Learn, Unlearn, Relearn - Youth Work's Role in Education

One of my favourite quotes is from the American futurist Alvin Toffler, who said that “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” 

LEARN, UNLEARN, RELEARN 

I think maybe ironically, we find ‘unlearning’ a particularly difficult skill in the educational sector. Old habits die hard. We have the vision for change, we engage in national discussions around education reform but often the way we’ve organised and set things up, the deeply embedded ways of working, systems and cultures, serve to undermine that bold vision.  

This was summed up in the OECD’s review of Scottish Education in 2021 which posited the challenge of having an aspirational 21st century curriculum rubbing up against a 19th century assessment and examinations system. The independent reports of Muir, Withers and Hayward all hinted at this incongruent juxtaposition of systems.  

We can also add the Still report into CLD, which clearly asked for a radical reassessment of the balance of education spending across the whole learning system, to ensure learners have an entitlement to youth work and adult learning.  

So, with this in mind, and if we want to have education reform that genuinely overcomes this clash of systems and cultures and truly addresses the challenge of the poverty-related attainment gap, what are some of the assumptions we need to unlearn?

• We need to unlearn the expectation that a world class education is possible, without taking a young person rights-based approach seriously.  
• We need to unlearn the assumption that mainstream education only accounts for schools, colleges and universities and is the totality of the education system.  
• We need to unlearn the assumption that all young people can thrive within a formal education system, at least as it’s currently constructed.
• We need to unlearn the assumption that the learner journey is a linear one.
• We need to unlearn the reliance on traditional classroom-based modalities at the expense of outdoor, digital and other forms and contexts.  
• We need to unlearn the hierarchy of academic measurement, culminating in results day as a final zero-sum game.  
• We need to unlearn the practice of placing non-academic qualifications and skills development in our peripheral vision.  

So, what might we relearn or learn for the first time… 

In a 2023 national consultation on education reform, YouthLink Scotland spoke to many young people across Scotland. Their top priorities for change included: 

• Feeling safe, respected, supported, and included by those who support their learning. 
• Access to youth work where and when they need it. 
• Opportunities to take part in youth work as part of their curriculum or timetable.
• 83% said youth work skills and achievements were important to their future. 
• 97% believed youth work should be a right for all young people. 
• 96% wanted more funding and access to skilled, competent youth workers 

We used their findings and other work with young people and the sector to inform the development of Scotland’s Youth Work Sector Manifesto for 2026. Specific to education, the sector is seeking to have a much stronger role within Scotland’s education system. To maximise the impact of youth work’s role in education we must learn to: 

• Formalise partnerships between schools and youth work organisations to support wellbeing, engagement, attendance, educational outcomes and positive destinations.  
• Invest to ensure all young people can access their right to youth work across the learner journey – in school, college and community.  
• Support a whole-school approach to inclusion, with youth workers contributing to reducing exclusions and raising aspirations.  
• Guarantee access to residential and outdoor learning as part of education, helping young people build independence, teamwork, and life skills. 

Closing the poverty-related attainment gap 

Youth work’s role in education is crucial to the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan and the realisation of the ambitions of the Scottish Attainment Challenge.  

The poverty-related attainment gap doesn’t begin and end with attainment data — it’s shaped by barriers like wellbeing, relationships, confidence, participation, and whether young people feel safe and supported enough to learn. National policy is clear that schools can’t close the gap alone: progress relies on “collective agency” across partners and communities.  

Youth work is one of those key partners. YouthLink Scotland’s briefing on The Role of Youth Work in Tackling the Poverty Related Attainment Gap highlights how youth workers support young people and families by tackling barriers to learning, enabling engagement and attendance through whole-family support, building skills for life and work, widening pathways, and sustaining positive destinations.

We know that the youth work approach works. The Youth Work Education Recovery Fund reported outcomes including improved wellbeing, overcoming barriers to learning, increased engagement, and skills development. Also, the Scottish Government’s guidance on Pupil Equity Funding explicitly recognises that, alongside schools, youth work improves wellbeing, readiness to learn and educational outcomes. 

A call to youth work teams: share your impact over the coming week: 

And so building on what we already know, we need your help to raise the profile of what we do in our second ever Education Needs Youth Work Week. We’re asking youth work teams to help build the national picture by sharing evidence of impact on: 

• Young people’s readiness to learn (wellbeing, attendance, engagement, confidence).
• Skills development (life skills, employability skills, resilience, relationships, leadership).
• Positive transitions (staying on/returning to learning, college/training routes, sustained destinations).

You can share anything from a short case study, a young person/parent/teacher quote, simple before-and-after outcomes, or evaluation findings — whatever you have that shows the difference youth work makes, day to day and over time. 

Use the #EducationNeedsYouthWork hashtag and tag YouthLink Scotland so we can share more widely across our social media channels.