Publication

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Scottish Government funded Community Resilience Development Officer post at Education Scotland. The evaluation took place to inform the Scottish Government in terms of planning, and funding for, future posts of this kind. The purpose of the post is to help embed resilience thinking and online resources within the Curriculum for Excellence, i.e.to ensure resilience thinking reaches schools and children. This includes teaching on: the causes of extreme weather; its impact on communities (specifically flooding); and the ways in which individuals and communities can adapt to and mitigate the impact of related emergencies.

The study used qualitative and quantitative empirical data to evaluate both process and impact on adult stakeholders including local authority staff in resilience and education roles. This included interviews in four case study local authorities. The areas were selected to represent variety across Scotland with potentially different resilient issues e.g. urban, rural, coastal, island; but also to examine local authorities which were judged to have different degrees of engagement with the post.