1B: What is ‘success’ in learner achievement?

In one college, embedded literacy, numeracy and language teaching encourages the recruitment of non-traditional learners and supports them in attending and achieving on courses that they might have felt were not open to them. The embedded learning approach has led to improvements in this college’s retention and achievement figures for all learners. The provider was praised in a recent inspection report and was awarded the highest grade for its provision.

Natasha is 29 years old. She never attended school regularly as a young person and had been in trouble with the police. Natasha had no qualifications and had been unemployed for 13 years. She felt she had no direction in her life.

After attending advisory meetings with an educational advisor while on probation, Natasha enrolled on a full-time First Diploma course in Amenity Horticulture. Natasha attended the course, which had literacy and numeracy teaching embedded into the vocational programme. Natasha’s attendance was excellent and she passed the practical assessments in tractor driving, pruning, rotavator use, laying slabs and many others. To pass these tasks she had to learn and demonstrate her new literacy, numeracy and language skills. She is currently working towards qualifications at Level 1 in literacy and numeracy.

Natasha commented, ‘After completing my First Diploma course I would like to continue to study on a two-year National Diploma course in Horticulture. After that, I would like to set up in business in landscape gardening.’