Success by degrees

Now, 13 years later, Ms Robertson has a university degree and works as a project officer for a programme aimed at reducing health inequalities in Scotland.

Meanwhile Activate, run by Glasgow University, is to expand from the east end to the north of the city next month to help others find a pathway to education and work.

Ms Robertson, 35, who was one of the first to graduate through the programme and the first person in her extended family to go to university, said: "If I had listened to that careers advice, I would possibly still be sitting at home on benefits -– and teaching my son that was the way forward. I wanted to show him there are options and choices in life if you work hard."

She found out about a voluntary group who were supporting adult learners. Getting involved led to her doing other voluntary administration work.

"To be honest, I was feeling quite isolated in the area as a single parent, working part-time in a bar, trying to get into education but didn't know where to take all of this," she says. "The Activate course introduced me to a whole new community world."

Growing up, education was seen as only for the better-off and she left school with few qualifications: "The culture in our house was to go straight into work and start contributing, so education wasn't valued or encouraged.

"But as soon as I started working in the community all of these opportunities opened up. I was very surprised to get into university. I thought 'people like us' worked hard but stuck to lower-paid jobs while education was for richer, smarter, better people. "

A university degree was beyond her wildest aspirations but the structure of the Activate course was designed for single parents in the community who would struggle to get child care or transport and who perhaps had poor experiences of education: "I always knew there were opportunities there, I just didn't know where they were or how to get them."

She is most proud of a steering group she was part of after graduating that helped adults into community education which led to an HNC qualification being delivered by a local college: "People were able to look at me, I was from the east end and had a kid and I wasn't that much different from them and they could say 'I could do that too'. But I had also gained the knowledge of how to support adult learners and I was able to put that back into my community."

She now works for the Glasgow test site of Equally Well, a Scottish Government health initiative which aims to integrate health into the planning system.

Ms Robertson is not alone. To date, more than 300 people who initially simply volunteered to help community projects in areas stretching from Parkhead to Carmyle, have followed her path and completed the introductory Activate course.

Nine have gone on to graduate from the University of Glasgow with a BA in Community Development. Others have gained qualifications from John Wheatley College in Shettleston, with 16 now in paid employment. Now 20 people are enrolled to begin the new course at Springburn's new Learning and Development Centre.

Robert Tamburrini, chief executive officer of North Glasgow Housing Association, who invited the expansion into the area said: "When we heard about the Activate programme being delivered by Glasgow University we just had to get involved because it recognises the tireless work that volunteers do in their community.

"Activate not only gives local volunteers a chance to get together and discuss what they do and how, it also gives them the opportunity to go on to achieve further qualifications. That's a fantastic opportunity for local people."

Margaret Layden, project manager at Playbusters, a charity originally set up to create safe, good-quality play areas for children in the east end of Glasgow, instigated the link with the university after observing the huge effort that many voluntary workers were putting in to their areas: "The amount of work was almost like a full-time job; they were really working tirelessly. I thought 'apart from helping your community, what else could you get out of this?' I was worried they could really burn out."

The course, funded by a mixture of public and private enterprises, is not simply about rewarding volunteers with a qualification, but gives them the skills and confidence to be more effective operators within their own community.

Ms Layden said: "Our volunteers have become more reflective and use reasoned argument. Whereas before they maybe would have not shouted the odds, now they can create proper debate, which makes them more effective."

Course content includes five assignments on issues such as discrimination, with participants also completing a survey on a local issue of special relevance to them. Ms Layden said: "People were able to take on projects from the lack of youth provision to the environment being poor. They were not only encouraged to investigate problems but also look for solutions."

She highlights a community survey which led to the formation of a group called The Friends of the Calton Weavers who wanted to regenerate the rundown Abercromby Street Burial Ground.

Glasgow City Council, The Clyde Gateway and Historic Scotland got involved to restore the site, which dates back to 1787 and houses Scotland's first trade union martyrs. The graveyard is now part of a city heritage trail: "Not only was the graveyard a blight on the community, there was also a lot of important history there going back to the Calton Weavers.

"One local person who took the Activate course, got the graveyard to the way it should be and it's now one of Glasgow's hidden gems."

Ms Layden says the training has been very empowering for participants: "It's about how they personally deal with their own power. They are now able to talk to different agencies comfortably; they realise they have a voice."

The next step for Playbusters, which has grown to the point where the project boasts 104 volunteers, is to offer its teenagers the chance to travel to Belfast to meet with youngsters there and exchange ideas about promoting good community relations.