4A:How to achieve success in guidance and support

Many Skills for Life learners in the voluntary and community sector would fall at the first hurdle if they did not receive the level and quality of support necessary to encourage them to join and complete their learning programmes. Those that provide such support should recognise the courage that it takes for someone to admit to another person that they have weak literacy, numeracy or language skills.

Teachers, advice and guidance workers, learner supporters or other professionals or volunteers involved in giving guidance or support should therefore be adequately trained and responsive to learners’ needs. It is to the credit of the voluntary and community sector that there is much good practice in this area, even where resources are scarce. The very best programmes plan for and respond to learners’ support needs with energy, commitment, sensitivity and expertise.

Engaging learners – before the learning programme begins

Good learning organisations make learners feel welcome from the minute they enter the premises. Some organisations and groups make alternative arrangements for learners who are unwilling or unable to attend a centre for an initial visit. In any event, learners should receive clear, well-informed advice that they understand. They may require some assistance in communicating, for example through the services of an interpreter or British Sign Language user. Learners should understand the potential benefits of improving their literacy, numeracy and language skills, even where their learning in these areas sits alongside another subject.

It may take a considerable period of time before someone feels ready to commit to a Skills for Life course or programme. One organisation working with vulnerable young people, including those leaving care, single teenage parents and young asylum seekers, allocates each one a support worker who provides advice and support in a number of areas over a period of several weeks or months. It may take time before the support worker has established a relationship based on trust with the young person. The support workers are trained to identify and advise those with literacy, numeracy and language needs, and will do so when they judge the time is right. In another example, a national charity running full-time pre-employment courses encourages those already attending the centre to mentor their newly arrived peers.

Trained and qualified learner supporters can provide invaluable support for learners. They can help to identify people with literacy, numeracy and language needs. They can also act as mentors, advisers and ‘sign-posters’ to suitable learning programmes. Learner supporters may be volunteers or professionals such as librarians or health visitors who in the course of their work routinely encounter people who may have literacy, numeracy or language needs.

One professional information, advice and guidance worker, for example, also works in a voluntary capacity for a group representing the interests of the local African-Caribbean community. He trained as an adult learner supporter and has achieved the Level 2 qualification. He now identifies and advises potential Skills for Life learners he comes into contact with both in his professional and voluntary capacities. He generally sign-posts those he encounters through his information and advice work to the local college. He assists the community group in identifying and advising those of its members who may have literacy, numeracy or language needs. He usually advises these to attend the Skills for Life programmes run by the community group.

Those potential Skills for Life learners who are reluctant to join literacy, numeracy or language programmes may first prefer to take up other learning opportunities offered by a group or organisation. Arrangements should be in place to identify such learners and to offer appropriate advice and guidance.

Some groups and organisations provide one-to-one counselling or support before, during and after courses to help learners succeed. Where a single organisation’s resources do not allow it to provide all these services, they may look to partners to provide expert support for their service users or community. Effective partnerships ensure that learners receive adequate support, regardless of where they receive it, or who provides it. They ensure that accurate records are kept and that support arrangements are reviewed on a regular basis.

Voluntary and community organisations and groups need to be secure in the knowledge that their learners are receiving impartial advice from those who work for partner organisations who themselves may provide a wide range of services, possibly including Skills for Life learning programmes. In all partnerships, it is important that expectations about the nature of the advice given to learners are clear from the start, and that each partner knows what to expect from the others.

Assessment

 

Learners’ literacy, numeracy and language needs should be assessed in sufficient depth to inform the targets recorded within their individual learning plans (ILPs).

The manner and type of assessment used depends on the nature and duration of the course or learning programme.

Assessment should be accompanied by an analysis of learners’ learning styles. Learners’ additional support needs should be identified and diagnosed and arrangements put in place to support them throughout their learning programmes.

On-course support

Some learners may struggle to maintain the commitment necessary to achieve their learning goals on Skills for Life programmes. They may be dealing with personal problems such as debt, drug addiction or homelessness. Some may have mental health problems or be on long-term medication. Learners should, as far as is in the control and remit of the organisation or group, receive the support and guidance that they need to enable them to succeed on their course.

Teachers and other staff should encourage learners to attend regularly, but understand when the expectations of learners are placing too much pressure on them. Irregular attendees should feel that they are welcome to return at any time. Care should be taken to check their progress and to refresh their ILPs. They should be aware of the impact that their attendance patterns have on their learning. They should also be advised that they will need to be better attendees if they progress to college courses or to employment.

Some organisations and groups find innovative ways of reminding learners who find it difficult to organise their time. A national charity working with deaf learners, for example, sends them text messages to alert them to the time and date of their next class.

Learner supporters

Learner supporters can play an important role both in and outside the learning session. In the session, they can help learners use materials, ICT equipment and calculators. They can check that they understand instructions and activities and can alert the teacher if they are experiencing difficulties. They can praise, encourage and help to motivate learners. Under the direction of a qualified teacher, they can also support Skills for Life learners who choose to study independently, or who are unable to attend taught sessions. In ESOL classes, bilingual support assistants can help new language learners cope with the demands of the teaching and learning situation.

Moving learners on – after the course has ended

Learners should receive the advice and guidance they need to make informed decisions about what to do next. This may mean that they are referred to a careers or learning adviser at another establishment, or to another venue run by the same organisation. Ideally they should be advised by someone who has attended training that relates to the support of Skills for Life learners.

Frequently learners will not be ready to take the step of applying to college or seeking employment. Consider that they may prefer to join other community-based learning programmes, attend a learndirect centre or become involved in projects within the local community. For some, achieving their learning goal will be sufficient in itself, for example in contributing to a community newsletter, taking better minutes for residents’ committees or passing the driving theory test.

Organisations and groups within the voluntary and community sector providing short Skills for Life courses should have a clear vision and understanding of the role these courses play in engaging learners and moving them on. They should take steps to see that short courses lead somewhere: learners must not be left without anywhere to go. To put it another way, every programme should have an ‘exit strategy’. Every learner should be clear about what they can do next to improve their literacy, numeracy or language skills, or to take them further towards achieving their long-term goals and ambitions. These ambitions themselves may have changed since they returned to learning.