College provided safe place for students and staff during second lockdown - Stella McManus

South Lanarkshire College is an institution that has always put student welfare first, and when the pandemic forced schools, colleges and universities to rethink how they supported students and staff, South Lanarkshire College adapted quickly and creatively.

Stella McManus, Depute Principal, South Lanarkshire College.

There is a lot of discussion about colleges ‘re-opening’ one year on, but we never closed during the second lockdown from January 2021. As an anchorage institution in our local community, we are very mindful of the fact we are a safe place for students and staff. From online learning to blended learning – on campus and virtually – and then through to having small groups of students back on campus, we have remained open to support our staff, students and the community. One of the biggest challenges was accessibility. We had to make sure our students could access online learning, so with funding support from the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council, we supplied laptops and wi-fi equipment to hundreds of students who didn’t have access to online technologies for their studies, and ran training sessions to help upskill those staff who required assistance with the move to digital learning,and I cannot say often enough how amazing our staff have been to make that happen. All of our staff, not just those in teaching roles but business support, IT, information services, student services, human resources, finance and facilities teams – right across the whole college, have been incredible.

South Lanarkshire College offers more than 150 courses to 5000 students across three faculties: Business, Construction and Care, catering for everyone from senior phase school pupils and those with significant barriers to learning through to third year degree level students. Similar to many colleges across Scotland, many of our students have a significant practical element to their course and we found that the longer lockdown goes on the more difficult it becomes to keep students motivated. We quickly developed a range of innovative ways to engage with those students – for example, construction staff would video themselves completing a particular task, which students could then download to watch and practice at home; or hair and beauty staff would demonstrate key skills online which students could then practise on willing family members.

Referrals to the college’s counselling service increased by 40 per cent during the second lockdown. We found that with other agencies, such as mental health organisations like CAMHS having such long waiting lists, students were coming back to us for support. Our staff and students have access to a support service called TogetherAll, a collection of online tools and resources which helped to provide mental health support. to tell when someone is struggling. During lockdown, people might have been facing family issues, potential domestic abuse, lost jobs or had financial concerns. This, added in with home schooling and other worries, can make being at home so much harder.

The college is working with its Students’ Association to provide free soup to students attending the campus, to ensure no student is worried about studying whilst hungry. Strict health and safety procedures, including adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing, increased cleaning processes and regular inspections allowed small groups of students preparing to complete their courses in March and April back on campus to allow them to finish. For many students, deferring completion to next year is not an option – they may need to complete their qualification to get a job,

Looking ahead, South Lanarkshire College has learned a lot from the last 12 months. It is likely we will continue to offer a mix of online and on-campus learning in some courses, as we have realised for some people – for example, those with childcare issues – it can be easier. We are also very aware of the important part our college will play in supporting the post-Covid economic recovery. Helping people made redundant by Covid, for example, or supporting those in need of retraining or upskilling will be key alongside supporting existing students and helping them catch up on any lost learning time.

To find out more about South Lanarkshire College and courses available in 2021 visit www.slc.ac.uk

Stella McManus, Depute Principal of South Lanarkshire College