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More Adults Encouraged to Sign Up Now to Learning
As the new school year begins for children in September, NIACE will be running a nationwide campaign to encourage more and different adults to sign up to a whole range of learning opportunities.
Sign Up Now is the sister campaign to NIACE’s Adult Learners’ Week and this September thousands of adults will be beginning - or continuing - their learning journeys. Local colleges, adult education centres and community and voluntary organisations across the country will be opening their doors to enable adults to enrol on the courses which they have always wanted to do.
Learners and institutions signing up this September include:
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Jessica Jones, from London, who has completely transformed her life through learning. From being a drug addict who witnessed her partner’s death and having her child put into care, Jessica is now a qualified counsellor: “I feel passionate about what I am doing and feel able to use my experiences to help myself, people around me and my local community.” This September Jessica plans to take part in a number of workshops at the City Lit in London. |
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The Pentalk Network, in Cumbria, has already trained hundreds of farmers to develop relevant IT skills - accessing websites, improving communication and financial management. In September they will be running The Brain Project, a pioneering course in digital photography, which will enable farmers to develop websites, making insurance claims, email problems to vets and produce marketing materials. |
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Land Rover's Associate Development Scheme, in the Midlands, which provides non-work related training courses for all of their employees. This September courses have been organised in subjects as diverse as bricklaying, plastering, plumbing, motorbike training and Weight Watchers. Siân Hewkin, ADS Coordinator at Solihull says, "The whole ethos of ADS is about encouraging individuals to learn in their spare time to benefit them both in the short and long term. The funding allows them to try something new that perhaps they wouldn't have the opportunity to do otherwise. We have seen an increase in people's confidence and it provides quite a change in their lifestyle." |
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Kenneth Metcalf, from Hull, who had spent more than 20 years in a drink and drug wilderness and was never out of prison for more than 3 months at a time. After starting a literacy and numeracy course in prison, Ken then started a degree in Behavioural and Social Studies, which he continues to study part-time having left prison. In September, Ken will begin his penultimate year of his degree and is in the process of starting a project to help ex-offenders back into learning. He said, “I have gained a life, a reason to live and a chance for me to have the family life my wife and children deserve.” |
Rachel Thomson, Senior Campaigns Officer at NIACE, said, “If you’ve ever wanted to learn something new, September is the best time to find out what’s available. Whether it’s a new language you want to speak, or a musical instrument you want to play or if you want to develop new skills to help with a new job or career change; signing up to learning is one of the most positive things you can do. As well as opening up new opportunities, learning is good for your health, your confidence and your social life - all at the same time. To find out what's on offer where you are, call learndirect free on 0800 100 900. That call could change your life for good”
Source: NIACE press release "More Adults Encouraged to Sign Up Now to Learning" (PDF file), released on 17/08/2004
Visit the Sign Up Now Website for more information.
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Adults Learning Readership Survey
The editorial staff at NIACE would like to hear your views on last years’ volume of Adults Learning (Volume 15: September 2003-June 2004), in order to inform the development of future editions.
We would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete a questionnaire and return it to us by Friday 1st October 2004.
All questionnaires returned by this deadline will be entered into a prize draw. The winner will receive up to £50 worth of books of their choice from the NIACE catalogue.
> Download questionnaire as a Word file
> Download questionnaire as a PDF file (How do I view a PDF file?)
Please return your completed questionnaire to
Emma Chesterton, NIACE, 21 De Montfort Street, Leicester, LE1 7GE, England, or
emma.chesterton@niace.org.uk
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E-Guides: Your chance to lead by example
The E-Guides staff development programme has been designed to support Adult and Community Learning staff in embedding the use of e-learning across the curriculum.
Each local authority is asked to identify individual members of staff who can be trained as E-Guides and then cascade the training to up to 50 people in their organisation.
To be eligible to apply people have to be working for a Adult Community Learning provider either in a local authority, former external institution or an organisation delivering ACL on behalf of a Local Authority.
Courses are filling up quickly so if you are interested, talk to your local authority about your suitability and get your application in as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Full details are available on the E-Guides page of this website , or on the ACLearn website at www.aclearn.net/skills/e-guides . Alternatively, if you wish to have a programme posted to you, please email: eguidestsu@niace.org.uk with your name and address.
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New Toolkit For Black Voluntary And Community Organisations
A new toolkit, Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail, from NIACE, aims to give black voluntary and community organisations the ability to develop strategies, secure funding and sustain their services.
Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail has been designed following a range of dynamic and interactive focus group meetings across the country to establish what black practitioners, working in voluntary organisations, would like to see in a toolkit of this kind. The result is a practical and accessible resource that organisations can ‘dip in and out of’, which will enable them to not only take advantage of priorities such as funding and service provision, but to be more in-tune with current adult education policy and strategy.
Lenford White, NIACE Race Equality Development Officer, said, “The biggest challenge to any voluntary organisation is keeping its momentum going. A toolkit of this nature is needed because, to put it bluntly, black organisations do not get a fair crack of the funding whip. The Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail toolkit is invaluable because it works by suggesting the necessary ingredients of experience, funding and good practice, while illustrating examples and case studies of successful black community organisations, that are most likely to enable an organisation to sustain its services.”
John Gibson from the Department for Education and Skills said, “The Department for Education and Skills has a long history of working with the voluntary and community sector and we value its unique contribution in reaching out to communities, families and individuals. Black voluntary and community organisations have a particular need for help and support in delivering and developing their services, so we are delighted to have been involved in this project. We commend Fail to Plan: Plan to Fail to the many organisations, large and small, who will find the toolkit an invaluable aid to their day-to-day work.”
| Fail to Plan: Plan to Fail: a toolkit for black voluntary and community organisations (BVCOs) is available to purchase from our online book shop, priced £20.00 |
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National Strategy for Refugee Integration
The Home Office have recently published Integration Matters: A National Strategy for Refugee Integration for consultation ( www.homeoffice.gov.uk/inside/consults/current ). The draft strategy offers an analysis of the concept of integration and the ways in which central and local government, the voluntary sector and the private sector can promote it. It brings together the publication of the report of the Life in the UK Advisory Group, the development of a new accommodation strategy for asylum seekers, and new proposals for a tailored programme to help new refugees produce Personal Integration Plans.
NIACE is intending to produce a response to the consultation and would welcome your input. For more information about the Strategy or to contribute to the development of our response, please contact Fiona Aldridge at fiona.aldridge@niace.org.uk by September 13th.
NIACEs response will be published on our website in October.
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