Our Shoes Training: Award-Winning Programme Helping Educators See Through Young People’s Eyes
What is ‘Our Shoes’?
‘Our Shoes’ is a Surrey County Council initiative that brings young people and educators together to build a more inclusive and empathetic education environment. Through this collaborative programme, students from diverse backgrounds share their experiences and perspectives, helping to empower young voices and strengthen understanding among school staff and support teams.
‘Our Shoes’ allows young people to be heard, and to express and share their experiences from their perspective, from ‘their shoes’. It is the result of a decade-long collaboration with young individuals. Their experiences, emotions, and unique perspectives have created a programme finely tuned to the diverse needs of a significant group of young people, especially, those with care experience, with additional needs and disabilities, mental health challenges or who are from the LGBTQ+ community.
Who is the training for?
The training is designed for teachers, school staff, and anyone who influences the experiences and outcomes of young people. It can be delivered either virtually via Teams or in person, offering flexibility to suit different needs.
The aim of this training series is to empower young people to have a respected voice, to be heard and to be included. To promote and enable this, the ‘Our Shoes’ training team have developed a series of courses and sessions that bring young people from all backgrounds, and adults who support and interact with them, together in a positive and mutually beneficial way.
What does the training cover?
The young people share their experiences through structured sessions, so that those who engage with young people in whatever capacity, gain insight and perspective into the challenges that young people face today, regardless of background. Seeing situations through a different lens is a powerful way to reflect on, and develop, our own practice.
The Our Shoes series consists of four courses:
Course 1 Perspective
Module One – Perspective
Module Two – Additional Needs & Disabilities Perspective
Module Three – LGBTQ+ Perspective
Course 2 Respect
Course 3 Introduction to Participation
Course 4 Young Carers
To find out more about the Our Shoes training series and to book on to courses, please email ourshoes@surreycc.gov.uk
