Case Studies

Abertay 25 plus is a legacy programme built on Abertay 25 – a skills development project that encourages school pupils to collectively research stories using archives, and present their findings in creative ways. The process is well suited to a cross-curricular setting across Arts, Humanities, and Technologies, as this project demonstrated.

Computing Studies teacher, Mr Christie, from St Paul’s Academy, worked with Abertay University to deliver this to a class taking the NPA Games Development course.

The group was made up of students between the ages of 15-18 years old with differing levels of ability. With the NPA Games Development course being largely vocational and practical, it was identified that the Abertay 25 plus project would be perfect to fit in with the curriculum and inspire the young people with theme ideas for the game they were asked to develop.

To begin with, Abertay University Archivist Ruaraidh Wishart and a postgraduate volunteer introduced the class to the story of Abertay’s first computer bought in 1966, the Elliott 4100, through various archive materials. The class were encouraged to ask questions about the documents they were given and carry out their own research to find answers.

As they found out more in their research, many in the class became interested in the story of the clerkess that operated the computer, and the technological and social challenges she faced at that time. She became a major character for their video games, alongside technological and environmental features of computing in the 1960s – the paper punch tape used to feed programmes into the computer; the massive size of it compared to the computers we have now; and the need to keep its surroundings clean in case the heat generated by the circuits set fire to dust in the environment.

  As part of the video game development process, pupils were then asked to design their game, sound, and artwork inspired by their research. In the end, the students produced video games using a variety of design applications and various style genres.

Overall, the project was a huge success as pupils completed the project brief set out in their curriculum and they developed valuable skills for the future – team working, researching and creative thinking, as well as skills relevant for careers in computer games development and heritage.

“I left school at 16 years old to commence a Hairdressing Apprenticeship where I had been previously working on a Saturday. During this time I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to gain experience on other aspects of running a business and on completion, I decided to pursue going to college to gain a qualification in Business and Accountancy.

During this time I developed a real passion for this and had a job opportunity in a local accountancy firm to work within the payroll department. For three years, I built up payroll skills, knowledge, and experience training members of staff, managing my own clients and progressed to become a senior within the firm. Whilst I was gaining lots of experience I also wanted to gain a qualification so I made the decision to self-fund a foundation degree in Payroll Management through the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals.

I had seen the job at Hillcrest for a new Payroll Team Leader advertised and decided to apply following this. In June 2021 I successfully obtained the position. Although, I did not have previous experience managing staff, Hillcrest looked at other qualities and invested in the opportunity to train me through this experience. As I was approaching my final year of my degree, Hillcrest offered to financially support me through this and have been fully supportive and involved in me enhancing my learning. Since being at Hillcrest I have had lots of opportunities for development and have since been given the opportunity to Project Management a change in software for Payroll, HR and Learning and Development Team. Being a young person has never been a barrier in Hillcrest and I have never felt so valued, invested in and optimistic about the opportunities that my future holds.”

-Eilidh McFarlane, Payroll Team Leader, Hillcrest

The aim of the project was to highlight the exciting, varied roles behind the scenes in museums and give the pupils a flavour of the practical skills required for these jobs.  The young people were also challenged with bringing interesting stories from HMS Unicorn’s past to life, by designing activity books for different visiting school groups.

Most of the pupils who attend Craigowl Primary School live in the Ardler and St Marys districts of Dundee. These areas are recognised to be in the 10% most deprived areas in in the Scotland where many children and families live in poverty and often have very limited resources and there are high levels of unemployment. A further aim therefore of the project was to give the children involved an opportunity to engage with an employment sector that they may have a limited exposure and access to.

In total 29 pupils were involved from the P7B class at Craigowl Primary School in Dundee, and two booklets were produced – one aimed at P1-4 on Life in the Georgian Navy, and the other aimed at P5-7 on HMS Unicorn – History and Design.

The project entailed a class visit to HMS Unicorn to discover information about the ship and its stories, as well as to have discussions on the design brief for activity books. The children were then split into two groups, with subgroups in Research, Design and Promotion. After the initial session on the ship, the pupils carried out the work back at their school over another six sessions on a weekly basis. Following this the pupils created a presentation based around the work they did for the project. The presentation included what went well and what they found challenging, the new skills they learned and a guide through the newly designed activity books.

The number of different parts to the project and tasks that needed to be completed meant that the children gained a greater number of transferrable employment skills that will be useful for their future careers, including careers in heritage. In the end, a majority of the pupils thought that they had improved to their transferable skills to some extent. The skills improved included; adaptability, design, listening, marketing, problem solving, research, teamwork, time management and working independently. In addition to this, the pupils gained a far greater knowledge of the type of work that happens ‘behind the scenes’ at museums.

The booklets have now since been printed and are available for school groups to use on board HMS Unicorn.

The objective was to inspire young people and improve their knowledge and understanding of the variety of career pathways available both locally and nationally. The event was delivered via a ‘speed networking’- type setup, where the school alumni were to sit at a station each and talk with a different group of S3’s every ten minutes. A further objective, by giving pupils the opportunity to talk to former Carnoustie High pupils of various ages and backgrounds, was to provide the opportunity for the young people to meet someone they could relate to. It was hoped that this would help the young people feel reassured about their school-life and the possibilities when entering the world of work.

Around 14 former pupils of various ages, backgrounds and careers visited on the day to meet the S3’s. There were individuals from a range of employers such as Police Scotland, E W Edwardson Electricians, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Thorntons Law. There were also representatives from several other industries including engineering, agriculture, performing arts and fitness.

The whole of Carnoustie High School’s S3 year group participated in this. Small groups of 3-4 pupils spoke to each Alumni member for 10 minutes. The pupils had prepared questions that they used to interview the Alumni about their current job, career path so far, what they enjoyed at school and whether or not this all linked together to give them a straight or winding career path. The preparation and subsequent discussion of interview responses provided the young people with a rich experience that developed their understating of the world of work.

DYW Tay Cities also participated, allowing pupils to interview them using the prepared questions. The team also asked the pupils what they found useful when finding out about possible careers – many agreed that hearing first-hand by speaking to people is effective.

By running this event, Carnoustie High School pupils were able to gain a first-hand insight into what life can be like once they have left school. It helped them better understand the range of careers and the variety of possible career pathways.

This is an annual event in which the school runs, and therefore it has allowed them to develop positive relationships with the employers of the Alumni.

The event has also been identified as a model for other Angus secondary schools to adopt. School coordinators from Brechin High School and Montrose Academy are interested in this and plan to implement it.

On Monday the 20^th June, Breadalbane Academy pupils were invited out of their regular classes to chat with around 20 different employers from the local area at the school’s Jobs Fair. The event was created after multiple employers who work closely with the school voiced that they were struggling to recruit staff. Due to it taking place just before the summer break, it also allowed pupils to find Summer work, learning and earning whilst on break from school.

Pupils enjoyed the fair, finding out from employers what opportunities were available on their doorstep, what different careers are available outside of school and much more. The event was split into 3 sessions, S3 & S4, S5 & S6 and then parents had the opportunity to attend after school. Pupils made their own way around the event, choosing to speak to the organisations and industries that they had an interest in. Attendees left feeling successful with many waiting to hear back from employers for evening, weekend and summer opportunities! 

DYW Tay Cities was also there with 10 virtual reality headsets, which brought pupils to various employer’s sites without the cost and time implications of traveling to the various locations.