With some rural locations being hard to access, schools being unable to take time for field trips and some elements of jobs being hazardous, Live Chat a Rural Worker bridges the gap between young people and work going on outside. Through linking classes live to those working in rural areas, they have the opportunity to view the workplace as the workers do and ask questions about careers in that sector.
This programme provides young people with a real understanding of the world of work, helps to sustain rural communities, helps to develop the rural economy and promotes working in the outdoors.
We design Live Chats by working with schools and their aims for classes or groups of young people. Some form part of a project for a curriculum subject, others are regular interactions with one business or organisation before a visit to the location or work experience.
Live Chat A Rural Worker in Practice
- Geography students from Speyside High School studying for their Highers, took part in a series of Live Chat’s with several farmers in the Highland area.
- It provided virtual workplace tours where the farmers introduced themselves, their workplace, their career pathway, agricultural skills and wider careers as well as discussing topics including changes and challenges in farming and environmental approaches to farming.
- There was project-based learning activities where pupils presented their own land management ideas for a model farm.
- The growing need for green skills and a collaborative approach to the climate crisis from all rural workers was evident in these Live Chat’s, with the farmers talking about environmental schemes active on the farm and the integration of renewable energy sites.
- These “Live Chats” allowed the young people to hear first-hand the current changes happening in this sector and how that might influence the workplaces they choose to enter in the future.
