Children roped into the world of work

A TRAINING programme used by oil company executives to hone their leadership skills for work in the dangerous environment of offshore rigs has been successfully adapted for use in Scottish schools.

The project, which involves pupils scaling 30ft telegraph poles while attached to their classmates by ropes, is being used to prepare them for the world of work by teaching them how to collaborate and communicate with others.

The idea behind the exercise, which also involves a range of problem-solving skills, is to show those taking part that their safety is dependent upon everyone else in the group.

The final part of the exercise involves pupils jumping from a platform only two-foot wide at the top of the pole, with just their classmates to hold them up through a network of ropes.

Although a safety harness is always used and pupils could never fall, organisers say the experience of taking the "leap of faith" still feels real to pupils at the time.

Aberdeenshire Council has already agreed a £150,000 contract to put 1200 pupils from both primary and secondary pupils through the programme, although younger children will not be expected to perform any of the higher climbing.

Leadership Excellence, the north-east company which runs the courses, is also talking to Aberdeen and Angus councils with a view to rolling the programme out into other local authority areas next year.

Caroline Nicol, enterprise in education support officer for Aberdeenshire Council, said the initiative was adopted as part of the council's commitment to the Scottish Executive's Determined to Succeed campaign, which seeks to prepare pupils for the world of work.

She said she was amazed by the early results, particularly because traditional classroom cliques were broken down instantly.

"Children tend to stick in groups when they go through school, but this breaks down the barriers between people and gets them working together," she said.

"Communication and co-operation are at the heart of the exercises and when pupils are at the top of the pole they have to talk to their classmates about what moves they are taking next. Everyone is relying on each other."

Chris Travis, chief executive of Leadership Excellence, developed the schools programme with backing from oil giants Exxon Mobil, who put £5000 into the scheme to get it up and running.

He said: "The programme was originally designed for oil executives and other senior oil workers to teach them about the importance of teamwork in making rigs safer places to work.

"The advantage for them, and for the pupils, is that learning through experience is a much more effective way of picking these skills up. The use of the high poles is very challenging for people, particularly children aged 13 or 14, but it really focuses them on the importance of working together."

The programme also seeks to inform pupils about their different personality traits and how different people can bring different skills to a challenge.

"People are different and they behave in different ways," said Mr Travis. "We try to help pupils understand the differences between character traits, such as being bold or attacking or those who withdraw inside themselves."

Mary O'Brien, depute headteacher of Peterhead Academy, said pupils from her school who attended the course said it had been a major success.

"During the day the pupils faced a number of challenges which saw them overcome their fear of heights and develop their communication and team-building skills in order to achieve success," she said.
"They also came to realise very quickly that they would have to trust their fellow pupils."