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Welcome to The Skills for Life (SfL) page

Welcome to the Skills for Life (SfL) page run by Jan Russell, your SfL Project Development Worker for Essex, Southend and Thurrock.  This project is being hosted by the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), in conjunction with the Community and Voluntary Forum: Eastern Region (COVER) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

I would like to welcome everyone who views this page and ask that you think of this as an open window into the SfL project that I am working on. I hope to keep you all updated and would like to cover as many of the issues that I can, concerning SfL, for the next few months.

This page and the project is for organisations and practitioners whether they are established SfL providers, new to providing SfL or who just want to know if SfL would be for their organisation. It will hopefully give some options for organisations who don't know where to start, or who want to work in a partnership arrangement and need some contacts.

This page will lead you to a variety of links, which I hope will be informative and inspirational- and  is for anyone to view and comment on.

I can't promise to do it all for you but hope that these pages will help you to decide what you need to do next.


What is Skills for Life?

 
This project is being hosted by the Workers' Educational Association, in conjunction with COVER and the LSC.

Skills for Life (SfL) was borne from the Moser report, where 21 recommendations were made to improve the skills of adults- One simple definition of those skills is:

'The ability to read, write and speak in English/Welsh and to use mathematics at a level necessary to function and progress at work and in society in general'
                                                                                       (The Basic Skills Agency)

SfL has proven a success, many thousands of adult learners have gained recognised qualifications. 

Many more adults have experienced their first success ever in education- For some this has been by attending a short course- when they have never managed to get to the end before. Raising confidence and motivation for some is a real milestone for them, the feeling of real achievement. How can we make sure that these outcomes are identified and recognised? 

It is an evolving service so that voluntary organisations have been included because it has been recognised that there are many adults for whom Further Education (FE) colleges, or even Adult Community Learning (ACL)  isn't an appropriate environment. Many adults want to learn somewhere they feel safe and secure. For many adults it is the first step towards independence and can help towards getting a job or becoming more autonomous.

'Claus Moser recognised this back in 1999, alongside his recommendations:

'Only by harnessing the energy and outreach of community organisations will the message get across to large numbers in the target groups. Community organisations are often close to those who do not participate in formal education or civic life.

Their contribution within the national strategy is vital.'


Is Skills for Life still important?

The scale of need is that 5.2 million adults have literacy needs and 15 million adults have numeracy skills all below Level 1. To fully understand see the link to where these skills levels are matched to the National Curriculum and Vocational skills.  You will see from this the task still ahead- Then take the quiz- if you aren't already convinced.........

For your client group, improving literacy, language and numeracy can:

  • develop confidence and self esteem
  • enable people to cope independently with the demands of adult life at work and in society in general
  • widen opportunities for education, training and work
  • support the achievement of other goals eg gaining a qualification or a job

So how can these pages help your organisation?

There are many Skills for Life (SfL) resources and contacts, available on the internet. If you would like a general list, because you have some awareness, but are not sure where to go for funding, staff training or learner resources click on this link.

For more help with specific web sites, please click on the relevant links below: 

  • Institute for Learning  (IfL) -all teaching/ training staff where the money has come from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC)  directly or indirectly should be registered
  • The Excellence Gateway- resources for learners and staff training and information for Continual Professional Development (CPD) for staff is to be found here. There are SfL pages with many links: http://excellence.qia.org.uk/about takes you to the 'getting started' page.
More links to come - the more questions you ask, the more links will be posted!!


Funding for Skills for Life and Staff Training


Although funding is covered above here are  some links:

Association of Colleges in the Eastern Region (ACER):

www.acer.ac.uk

email: mark@acer.ac.uk


Skills for Life Improvement Programme (SfLIP) offer individual training and organisational support:

www.sflip.org.uk


Providing a 'Teaching Toolbox'

If you deliver Skills for Life (SfL) or any training it makes sense to  ensure that you put  in place procedures, for funding and quality assurance purposes.

When you run some courses funders may wish you to use their paperwork, which is fine, at other times they may want to see what you use. In order to help with some of the quality control procedures, there are some links, below, to examples of the type of paperwork you  may wish to consider either using, or have as a starting point.

Also, courses need to be using terminology and methods to ensure that they are robust, so here are some ideas and links on using tools such as Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement (RARPA) to help you make your learning outcomes Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realisitc and Time-managed (SMART)


Not sure if Skills for Life is for you?- Have you considered working in a partnership?

Many organisations  decide that they cannot comit to delivering courses themselves - but they have identified  potential learners. What then? A partnership may be the answer- but who can help?

  • The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) is a specialist designated provider of education, including Skills for Life provision. www.wea.org.uk/eastern/index.htm 
  • Adult Community Learning (ACL) provide education and courses on a wide variety of subjects, including Skills for Life. adultlearning.essexcc.gov.uk

Now I need your help

If any of this information applies to you, or you need some help please feel free to get in touch with me at: jrussell@wea.org

Now I need you to help me - Please complete the questionnaire in the link, to let me know about Skills for Life (SfL), in Essex, including Southend and Thurrock. Thank you.      



This project is being hosted by the Workers' Education Association, in conjunction with COVER and the LSC. The Workers' Educational Association is a charity registered in England and Wales (number 1112775) and in Scotland (SC039239) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (number 2806910).