EAST
MIDLANDS SKILLS FOR LIFE
STRATEGY
FORUM BULLETIN
Bulletin 24
April
2005
Newsflash
The national strategy for improving adult literacy and
numeracy, translated in the East Midlands
Events and Conferences
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Sharing
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If you find this
Bulletin useful and think that a colleague could benefit from knowing more about Skills
for Life just email them a copy. Then, if they want to receive it regularly, they can ask
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Write
where you are is a
campaign which hopes to inspire adults – young and old in all their diversity
– to write about their lives and their interests in ways that are creative,
imaginative and fun. It should help to strengthen reading and writing skills, but just as
important, it will encourage people who don’t think they can write to have a go.
Having
children is a key motivator for adults with low-level literacy skills to get back into
learning. Got kids? Get reading! is a new
family reading promotion for adults at Entry Level 3 - Level 2 (readability level 9-14)
who have children aged 0-7 years. It gives the message that it's good to share books with
your children and for them to see you enjoying reading.
Developed
for use in children's libraries, colleges, family centres and schools, the Got kids? Get Reading! publicity materials include:
banners and posters; headers to signpost the book collection and leaflets for
parents/carers with positive messages about how the library can support them.
Maths4Life
- Website Launch
The
National Research and Development Centre announces the launch of the Maths4Life website.
Maths4Life aims to stimulate a positive approach to teaching and learning in numeracy and
maths. The three-year project is funded by Skills for Life Strategy Unit at the DfES.
Maths4Life combines research and development to produce findings and resources that will
provide guidance for all those involved in the delivery of numeracy and non-specialist
maths.
Useful Links
Adult
Basic Skills Strategy Unit now Skills for Life Unit
Basic
Skills Agency
www.basic-skills.co.uk
DfES Lifelong Learning
www.lifelonglearning.co.uk
Get
On Campaign
www.dfes.gov.uk/geton
LearnDirect
Learning
and Skills Council
www.lsc.gov.uk
Learning and Skills Development Agency
National
Literacy Trust
National
Research Development Centre for adult literacy, language and numeracy
www.nrdc.org.uk
NIACE (National Institute for Adult and Continuing
Education)
www.niace.org.uk
Nottinghamshire
Skills for Life Partnership now has a website www.ns4lp.org.uk/homepage
Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority
Skills
for Life Quality Initiative
Skills
for Life Unit
Ufi
www.lancs.ac.uk/wbsnet
LSC
Local contacts
Eryl
Prentice
Eryl.Prentice@lsc.gov.uk
0845
019 4183
Leicestershire
Gill King
0116
228 1870
Lincolnshire
and Rutland
Di Pudney diana.pudney@lsc.gov.ukk
01522
508547
Northamptonshire
Gordon
Sergent gordon.sergent@lsc.gov.uk 01604 533031
Nottinghamshire
Elaine
Beckford elaine.beckford@lsc.gov.uk
0115 8720036
Skills
White Paper and 14-19 White Papers
On
22 March 2005, the Department for Education and Skills published the White Paper; Skills: Getting on in business, getting on at work.
It sets out how the government aims to ensure that employers have the right skills to
support their businesses and that individuals can gain the skills they need to be
employable and personally fulfilled. It is linked to the 14-19
Education and Skills White Paper.
Key
elements of the Skills White paper include:
- A
new National Employer Training Programme (NETP); a package of free training in the
workplace in basic skills and Level 2, designed for employers and delivered to suit their
operational needs. NETP will be linked to the full range of business support services
including a national network of brokers.
- From
2006/7 a national entitlement to free tuition for a first full Level 2
- A
new one-stop telephone and on-line advice service will help adults to make decisions about their careers and training
needs.
Skills
White Paper can be found via the link
www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/skillsgettingon/
The
14-19 White paper emphasises the importance of basic skills to ensure that every young
person masters functional English and maths before they leave education.In the future
greater emphasis is to be placed on the basics throughout the secondary phase, putting
achievement in English and maths at the heart of new general (GCSE) Diplomas and
specialised Diplomas.
www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/14-19educationandskills/index.shtml
Learning
the lessons of Employer Training Pilots
The second
year evaluation of the Employer Training Pilots is now available. It confirms the view
that Employers want flexibly delivered, high quality training, subsidised as far as
possible. Over 130,000 employees and 18,000 employers have now taken part in the employer
training scheme, which is available in 20 different areas throughout England. The results
of the evaluation of the pilots have been a key element in the National Employer Training
Programme to be outlined in the government’s Skills White Paper. The evaluation
shows that 70 per cent of the companies taking part have less than 50 employees, with a
quarter having less than 10 employees. Over two-thirds of those taking part in the scheme
will complete their course or qualification. For a copy of the report use the link below
www.lsc.gov.uk/National/Documents/Keyinitiatives/
Nationalskillsstrategy/ept-y2-report.htm
Over 1000 staff
have accessed training during the roll-out of the SfLQI professional development programme
in the East Midlands. Of these, nearly half have enrolled on accredited Level 2, 3 or 4
courses. As a result provider organisations have moved significantly closer to the
ultimate goal of having all staff delivering SfL suitably qualified.
In the
same period over 300 providers in the East Midlands have been allocated facilitation
support through the SfLQI. Of these over 50 are learndirect centres. That means that
almost 900 'provider days' will have been delivered to FE
Colleges, WBL providers, Adult and Community Learning, Job Centre Plus contract holders,
the learndirect hubs, learndirect centres, Prisons, the Probation Service, e2e providers,
the voluntary sector, the NHSU Trusts and the Dyslexia Institute across the region.
Helping
to maintain the momentum achieved by the SfLQI in 2005/6 will be the development of a new
regional training website. This will give managers and practitioners, who are delivering
Skills for Life provision in the East Midlands, the opportunity to keep up to date with
current developments. By registering as a user of the site, you will be able to access CPD
training opportunities, examples of good practice, current vacancies and SfL teaching
materials. The website is now live but still under construction. Register now and add this
useful site to your favourites.
Goodbye
to Lisa Capper, Regional Director for the ABBSU in the East Midlands
Lisa has
now taken up a new post as Head of the Achievement Team for the newly named Skills for
Life Strategy Unit at DfES. She recently wrote to members of the Forum;
“I
have very much enjoyed working with colleagues from a wide range of organisations to
implement the national strategy in the East Midlands and the progress made across the
region over the last four years has been phenomenal.”
I am sure we all send
Lisa our good wishes in her new job.
Skills
for Life at Nottinghamshire City Council
Nottingham
City Council Basic Skills Strategy Group, are working closely with BEGIN (Basic
Educational Guidance in Nottingham) to identify basic skills needs in the City
Council workforce. They will then liaise with local providers to design and
deliver appropriate training courses. Several Colleges already have projects
underway and the group are now planning pilot courses in telephone skills, letter
writing and minute taking to be delivered in the summer.
For
further information contact enquiries@begin.org.uk.
Nottinghamshire
CPD bid successful!
The bid
for LSC/ESF co-financing for Nottinghamshire has been successful and work on the
development will start in the near future. The project is being led by Nottinghamshire
County Council on behalf of the Nottinghamshire Skills for Life Partnership.
Countess
visits PALS in Nottingham
In February HRH the Countess of Wessex visited PALs,
the partnership between the Dyslexia Institute and the Probation Service. She heard about
how the scheme provides basic skills screening and specialist assessment and training to
offenders in Nottinghamshire. The event celebrated the achievements of PALs in helping 377
offenders to start work in 2003/4 after improving their basic skills and 105 achieving
awards in that year.
MOVE ON with the Derby Education Service
This
very successful project has been running since August 2003 and is aimed at getting people
through the National Test. Running courses over 10 weeks in order to allow people to
brush-up existing skills in order to pass the test and at times and venues to the suit
learner is paying off. The project has a success rate of 95% in both English and maths.
Recent courses have included ones targeted at teaching assistants on school premises after
school hours. Other courses have been run at primary schools for parents and one at a
local Business Centre.
For
more information contact Elizabeth Broderick on 01332 510746 or Lynn Wood 01332 706843/ lynn.wood@derbyals.org.
Skills
for Life for staff at GIST Northampton
GIST,
the logistics company used by Carlsberg Brewery in Northampton has 40 employees including
admin, forklift truck drivers and management. The site manager realised that some were
experiencing difficulties with form filling, health and safety issues and general
communication at all levels. Traditional community based learning was not suitable as the
company operates a rolling shift pattern, covering 24 hours, 6 – 2pm, 2
– 10pm and 10 – 6am.
To
respond to these constraints sessions were run at 1 – 3 pm Monday and Thursdays
and 9 – 11pm on a Wednesday. Towards the end of the first 15-week course, 7
learners entered for 12 C & G National Tests in Numeracy and Literacy. They were very
successful with the exams, all passed, some taking both Numeracy and Literacy. Some of the
men have successfully been progressed onto ICT courses and are planning to take the New
CLAIT in the future. The others still attend the Skills for Life, work-based courses and
are working towards Level 1 and 2. In the
future there are plans to roll this successful approach to 2 other sites, The Brewery and
the NDC at Swann Valley.
Leicester College; a
Whole Organisation Pathfinder
In
Bulletin No.22 we reported on the three-year project to explore how to introduce literacy,
language and numeracy across whole organisations at all levels, ranging from strategic
leadership and management to delivery and to develop embedded teaching and learning across
a range of different programmes. Leicester College is one of the first wave of 16
Pathfinders in the country.
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Events
and Conferences
‘Skills for Families – The Way Forward’.
Regional seminar
On the afternoon of 21st
April at the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Ground Nottinghamshire Adult & Community
Learning Service and Read On – Write Away Skills for Families projects are
hosting a regional seminar: The speakers will consider the key messages from the regional
pathfinders and will encourage regional delegates to consider the future shape of family
learning.
For
more information or to book places please contact Sharon Mullen - Family Learning
Co-ordinator 0115 977 2181/ gstretton@rowabridgecentre.
freeserve.cvo.uk
indicating name, job title and any dietary requirements.
Don’t forget Adult
Learners’ Week 2005
This
is your opportunity to plan events and activities that support and promote learning
through a national annual week-long focus on adult learning.
For more information contact www.niace.org.uk/ALW/2005.
National Learning at Work Day
26th
May 2005. This year in 2005, Learning at Work Day will have four main themes,
·
Learning
to Learn - the importance for employees and employers of considering how people learn most
effectively, in order to make the very most of limited staff development budgets
· Skills for Life - the impact of limited basic skills on business effectiveness and on employees' own development
·
Learning
supporters - the potential of Union Learning Reps and other peer supporters in engaging
and supporting workplace learners, especially if they're new to learning or doubtful about
getting involved
·
First
line managers - the significant role played by supervisors and first line managers in
supporting learning in the workplace, and how people in these roles can themselves be
helped & supported
For
more information contact www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk.
Skills
for Life 2004 – Conference reports
The
Skills for Life Conferences 2004 were held in November at London, York and Birmingham.
Descriptions of the various workshops together with presentations and other documents
(where available) can be accessed via the link below. If you would like to be informed of
future NRDC events, please register your details to be sent information specific to your
area of interest. |
What
works well for your learners and you - exchanging ideas, information and practice
Annual
joint NIACE & NATFHE Basic Skills conference
Thursday, 19 May
2005
Britannia Street
Conference Centre London
An arena for
basic skills practitioners to exchange views on adult learning and teaching.
·
Spend a
day thinking about what matters – teaching and learning.
·
Share
your passion and get new ideas from colleagues.
·
Build
from the bottom up.
For
details contact www.niace.org.uk/
Conferences/SkillsforLife.htm.
NATECLA
(National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults) National
Conference, 1-3 July 2005 Telford Campus, University of Wolverhampton. |
For
more information contact www.natecla.org.uk.
Derby
City of Learning Skills for Life Forum
This was held on Friday 25th February over one hundred Skills for Life practitioners from
across the region attended the event, which provided an opportunity for them to share
their ideas and develop best practice to support the government’s Skills for
Life Strategy.
The event included a number of practical workshops that allowed delegates to create
innovative approaches to learning as well as addressing underlying curriculum issues.
These involved, both, practitioners doing hands on
activities to develop creative and innovative methods of teaching as well as the sharing
of ideas and best practice to ensure our learners receive the best education possible.
For
further information please contact: Arshad Iqbal arshad.iqbal@derby-college.ac.uk 01332
851745.
Lenton
Primary School Family Learning Event
A Family
Learning Event is planned for Lenton Nottingham on 20th April 2005 from 3.30 pm
to 6.30 pm, where parents collecting their children can stay on and take part in workshops
providing fun family activities. Activities will include drumming, family portrait
photography, puppet and games making, story sacks, Creative ESOL – using ELLIS,
mehndi teaching, and health and beauty. Parents will be able to sign up for courses and
local community organisations who offer activities for parents and children, like the
local Story Club from Unity House, and the Lenton Community Centre Out of School
Activities Project will also take part.
For
further information about the East Midlands Skills for Life Strategy Forum, or to contact
steering group members approach Mark Cockayne on 0115 971 2702. To receive copies of this
monthly bulletin, you can join the email distribution list by clicking here.
This
bulletin does not represent the views of the DfES or other organisations in the Skills for
Life East Midlands Regional Strategy Forum.