3A: How to achieve success in meeting the needs and interests of learners

Use of the national standards

The national standards in literacy and numeracy must form the basis of all literacy, numeracy and ESOL programmes. The context-free nature of the core curricula means that programme design, teaching and management must always be informed by the wider contexts of learners’ needs, interests and motivations. Adults will learn better and gain confidence faster if they see the relevance and benefits of improved literacy, numeracy and language in their daily lives.

Engaging with learners

Look at the rationale behind where you hold your literacy, numeracy and language tuition – the pattern of delivery, days, times, length of year and so on. How do you meet the needs of those who can fairly readily identify that they have some difficulty with literacy, numeracy or language and can be coaxed into doing something about it? Don’t forget to look at how you respond to latent need, that is, how you engage with people who have not been involved in formal education for a long time and how you convince them that there is something to be gained from developing their literacy, numeracy and language skills.

Bear in mind that there is a close correlation between low levels of literacy, numeracy and language skills and low income. Use demographic data, and your organisation’s knowledge of its communities, to target priority groups. Have a clear rationale for determining in which communities you aim to have a presence.

Be imaginative about how you attract new learners to community-based learning. Overcome the stigma associated with poor literacy, numeracy and language skills by developing programmes or short taster courses that have these skills as a component. Introductions to the use of computers, citizenship courses, community history courses, healthy lifestyle courses and ‘dads and lads’ and family learning programmes are all examples of initiatives that can work in this way.

Ensure that your organisation is close to the communities it aims to work with, and that it understands the issues affecting those communities. Employ staff who know how to convert those issues into agendas for learning and action. Tease out those aspects of learning that are to do with literacy, numeracy and ESOL. Make sure that any literacy, numeracy and ESOL learning that takes place helps the groups concerned achieve their primary learning goals. For example, in a women’s centre on a run-down housing estate, it may be appropriate to devise a literacy and numeracy programme that helps learners examine how women in other countries deal with poverty or poor living conditions, as well as equipping them to deal on a daily basis with managing on a low income.

Patterns of provision

Make sure that provision is available when, where, and on a scale that best meets people’s needs. Take account of the family, work and cultural commitments of potential learners, and how pressing their need to learn is in deciding whether provision needs to be sustained over a long period, short and intensive, or some combination of the two. Use distance learning where feasible and appropriate. Decisions about which days of the week and for how many weeks of the year groups run should be based on the needs of learners rather than on the preferences of tutors.

Progression, coherence and responsiveness

Ensure that learners can work at the level that matches their current need. Work with other providers to create progression routes where your organisation is unable to do this on its own. Refer learners to other agencies where your own organisation does not have the means to meet their needs. Make accreditation available where learners would find it valuable and where it makes progression easier.

If, as a provider, you operate from more than one site, you need to find a way of striking a balance between creating progression routes for learners and meeting the express need that many learners have to study close to home. If there are other providers in the area, joint planning, for example, through the local learning partnership, might be an effective way of ensuring that these two competing priorities are met.

Furthering learners' personal development

Some literacy, numeracy and ESOL learners have little or no first-hand experience of life outside their immediate neighbourhood. Other have a poor understanding of where they are in the UK and no understanding of maps or how they work. The best solution in this situation is to reinforce existing knowledge using trips out, residentials and other exploratory activities. Don’t forget to provide information on the additional resources and facilities available in the community so that learners can extend their neighbourhood and general geographic knowledge beyond the learning environment. Residential events in particular provide good opportunities for intensive learning and developing social skills, as well as widening learners’ horizons in many other ways.