THE dramatic rise in demand for study skills courses in Scottish secondary schools has come as a surprise to the private sector companies that run them. A feature of the increase is the number of seminars at weekends.
Learning Performance Seminars, the biggest provider of study skills courses in the United Kingdom, reported a rise in demand of around 40 per cent in Scotland in the past year. Roger Murray, the company’s director, said that last session 71 secondary schools had been visited. Since August last year 104 schools had been visited in some 10 local authorities.
“We can hardly believe it ourselves,” Mr Murray said. Nearly 8,000 pupils, mainly from S3 to S6, have attended the company’s seminars this session, mostly during the week. Saturday seminars are becoming increasingly popular.
When St Ambrose High in Coatbridge organised a Saturday seminar recently, more than 80 S4 pupils attended. The seminar was funded from the school’s out-of-hours learning budget.
John Doran, the assistant headteacher who organised the day, said the aim was to give pupils the chance to pick up study techniques that will pay off in Standard grade and Higher exams.
Mr Doran said: “These are techniques that could result in better qualifications than pupils are currently capable of getting. We have asked them what grade they were given by their teacher in the January report and then to indicate a target grade that they themselves think they could achieve. The vast majority have identified a higher grade, so we now hope to use the subject and guidance and the techniques learnt today to reach these targets.”
He commended the enthusiasm of the pupils who gave up their usual activities, including paid part-time employment, to attend.
Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Harold works as a waitress in a restaurant on Saturdays. She attended the seminar because she feels that her teachers do not have the time and she thought she would benefit from a whole day spent acquiring learning techniques. “It has been a lot of fun and a good learning experience,” she said.
She also liked the “more mature” atmosphere, adding: “I feel as if I’m in a university instead of a school.”
Claire Ann Ruth, also 15, gave up Saturday activities with her friends to attend the seminar because she wanted to learn about study skills. She, too, enjoyed the change: “It is very different. There is more of an adult atmosphere.”
Mr Murray said that some Scottish schools are being visited for the fifth or sixth time and predicted that demand for courses would continue to rise. “There is more awareness among teachers and pupils that learning how to learn is becoming more important.”
