When six parents from Calton, in Glasgow’s east end, secured jobs with the Civil Service through a new and pioneering recruitment process, it marked more than just successful job placements.

It demonstrated what becomes possible when taking a location-based approach to tackling child poverty, while using the Scottish and Credit Qualifications Framework (SCQF) to empower parents.

The Calton Demonstration of Change is part of Glasgow City Council’s Child Poverty Programme and is led by Clyde Gateway. It is a whole-family model that treats skills development not as an afterthought, but as a key enabler of sustainable employment.

By mapping learning pathways against SCQF levels, the programme is giving families something transformative: visible progress, formal recognition and clear routes to opportunity.

This programme meets Scottish Government’s National Performance Indicators by:

• improving the skills profile of the population;
• reducing underemployment, where a person’s skills are underutilised;
• improving general health and wellbeing;
• improving people’s perception of their neighbourhood; and,
• improving levels of educational attainment.  

College partnership

The Calton Demonstration of Change is supported by Glasgow Kelvin College, whose new Parent Pathways Programme is helping to bridge the gap between community learning and formal education. The college’s support for community-based learning is also giving parents recognition for the skills they already hold and confidence to continue their journey into college or employment.

This partnership ensures that local learning leads somewhere tangible, creating momentum, not just participation and showing families that progression can start right where they are.

Employer partnership

One of the most innovative parts of the Calton Demonstration of Change is how it reimagines the recruitment process. The team worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to look at what parents needed before applying for jobs – things like English language support, digital skills and childcare. They also looked at civil service success profile behaviours before recruitment even began.

Together, they created a skills and barriers matrix to plan support and training that fits each parent’s needs.

Parents then took part in pre-entry training focused on confidence, teamwork and workplace skills.

This approach shifts employers from being end-point recruiters to active co-designers of pathways. Milly Donnelly, DWP Manager, said:

Eradicating child poverty requires a joined-up approach that advocates for systemic changes to service design.

The result? Six parents have secured Fraud Officer positions through the government’s Social Mobility Apprenticeship scheme, which offers high-quality, secure employment with genuine career progression.

Earning qualifications for everyday skills

No single project alone can transform Glasgow’s east end.

At St Mungo’s Academy in neighbouring Gallowgate, young people have spent years supporting their families with language interpretation and translation. They are now gaining qualifications through the Community Interpreting programme at SCQF level 5. For many families, recognition of informal learning is a game-changer.

As Ahmed Mumin, New Scots Project Lead from Scottish Sports Futures, which part-funds the programme, explains, this creates tangible progression routes. He said:

Helping young people to qualify as interpreters gives recognition to skills they already use every day. By embedding this within the SCQF, we’re opening doors to further education, employment and community leadership.

By the end of this year, the youngsters will become qualified interpreters, building their own employability prospects, while strengthening family and community resilience. It’s a powerful example of how the SCQF Partnership’s commitment to championing all forms of learning can directly impact social mobility.

More than childcare

At Baltic Street Adventure Playground in the east end’s Dalmarnock, childcare is about more than looking after children. It’s part of helping parents move forward in life.

The project, which is also supported by Clyde Gateway, gives parents time to work, volunteer, study or start their own business. It also helps some parents train for jobs in childcare – with clear routes mapped against SCQF levels.

This means the programme not only helps parents find time for work or study but also builds a skilled local workforce for the future.

A model for Scotland

Natalie Phillips, Sustainable Communities Development Manager at Clyde Gateway, believes breaking the cycle of child poverty means moving beyond fixing single issues to designing whole pathways. She explained:

That means treating ESOL, childcare and employer partnerships not as add-ons, but as core enablers of opportunity. Families don’t just need services, they need time, recognition and real routes into work. Our role is to prove that systems can flex and be rewired so those routes genuinely exist. That’s what the Calton Demonstration of Change is all about, showing that public services can be redesigned around people’s real lives. That’s the heart of this work, and it’s where we can begin to see what a fairer Scotland can truly look like.

By combining integrated skills approaches with SCQF mapping, families are building skills while seeing small steps transform into visible milestones. It demonstrates how the SCQF can be used to change systems so that opportunity becomes built in, not bolted on.

Calton is showing what’s possible when collaboration gets real, where frameworks like the SCQF become tools for social mobility and the starting point for long-term systemic change for families.

Useful links

For more information on Clyde Gateway, visit its website.

To learn more about SCQF support for adult learners, head to our dedicated support page.