About Right Track Scotland

Right Track Scotland Ltd is a Registered Charity (SCO17314), established in 1983 in the East End of Glasgow (Bridgeton), where our Central Office and our Bridgeton Training Centre still remain today.

The organisation was originally set-up to support local young people aged 16-18 years who were not engaged in Training, Education or Employment opportunities.

Since our inception, Right Track has supported clients who have significant difficulties that they have to overcome before they can participate positively in Employment, Training or Further Education options.

Some of the difficulties that the young people we work with face include:

• Literacy / numeracy difficulties
• Poor confidence / self-esteem
• Negative perceptions of education
• Poor parental support
• Limited access to positive role models
• Chaotic living
• Caring responsibilities for other family members
• Behavioural difficulties
• Histories of offending
• Abuse
• Mental health issues
• Learning difficulties
• Poor communication skills
• Particularly deprived backgrounds
• Drug / alcohol issues including those in the wider family

Aims

The support that Right Track provides to our clients has always been holistic. Our broad aims include providing training that ultimately:

• Broadens horizons
• Raises aspirations
• Empowers young people with the skills to identify and manage personal barriers to progression
• Helps young people develop the skills to sustain positive options
• Supports young people to progress positively from Right Track to positive options in Training, Education and Employment

Ethos

Our ethos as an organisation is to address the needs of each young person individually and to work creatively and supportively to ensure that each young person realises their potential.

In order to achieve the above we utilise a broad range of learning methods and interventions including:

• One to one guidance counselling and support
• Team-building activities
• Group work
• Leisure and recreation activities
• Healthy lifestyle initiative
• Community-based activities
• Challenge and outward-bound activities
• Self-evaluation
• Action-planning; goal-setting and continuous review

Approach

As an organisation we recognise that small progressions lead to the achievement of longer-term goals and we work to assist young people to recognise the achievement of these ‘small steps’ within our programmes.

While we seek to support our clients to secure positive options in Training, Education and Employment we recognise that we must support our young people to develop and recognise the need for the skills that will ensure that they can sustain these options and progress within their chosen occupation.

These ‘softer skills’ include the development of:

• Standard patterns of attendance and timekeeping
• Appropriate patterns of behaviour
• Appropriate language
• Self-respect and respect for others
• Self-confidence
• Aspiration and vocational awareness
• The ability to separate work and personal life/recreational activities
• The ability to make informed choices
• The ability to live independently
• Financial awareness / budgeting skills
• Stability in personal relationships
• The ability to recognise Ôat riskÕ behaviour

Right Track currently supports three distinct client groups from project bases in Bridgeton and Drumchapel in Glasgow, Bellshill and Coatbridge in North Lanarkshire and Edinburgh City Centre.

Client Groups

Our client groups include:

• Young people aged 12-16 years who are completely outwith mainstream education, either as a result of formal exclusion or prolonged non-attendance.


• Young people aged 16-18 years with additional support needs who require support to address core skills, personal development and employability issues before they can progress positively to mainstream Training, Education or Employment issues.


• Long-term unemployed adults with core, personal development and employability support needs and adults who have previously entered work in a low skill, low pay environment who remain vulnerable to future economic inactivity (Over 70% of this group are lone parents).

Annually Right Track supports approximately 800 young people aged 12-18 years. In the past year 70% of these young people have progressed positively from our programmes.