Govan Community Project is a community-based organisation operating in south-west Glasgow.
Funding through this fund enabled us to deliver two additional classes a week, reaching 45 new students across 52 classes in Govan alone, while also incorporating interactive elements and excursions into the programme.
Our project aimed to reduce isolation, increase language skills, boost confidence, and foster strong local connections for learners.
Kin Kitchen, Urban Roots, Moogety
Govan and Cardonald
May 2023 -Nov 2023
Refugees, Asylum Seekers, New Scots
Spreading good practice
There is high demand for ESOL, with very few classes available in Glasgow. We expanded our classes and introduced new elements to our programme.
We changed very little about the project as we observed shifts in the focus of sessions and collective actions.
This change occurred because our approach allowed students to identify and select the topics of focus for our sessions.
We delivered fewer craft and arts-based sessions than initially planned, as the students chose to concentrate on cooking-related lessons, which were a huge success.
A member of our community was able to take the lead in delivering this session.
This session also contributed to our skills share sessions. We successfully delivered all six skills share sessions as originally outlined.
These included one IT session, four cooking sessions, and one gardening session.
Together with the students, we decided on the destinations for our planned excursions or ‘Collective Actions’.
The learners were particularly eager to visit the beach, explore new areas of Glasgow, and see our capital city.
We had the opportunity to go on a number of different excursions throughout the project, including to the Riverside Museum, Kelvingrove Museum and Park, Edinburgh, Portobello Beach, and the Burrell Collection.
These trips provided an opportunity to put into practice language that participants had been learning in class, such as vocabulary related to transport and directions.
Our excursions helped strengthen the bonds within the group and provided meaningful opportunities to engage with local culture and history.
We collected evidence and data throughout the project in a variety of ways.
We created an open culture that encouraged students to provide feedback and make suggestions, including the changes they would like to see.
We ensured that our evaluation methods were inclusive, offering people the opportunity to provide feedback in their native language as well as in English.
From a focus session, where 10 students who regularly attended our Govan classes and took part in a range of our socially integrated opportunities gave feedback, we captured the following data.
We asked participants (before and after the project began and ended) how much they agreed with the following statements (on a scale of 1–5):
Across the board, we observed increases in people agreeing with these statements.
For example, the average response in relation to confidence in speaking English rose from 2.8 to 4.6.
We saw a similar increase in relation to having friends, which rose from 2.6 at the beginning to 4.4.
The biggest change was in relation to grammar and vocabulary, where the average response across learners increased from 2 to 4.6.
In relation to knowing museums and places to visit, the change was significant, growing from 2.4 to 4.8 by the end of the project.
In terms of using a computer to learn, the average response rose from 1.2 to 3.4, and in relation to knowing places in Govan, the average increased from 1.8 to 4.4.
This data sample shows that the project had a range of benefits for participants. In addition to improving their English and confidence, people also gained a sense of community, made friends, and learned about new places in Glasgow. Beyond this, we have also received a lot of qualitative feedback.
Here are some examples of the direct feedback we have received:
“I wanted to tell you that after having been on the waiting list for quite some time, I have been accepted into the College, and they let me know in the last few days. I am starting classes this week, so I will not be able to continue with your lovely classes. I just want to thank you for the opportunity you gave me!”
“Thank you for the work you do with people like us, helping us to integrate and socialise, which is so important for life. Greetings, I hope to hear from you! Thanks a lot!” (translated)
“I thank you very much for being there to help me when I don’t understand. I’m glad you know Vietnamese to talk to me.”
“I am happiest when I am in English class.”
“I have compared our class with others and I am happy with this one – I really love our group.”
Some students who had regularly attended dropped out due to personal reasons, health problems, moving away from Glasgow, or studying elsewhere (e.g. at college).
We also had students who had dropped out and later returned to class. This indicated that they had genuinely benefited from attending and wished to re-engage once their personal circumstances had improved.
Student attendance proved to be cyclical. We had a summer cohort of students, followed by a new core group emerging between September and November.
We aimed to remove barriers where possible by providing support for accessing IT devices, childcare, and travel.
Access and Reaching People
We carried out various activities to ensure people were aware of our new classes and the range of opportunities available through the New Scots funding, as well as activities to help people access them.
Interpretation Services
We widely advertised our sessions, including on our social media platforms. We also actively promoted ESOL directly to our community through a variety of events and other services.
For example, we hosted an information stall at our GCP Family Activity Day at Kinning Park Complex. Several of our students were referred through our GCP services, such as the Men’s Group, Women’s Group, and Community Drop-in.
Creche
We were able to offer a creche service, enabling students with young children to learn without distraction. Initially conducted in a separate room, we ultimately decided to set up the creche in the same space as the ESOL class.
Through trialling different approaches, we found this setup to be the most effective, as children could see their parents, which reduced anxiety about being separated from them.
We received positive feedback from parents, who appreciated the opportunity to learn without the added stress of caring for their children simultaneously. The childcare staff developed strong relationships with both the children and the parents.
This was the first time a professional creche service had been used for ESOL at GCP, and we now have a system in place to offer childcare in the future.
Devices and IT Support
With our budget and thanks to a discount provided by our supplier, we were able to purchase seven devices.
We conducted an IT survey, and all seven devices were allocated to regular attendees who had no access to a device. We were also successful in our recent application to the CLD Device Fund, meaning we can now provide all learners with a laptop during ESOL classes, which will be especially useful for IT sessions.
The collective actions served as an opportunity to reflect on our practice in the language skills the learners had developed throughout the sessions. They provided learners with a sense of autonomy and allowed them to collaborate in choosing what these actions would be. Community meals were one way to encourage collaboration, as learners could share recipes and decide together what to make.
