A UNIQUE charity-run initiative engaging school pupils from Armed Forces and veteran families is being launched in Scotland this month.

Scotland’s Armed Forces children’s charity, the Royal Caledonian Education Trust (RCET), is organising three Teen Talk conferences to give school pupils the chance to speak out about the highs and lows of growing up in an Armed Forces family.

The project, which is being financed by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund, will involve secondary school pupils from Army, Royal Navy/Marine, RAF and veteran families.

RCET Education Programme Manager, Moira Leslie hopes the initiative could have far reaching benefits for secondary school pupils and education staff across Scotland. She said: “The events will be interactive, creative spaces for young people to share their experiences and tell us what they need and what needs to be done to improve integration between civilian and military communities.”

RCET wants to empower young people to speak out and improve understanding between civilian and military communities, to improve their confidence and help reduce feelings of isolation.

Feedback and views expressed at the conferences will help influence the development of RCET materials and online resources designed to support education staff and others to better understand the issues these young people face.

Pupil feedback may be translated into videos, vox pops and online learning tutorials that can be incorporated in RCET’s training and will be available digitally so that pupils and staff across and outside of Scotland can access them.

Moira added: “We believe the learning we gain from this project could greatly inform the future direction of work we do in support of this cohort of young people.”

Teen Talk venues:

  • Edinburgh: September 20, St Mary’s Conference Centre
  • Helensburgh: September 27, Helensburgh Tower
  • Highlands/Morayshire: October 3, Fort George.

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