College lecturer takes to TV screens to encourage Men into Care
Ayrshire College lecturer Mark Baillie has been spreading the word about Health and Social Care career options to men across Ayrshire.
Initially setting up a stall in Ayr’s shopping centre to provide information on courses running at Ayrshire College in 2019/20, Mark has now been speaking to a wider audience as part of That’s TV Scotland’s output on Freeview Channel 8.
A television reporter spotted an article in the Ayr Advertiser about Ayrshire College’s strategy to attract more men into the care industry, and approached Mark to produce a news segment on the topic.
By 2030, the Scottish Funding Council is asking all colleges and universities to ensure that no subject has a gender imbalance ratio of more than 75:25.
Ayrshire College has, over the past few years, been hard at work in their attempts to shift deeply ingrained social and cultural stereotypes.
Their award-winning ‘#ThisAyrshireGirlCan’ campaign challenges young women to understand what a STEM career actually involves and how females can best thrive in these male-dominated industries.
The College’s ‘Man in the Mirror’ campaign is a blog series that addresses gender imbalance and stereotyping in the hairdressing industry, by highlighting the positive learning experiences of some of the College’s male students.
While their ‘#ThisManCares’ social media campaign and blog series encouraged men to consider a career in the health and social care sector.
Mark hopes the coverage he has received in newspapers and now television will lead to more male applicants for next year’s care courses.
Mark Baillie, Health and Social Care lecturer at Ayrshire College, said “At the start of the year I volunteered to try and coordinate some activities aimed at attracting more males into the Health and Social Care department at the College. I began by consulting staff and students on ideas. One idea that emerged was to get out into the local towns and talk directly to the public. From there it’s snowballed into some excellent media coverage.
“I still have to do some research to try and ascertain the impact of the activities, but I know there are at least some successes. For example I was interviewing prospective candidates for the HNC Working with Communities course starting in September 2019 and one student who has now accepted a place on the course had spoken to me at my stall.”
24 May 2019
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