Echoes from the Vault blog post

Echoes from the Vault blog contribution – Pamela Dobson

Listening to the echoes from outside our vault

When living and working in ‘the bubble’ of St Andrews, it can be easy to fall into the trap of discussions only considering the thoughts and reflections of our own university and town communities. However, when thinking about the future, considering a broader range of voices and perspectives is imperative – not only for its fundamental importance in creating an inclusive narrative, but also in truly understanding what changes may make real difference in people’s everyday life.

It is with this mindset that my colleague Paul Gardner and I decided to apply for funding from Scotland’s Future Series to run a project named Visualising Scotland’s Future. The aim of the project is to gather information from the public, and in particular, voices from groups which are underrepresented at the University, about what people felt were things Scotland does well or could improve. Workshops allowed participants to visualise their thoughts as a group through mindmaps, and then each participant picked the one thing they felt was most important to them and created a painting, drawing or collage. A selection of these is currently being shown in the Wardlaw’s ‘Rewrite the Future’ exhibit.

Why is it important to have diversity of voices in discussions about Scotland’s Future?

As an educational institution, and as individuals within an educational institution, we sometimes forget the power we have to contribute to local, national and international discussions, and shape the agenda. This can be influenced by a number of things, including our own areas of academic interest, and the areas which are being prioritised for research funding. However, I believe we also have a responsibility to reflect the voices of those who are not ‘in the room’ for these discussions to make lasting, meaningful impact.

As a first-generation university student, from a low-socio-economic background and area, I still have strong links to my local community and recognise how little the voices of those in my family and those I grew up with are heard in these types of discussions. Similarly, working in the fields of widening participation and EDI throughout my career, I recognise the systematic barriers which limit participation in these discussions by minoritised groups; the groups which in fact are often hardiest hit by changes in legislation and policy.

We have a responsibility to not only advocate for those whose voice is not being listened to, but to build the frameworks to allow participation and engagement from underrepresented groups. Our project was a small step towards this.

As an institution, including diversity of views in discussion allows us to better understand what the future of our institution may look like – what courses will students be interested in or required to build the world we want? What research may be future academic carry out? What will be important for the student experience?

Bringing diversity of voices into the discussion also allows us to think outside the box and see differing perspectives and ways of thinking; potentially leading to greater creativity and new approaches to our work.

Collaborating and working together also creates engaged communities, building a culture of participation, responsibility and respect in moving forward to shape our future.

Reflections on themes arising from our workshops

As we are yet to analyse the data and write our final report, we can only generalise at this stage, however, I hope these reflections will demonstrate why it is important for us to look outwith our St Andrews bubble for voices to join in the discussion on Scotland’s Future!

The three most popular themes arising from the artwork of what people think is important to Scotland’s Future were:

• Infrastructure and the Environment (31%)
• Health and Mental Health (18%)
• Community (18%).

The below outlines the demographics of project participants

• 60% of project participants were aged 21 or under
• 76% were white
• 75% of participant’s highest level of education was National 5/GCSE or lower
• 69% were female
• 67% were from the two lowest SIMD quintiles (SIMD20/40)
• 59% did not have a disability.[PD1] 

Across the different groups of participants, there was clear importance given to the physical environment. This ranged from preserving the beauty and sustainability Scotland is known for (e.g. keeping our waters clean, maintaining right to roam etc.) to making infrastructure more accessible (e.g. there were discussions about making coastal paths accessible for buggies and wheelchairs, making better use of historical buildings etc.).

We have seen an increase in the number of mental health illnesses documented by children and young people who are part of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012), and Generation Alpha (born 2013 onwards), so given the predominant age range, and the situations of some of the participants (e.g. those currently incarcerated), it may not be a surprise that better support for mental health was a predominant theme arising from discussions. However, there was also a more general concern for community, particularly better support for parents, the elderly, and veterans, but more generally about how we engage and interact with others.

Participants overall were questioning how they and others fit into the world around them, both physically and mentally.

As an institution, we undoubtedly study and contribute to improvements in these areas in some ways, however, from a personal perspective, these discussions forced me to think not only about what we prioritise in the future, but also about how we can contribute to improving lives and our communities right now. It can often be easier, when we are talking from a position of comfort, to focus on the future, but these discussions undoubtedly highlighted that there is a high level of discomfort, worry and concern right now – how can we expect people to consider the future, when they feel so disenfranchised with their present?

My plea: consider how you can support your community now. This may be through volunteering or being involved with EDI and outreach programmes, or through everyday actions like saying hi to your neighbours more often or considering how you improve inclusion in your work life.

And when thinking about discussions of the future, ensure you put in place the mechanisms and frameworks to include as diverse a range of voices as possible.