Interesting Practice in Skills (3-18) – Developing the Young Workforce context:

‘Materials World’ - A resource developed by the Scottish Textile Skills Partnership

The following document provides a brief summary of the key elements of this project.

1. Introduction

Establishment / Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership
‘Material World’
Contact name and details / Sally Maidment ()
About the establishment/ programme / Material World has been developed for use in secondary schools. The resource is designed to use textiles as a medium for delivering learning outcomes related to the STEM, Circular Economy & Sustainability and Developing the Young Workforce agendas. The resource uses case studies of Scottish textile, leather and fashion companies to provide young people with a deeper understanding of the processes used, and products made in Scotland today. Themed activities are linked to the case studies to deepen their learning and skills analysis sheets link the learning through activities, to jobs in the sector.
Main tags (please delete / add) / Secondary,
Employability
Employer engagement
Training provider
Career Management Skills

2. Current developments:

What are you doing just now? / The pilot was launched at the Home Economics Lead Officer Conference, Education Scotland, on 7th November 2016. Attendees were invited to participate in the pilot, 4 teachers completed the pilot and provided feedback via an online survey
Participating Schools:
-Peebles High School, Scottish Borders
-Alva Academy, Clackmannanshire
-Lasswade High School, Midlothian
-Jordanhill School, Glasgow
Reasons identified by participants for taking part in pilot:
-To support delivery of the curriculum in the area of fashion & textiles
-To support delivery of the curriculum in the area of Developing the Young Workforce
-To support the activity of the Scottish Textiles Skills Partnership
-To explore cross curricular activities
Resources provided:
-Trakke Case Study - Physical samples
-Skills sheets - Activities Sheet
-Signposting to existing relevant online resources - Material World blog
-Pupil handbook - Pinterest board
Teachers selected resources that would complement their classroom projects. The most effective resources reported by participants were the Trakke case study, physical samples of waxed cotton & leather, and skills sheets. Participants agreed Trakke was an interesting & appealing company to feature, with a high quality, easy to navigate website, and offered an opportunity for discussion about products made in Scotland, end consumers and what is required when manufacturing in volumes.
The pilot encouraged pupils to interrogate written resources and pull out information, and provided a
valuable sensory learning experience exploring the different properties of materials. Skills sheets helped
pupils reflect on their learning and relate these to skills and jobs in the workplace.
Participants reported the case study & physical resources provided good or excellent real life examples
What is the (intended) impact of your initiative/programme? / The purpose of the pilot was to test the resources in the classroom and to gain professional feedback on the usefulness of the resources and any improvements that could be made. These findings will be used to inform the development of the online Material World resource. We would like to express our sincere thanks for the teachers participation in this project and their support for the development of textile skills and awareness of the textiles, leather & fashion sectors in Scotland in the classroom.
What have you learnt from your journey so far / ‘physical samples allowed students to feel and test properties of fabrics they would not otherwise have had access to’
‘Skills sheets: good visual prompt for discussion in class. Pupils encouraged to reflect on skills used in lesson and identified which employment opportunities this would link with’
‘Didn’t realise there was as much industry....and my pupils found it interesting too’
‘My pupils were surprised bags were made in Glasgow’
Recommendations:
- simplify language used in case study
- make bigger versions of images used in case study available
- provide a powerpoint of images showing stages of making a bag
- include a film of the making of waxed cotton*
- larger physical samples e.g. 50cm x 50cm
- more physical samples of technical fabrics made in Scotland, e.g. Kevlar
- increase size of images illustrating jobs on skills sheets
- information on each role
- more company case studies
- more about properties and characteristics of different fabrics, lots of current information is very
dated
CfE/Curriculum link/ skills development / Curriculum Links
Participants were provided with a number of suggested activities to complement the case study & physical
samples. The activities explored sustainability/circular economy; STEM; DYW; and entrepreneurship in a
textiles context. Sustainability/CE activity and DYW activity was undertaken by most participants, the
STEM activity by 2 and the entrepreneurial activity by 1.
Participants reported pupils increased their understanding considerably of sustainability and the circular economy in relation to textiles, through taking part in the suggested activity.
Participants reported the DYW activity had a high impact on pupils’ understanding of relevant workplace
skills, job roles & careers in textiles, leather and fashion in Scotland. One participant made an industry visit
to Trakke with 20 S2 pupils.
The STEM activity considerably enhanced pupils’ understanding of STEM in a work context and specifically in textiles production. One participant contacted Halley Stevensons directly, resulting in the company providing 80 metres of seconds waxed cotton fabric which was used to make bags and for tests such as fading, ironing and fabric care.
Participating teachers recommended resources in their current form would be best suited to S3 and above.
The participants identified the most valuable aspects of taking part in pilot as:
-the industry visit to Trakke with 20 S2 pupils, & using Trakke case study. Providing an opportunity to
-use learning from CE Lectures
-Seeing and using other resources... will make an effort to find more companies producing items in
-Scotland.
-It made me include a bit more about careers and how the pupils could use their skills in the future.
Participants would recommend Trakke Case Study,Cotton & Leather Samples, Material World Blog, Skills Sheets & MW Pinterest Board resources to colleagues. Participants would recommend sustainability & STEM activities for cross curricular projects. All participants agreed they will implement learning from pilot in the future.
Partnerships / Trakke, Glasgow
Standards and guidance materials / Did you use any of the following documents in preparation or alongside the development of this project:
Career Education Standard
Work Placements Standard
School/Employer Partnership Guidance
Watch this space! / CONCLUSIONS:
- Taking part in the pilot increased participating teachers’ and pupils’ level of knowledge of the
Scottish textiles industry
- Participants were surprised by the range of textiles produced in Scotland
- Teachers would welcome access to case studies and physical samples from other Scottish textiles,
leather and fashion companies to support pupil learning
- Teachers have difficulty sourcing samples of the range of textiles produced in Scotland (textile
library was suggested)
- There is a particular interest from teachers on more information on technical and innovative textiles
produced in Scotland
- Rolling out the programme across Scotland would require significant material donations by
companies
- Simplification of written resources required if resource is to target S2

3. Added value

Resources / Trakke case study
Web links
Contacts (in case people want to find out more) / Sally

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