Voluntary and Community Sector Literacy, Language and Numeracy project

Project Status: Completed

[Duration] [NIACE's Role] [NIACE Contacts] [Partners] [Project Leader] [Aims] [Project Criteria] [Measurable Outcomes] [Useful Links] [Final Report]

Duration of project

Start: September 2005
End: March 2006

NIACE's Role

NIACE received funding from the DfES to run a project in the English regions aimed at building capacity in smaller voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations through involvement in the Skills for Life Strategy.

NIACE Contacts

For further information about the project contact:
Julie Young, Administrator
julie.young@niace.org.uk  or 0116 204 4228

Partners

In London we worked with Barwaqa Relief Organisation, Harrow Iranian Community Association, Bell Farm Christian Centre, Nubian Life Resource Centre Ltd and Sangat Advice Centre.

In the West Midlands we worked with North Shropshire Furniture Scheme, Homeless in Oswestry, The Walled Garden Project, Home-Start - Shropshire and Oswestry and the Pre-school Learning Alliance Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

The Walled Garden Project was highly commended for its creativity, innovation and dedication during Adult Learners’ Week 20th - 26th May 2006. The NIACE press release on the Walled Garden Project can be viewed on the following link:
http://www.niace.org.uk/ALW/2006/themedia/Walled-Gardent.pdf

In Yorkshire and Humberside we worked with the Humberside VCS Learning Consortium to support the BME voluntary sector throughout Humberside. In all, twelve BME voluntary and community organisations in the Hull area were engaged through the consortium.

Project Leader

The project was be led by Judith Gawn, London Regional Development Officer, Skills for Life, NIACE.

Aims

NIACE worked with a range of small VCS organisations in government regions (West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humberside and London) to address capacity building, workforce development and delivery within an embedded approach to literacy, language and numeracy (LLN) across organisations. We encouraged groups in each region to form a cluster to work together on embedding LLN in their organisations, their activities and delivery of their services. Each cluster had scope to develop approaches and models appropriate for their client group. These were worked on and shared with regional colleagues and subsequently disseminated nationally. Issues of sustainability, continuity and mainstreaming were prioritised.

Project Criteria

The criteria for selecting the VCS organisations included:

1. Geographical region. Pragmatic decisions how regions will be decided include:
   · NIACE’s internal capacity
   · VCS infrastructure particularly in terms of cascading
   · Potential for development.

2. Urban/rural. Three regions will be pre-selected to include a mix of urban and rural organisations.

3. Client/learner profile. Includes the priority group in the governments’ strategy.

4. Delivery of service - single focus or a range. For example, does the organisation provide housing, a range of advice services, work 1:1 with clients, organise meetings/activities.

5. Links with Skills for Life providers, eg FE College, ACL, other voluntary sector groups.

6. Size of organisation (minimum of 3 staff + volunteers to ensure viability).

7. Engagement with learning eg, role vis-à-vis Skills for Life: signposting, hosting and brokering, delivery.

8. Commitment to workforce development.

9. Commitment to equal opportunities.

10. Quality assurance systems. Organisations will have a commitment to quality with some internal systems (accredited or non-accredited), for example, regular reviews or staff appraisals.

The rationale for working across different client groups and in a range of delivery contexts is that we hoped to see more effective cascading of good practice and networking. Furthermore, credibility of the work of the project was enhanced by taking place in a range of different contexts.

Measurable Outcomes

Capacity building:

Profiling and modelling of good practice:

Useful Links

ESOL Citizenship Pack
www.esolcitizenship.org.uk
www.niace.org.uk/Research/BasicSkills/Projects/ESOL-Citizenship-phase2.htm

Learning from Experience
www.niace.org.uk/projects/LearningfromExperience

Read.Write.Plus
www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus

Skills for Communities Guide
www.sfcguide.org.uk

Skills for Life: the fundamentals you need to succeed
www.skillsforlife.com

Skills for Life Network
www.skillsforlifenetwork.com

VCS Learning Links
www.vcslearninglinks.org.uk

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