allowed the students to develop skills in project management, communication, leadership and more. “
The foundation apprenticeship is a work based learning qualification available to young people in the senior phase of secondary school.
Young people complete their foundation apprenticeship over 1 or 2 years while still at school and working towards highers and National Qualifications.
One of the foundation apprenticeship involved in the project has already progressed to a Modern Apprenticeship with South Lanarkshire Council and the others have all been accepted onto college and university courses starting this August.
The deadline for registering to vote in the upcoming Scottish election is Monday, April 19 . Further details and registration links are available on South Lanarkshire Council's website.
