Youth Achievement Award (YAA)

The Youth Scotland Award for young people aged 14+

Booklets for the Youth Achievement Awards Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels are arranged in a fan, in brown, blue and gold respectively.

Youth Scotland YAA

Youth Scotland Youth Achievement Awards are flexible awards that provides a framework to accredit learning and achievement within your own existing or planned activities. The YAA has been credit rated and levelled by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). 

  • Youth Achievement Award is a nationally recognised Scottish Qualification Authority
  • customised award for young people, which uses a youth work approach, and
  • which provides a means of recording and evidencing their wider learning and achievement through a formal qualification.
  • The award is aimed at young people in the Senior Phase of a Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) (S3 and above).  
  • A Youth Achievement Award is an individual learning award which reflects the values and principles of youth work.
  • It is characterised by approaches that start from the interests, hopes and aspirations of the young person.
  • The award builds from ‘where a young person is at’. It is person-centred and the focus is on creating an award that is personal, meaningful and appropriate for the individual, making it inclusive and accessible for all.  
  • The young person and worker are partners in a learning process. The process is empowering and allows a young person to play a full part in shaping their own learning.
  • The young person is responsible for planning their own Award. They must choose their Challenge and set themselves personal and meaningful Targets to work towards.
  • The young person completes their Challenge, working towards their personal targets, and evidences this in a ‘personal Portfolio of Evidence’.
  • The young person reviews and reflects upon their learning and achievements.
  • A Youth Achievement Award should capture how a young person has engaged with and benefited from the plan-do review approach to their learning rather than just record the activities they have been involved in. 

For a Young Person to gain an award, a completed awards Booklet with a portfolio of evidence of how they have met the criteria of the award is required.

There are four levels of the Youth Achievement Award; Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Young people enter at the level appropriate to their interests and abilities; they are not required to work through the lower levels to access the higher levels.  

Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Youth Achievement Awards

For further information and to view sample challenge sheets please click on the four different award levels below.

Bronze Youth Achievement Award

The Bronze YAA aims to have young people:

  1. Participate in Activities
  2. Socialise with others
  3. Enjoy taking part

At Bronze level-

  • The young person takes part in organised activities.
  • The young person completes 4 or more different Challenges.
  •  Each challenge must take at least 10 hours to complete.
  • The combined hours for all Challenges must total 60 or more.

This means that you are able to do more than 4 Challenges, and vary the time spent on these, providing each takes at least 10 hours, and the combined total hours for all your Challenges is at least 60. This flexibility allows your Challenges to fit with the activities you choose to take part in for your Bronze Youth Achievement Award.

Click the link to take a closer look at the Bronze YAA:

YAA Bronze Sample Sheet

To view more information about completing a Bronze YAA click here:

YAA Awards Completion Guide

 

Silver Youth Achievement Award

The Silver YAA aims to have young people:

  1. Share responsibilities
  2. Help to organise activities
  3. Enjoy working with others

At Silver level-

  • The young person is to be involved in helping to plan and organise activities
  • Clearly identify and demonstrate their contribution and responsibilities within a Challenge This could mean taking complete responsibility for part of a Challenge or sharing responsibility for a whole Challenge.
  • Young people will need to complete 4 or more different Challenges.
  • A Challenge must take at least 10 hours to complete.
  • The combined hours for all Challenges must total 90 or more.

This flexibility allows your Challenges to fit with the activities you are helping to plan and organise for your Silver Youth Achievement Award.

Click the link to take a closer look at the Silver YAA:

YAA Silver Sample Sheet

To view more information about completing a Bronze YAA click here:

YAA Awards Completion Guide

Gold Youth Achievement Award

The Gold YAA aims to have young people:

  1. Plan activities for others
  2. Lead activities you have organised
  3. Enjoy taking responsibility

At Gold level-

  • The young person will need to take total responsibility for planning, organising and leading activities for others.
  • The young person will need to complete 4 or more different Challenges.
  • The young person will also need to plan, prepare and deliver a Presentation on their Gold Award.
  • A Challenge must take at least 10 hours to complete.
  • The combined hours for the 4 or more Challenges must total 105 or more.

There is no specified number of hours associated with the Presentation but however many hours it takes, this is in addition to the 105 hours or more spent on your Challenges. This flexibility allows your Challenges to fit with the activities you are planning, organising and leading for your Gold Youth Achievement Award.

Click the link to take a closer look at the Gold YAA:

YAA Gold Sample Sheet

To view more information about completing a Bronze YAA click here:

YAA Awards Completion Guide

Platinum Youth Achievement Award

The Platinum YAA aims to have young people:

  1. Develop their leadership skills
  2. Create and deliver learning opportunities for others
  3. Enjoy active responsibility

At Platinum level-

  • Young people you will take complete responsibility for creating and delivering learning opportunities for others.
  • Within the platinum award the challenges are set for the young person.

They are:

  1. Research and produce a personal development plan
  2. Undertake training related to placement (30 hours minimum)
  3. Undertake one or more placements creating and delivering learning opportunities for others (60 hours minimum)
  4. Produce a detailed evaluation of your involvement and progress within the award
  5. Plan, prepare and deliver a presentation on your Platinum Award

Your Personal Development Plan (Challenge 1) will look at your past experiences, your current status and your immediate and long-term goals. It will involve identifying the skills, attitudes and knowledge you currently have and which others you will require to enable you to meet your goals. It will help you decide what Placement you will do and what Training you will need to do in order to support this. You will be expected to spend a minimum of 30 hours Training (Challenge 2) to acquire the additional skills, attitudes and knowledge that you have identified as being necessary to meet the goals that you have identified in your Personal Development Plan. You might choose to do your Training before your Placement (Challenge 3) or you might choose to do the two side-by-side. E.g. attend your Training for part of each week whilst also taking a leadership role on your Placement for part of each week. Your Placement (Challenge 3) must involve a minimum of 60 hours of creating and delivering learning opportunities for others. It should develop the skills, attitudes and knowledge that you have acquired through your Training. You can either undertake a single extended Placement or a number of shorter Placements. If more than one Placement is undertaken, additional copies of Challenge 3 pages must be completed for each Placement. When you have completed your Placement you are asked to reflect on your previous Challenges and produce a detailed Evaluation (Challenge 4) of your experiences. This Challenge helps you to review what you have done and reflect on what you did well, what you could have improved and what you have learnt. Finally you will plan, prepare and deliver a Presentation (Challenge 5) on your Platinum Award to an audience. This is an opportunity for you to show all of the work you have undertaken as part of your Award and celebrate your achievements

Click the link to take a closer look at the Platinum YAA:

YAA Platinum Sample Sheet

To view more information about completing a Bronze YAA click here:

YAA Awards Completion Guide