MCR Pathways school coordinators called key to success

Since it launched in 2007, MCR Pathways has helped thousands of care-experienced and other vulnerable pupils achieve higher rates of attendance, attainment and positive destinations.

But the future of the programme has been called into question. After Glasgow City Council voted in favour of a budget proposal that involved cutting city support for the mentoring scheme, the city’s pathways coordinators were called to a meeting on February 26 and told that their specific roles would end in August 2024.

The council has framed the proposed savings as a review of MCR Pathways rather than an end to the programme, which it remains committed to continuing. In a letter sent to coordinators following the February meeting, city officials said the review "has the potential of identifying a reduction to the current number and nature of roles required."

The letter added: "It is our intention to undertake a review and explore all available options that will support the continuation of service provision and minimise wherever possible the impact on jobs."

But MCR Pathways founder and chair Dr Iain MacRitchie said that the city council review might be working toward a foregone conclusion if the council doesn't keep the pathway coordinators. 

"Before volunteering, I had a career in corporate failure and working to transform it. The first rule is to learn fast from failure and don’t repeat it."

Budget documents show that the council has already pencilled in savings of 24.6 full-time equivalent positions from MCR Pathways. Trying to run the mentor programme without the coordinators, Dr MacRitchie said, would be repeating past failures.

"For two years of MCR's early growth, we tried unsuccessfully to function outside the school gates without a dedicated coordinator.

"Schools are hives of activity and staff time precious. We knew we could not take up teacher time to help us organise, and we learned that relationships with each one of the most disadvantaged young people were a prerequisite to them engaging.

"That was then. Now teachers have even less time and more pressure. The need for connections is multiplying as is the need for MCR Pathways Coordinators and their talent and commitment. Removing them is not just madness, it would be devastating to those that need our help the most."

Within the MCR Pathways programme, the coordinators serve as a constant link between young people, their school and their mentors. They begin working with pupils as early as primary school, supporting them in the transition to secondary and building a personal relationship which then helps young people get the most out of their time with their mentors.

Coordinators even play a role in identifying children who aren’t already receiving social care, but who have conditions at home that put them in need of extra support.

Although the mentors – professionals from a wide range of sectors who volunteer to support young people – attract the spotlight, it’s the mentors who lay the groundwork and keep the programme running.

Although Dr MacRitchie worries about how a review can go ahead when staff already feel their jobs are at risk, he and supporters of the programme are still hoping for a reversal.

To this end, former pupils have taken it upon themselves to make the case for giving MCR Pathways a lifeline.

Halah, a former mentee and current fourth-year business student at the University of the West of Scotland, said that if MCR Pathways is to survive in any form, the council has to bring back the coordinators.

“The programme would fall apart without the coordinators. They are the point of contact for most students in their schools.”

Read more on the threat to MCR Pathways:

• MCR Pathways mentoring scheme to be hit by Glasgow City Council cuts
• Zara Gladman speaks out against Glasgow mentoring cuts
• Politicians chop away at education programmes... then refuse to talk

Many of the young people engaged in MCR Pathways have fractious relationships with their school and with teachers. Halah said that the coordinators serve as an alternative adult to offer guidance and support, someone without countless other responsibilities and pupils in their care.

Attempting to replace the coordinator role by asking teachers to fill in and provide similar pastoral care would not be fair for teachers or young people, she added.

“Teachers are not really helpful all of the time. They don’t always have time because they’re teaching other subjects as well. Once you feel like the teachers aren’t being helpful, you can go to your coordinator.

“You really build a personal connection with the coordinator.”

Halah has kept in regular contact with her coordinator during her time at university. That kind of sustained commitment to the relationship isn’t unusual.

Susanne Richards, former MCR Pathways mentee. (Image: Gordon Terris/Newsquest)

Susanne Richards, a current law student at the University of Strathclyde, took part in MCR Pathways while she was in school. Six years later, Susanne’s mentor Jenny is still providing support on everything from law school to having children.

“We built a really good relationship to the point it did feel like a friendship,” Susanne said.

“In my final year of high school, there were weeks that I wouldn’t go to school. But I’d go in for that one hour just to see Jenny.”

Now, in addition to working on her law degree, Susanne works with young people as a participation worker.

“I think I was really lucky getting involved in MCR and having all the support that I did. A lot of other care-experienced young people don’t have that.”

But that chain of positivity might not have happened if Susanne’s coordinator hadn’t been by her side from the start.

“I went to my coordinator with absolutely everything. I think, in school, it’s hard to trust your teachers if you feel like a lot of the time they are just on your back. I feel like your coordinator is there for a different reason."

Similar testimonials have poured in since the news broke about the city council’s decision.

But the future of MCR Pathways is now tied up in a difficult budget process.

A council spokeswoman said: “Several options are being explored and no decision has been taken to stop the (MCR Pathways) programme.

“A cross-party, political oversight group has been established and we will keep staff and the relevant trade unions informed and updated of developments.

“We understand that this will cause a degree of uncertainty but with council savings of £108 million over the next three years it is significantly more challenging to protect education expenditure.

“For many years education spending has been protected, relative to other services, in the budget process. However, with the education budget now amounting to more than half of service expenditure directed by the council, that is significantly more challenging when substantial savings are still required.

"At every stage, officers will do everything they can to minimise the impact but in the current financial climate the council has to look at every option."

Emotional appeals can only go so far when it comes to balancing the books.

A look at some of the numbers behind MCR Pathways, then.

Independent research in 2020 found that young people involved in MCR Pathways were more likely to reach key milestones than the non-mentored pupils involved in the study.

• 70.7% of MCR Pathways pupils continued through to S5, compared to 60.17%
• 87.7% of MCR Pathways pupils achieved one or more SCQF Level 5 qualification, compared to 66.8%
• 81.6% of MCR Pathways pupils went on to a positive destination, compared to 56.3%

Recent figures suggest that the MCR Pathways programme has continued to deliver on those metrics in the post-pandemic world.

In 2023, 99.4% (316 out of 318) of Glasgow’s MCR Pathways school leavers went on to a positive destination. Of these, 81% went on to college, university or employment.

And there have been knock-on effects for care-experienced young people in Glasgow as well:

• 96% went on to positive destinations, with 74% continuing to college, university or employment
• 63.4% earned five or more subjects at SCQF Level 4 or higher
• 61.6% achieved one or more SCQF Level 5 qualification

In each area, young people in Glasgow outperform the national average for their cohort.

But that success now hangs on a knife-edge, Dr MacRitchie said. Without the pathway coordinators, it will become more difficult to identify young people in need of extra support.

"Amongst the energy and noise of teenage development is a need for a calming connection, a one good adult, a bridge to confidence, to a better version of the future. 

"The main reason mentoring programmes break down over the world is a lack of mentor support. The pathways coordinator provides the essential centre of gravity for all key components and relationships. If reduced or removed, with it goes the quality, commitment, function and the young person realising their potential."