Acting on Achievement

This Awards Network report highlights the crucial role that youth awards play in making learning more flexible, experiential and relevant.

Acting on Achievement

It’s an exciting time for education in Scotland, as calls for reform consider how we can encourage learner agency, embrace more flexible forms of non-curricular learning and create a strengthened learning network with support from community partners.

Acting on Achievement is a thoroughly-researched report that outlines the important role youth awards can play in achieving each of these goals. Published in May 2024 by Awards Network, it shows how youth awards have supported young people across Scotland to build core skills, explore new experiences, make connections with positive role models in their communities and earn accreditation.

The report draws on wide-ranging expert recommendations to explore the what, why and how of proposed education reforms and offers evidence to support a vision for the future where youth awards are recognised as an impactful way to engage young people in learning—one that enjoys parity of esteem with formal curricular education.

Youth awards can play a key role in helping young people to be successful, confident, effective and responsible citizens with a greater focus on non-formal, experiential learning and the development of personal and interpersonal skills and competencies.
HMI review of youth awards (2019)

42%

of young people in Scotland achieved a youth award in 2022-23

133,000

youth awards were distributed to young people in Scotland in 2022-23

20%

of young people in each local authority in Scotland achieved a youth award in 2022-23

Read the report

You can download the full Acting on Achievement report below, which includes context from wider conversations on education reform, the role for youth awards and how to engage with youth awards as partners in learning.

Acting on Achievement (WEB)

PDF, 4 MB

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