Gary Seath 1 year ago
Forces Children Scotland is working in partnership with Skills Development Scotland for Scottish Careers Week (07-11 November 2022), which is about helping people of all ages explore, understand, and manage their career choices, and the services and resources available to support them.
We have reached out to young people from armed forces and veteran families to put a series of case studies together to learn more about how their unique experiences can impact their pathway toward positive futures, compared to civilian peers.
Better still, we find out what they feel should be done to help peers overcome challenges, and how getting involved with Forces Children Scotland has helped to develop new skills and build confidence in order to dream big when it comes to career choices.
Our initial case study focuses on Cadence Dodds.
“The three words I have chosen are determined, happy, and considerate.”
“I am part of an armed forces family as my dad is in the army. We lived in Germany for the first 10 years of my life then moved to Scotland. I had to adapt rather quickly to the different educational system and I found it quite difficult to catch up in some subjects meaning I felt I was behind everyone else in classes, especially in maths where the curriculum seemed so different.
“The majority of my civilian friends have never lived anywhere else and have only gone to one primary and secondary school. So that in itself is a big difference to my life as I have been to many schools, I also feel a difference when it comes to friends as the people, I know now have known each other their whole lives whereas I have started over multiple times.
“I also find though; I have had many opportunities being part of an armed forces family than a lot of my civilian friends and I wouldn’t change moving so much in my younger years for the world as I met many amazing people.”
“I am currently studying History at the University of St Andrews. Although the work is, at times, overwhelming and challenging I am so grateful to be able to study there.”
“Exploring many different options is vital to ensure you feel you’re in the best-suited pathway for your needs and goals. Also, if you do not explore multiple pathways, you’ll never know the opportunities that may have come your way if you had looked a bit more widely.”
“Without the support of Forces Children Scotland, I would not have the confidence I do now and also the life experience I have gained through the many opportunities I have been given. If you have the opportunity to be involved with Forces Children Scotland, I wouldn’t pass it down! Being involved will help you so much with applications, experience, and also just some support when you need it.”
“I do feel that many young people with a Forces background feel there is an educational disadvantage caused by situations such as postings, deployment, and also just some of the family issues that can come with being part of a Forces family, and this can cause motivation to be quite low. On top of this sometimes as a forces child, you don’t know for sure where you’ll be next year.
“So, the uncertainty can be quite daunting. Therefore, I feel there should be a wider range of support in schools, especially in schools that don’t have a massive forces family population, that would allow forces children to share these concerns, gain advice from a career advisor, and also have access to help when they are behind in a subject after a big move; after all, every school has a slightly different way of teaching.”
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