Presenters: Jo Pye, SLIM Sue Hunter and Tat Ruck, Consultants Tutor training: Building capacity for Skills for Life Early findings from field research

Presenters:Jo Pye, SLIM

Sue Hunter and Tat Ruck, Consultants

Tutor training:Building capacity for Skills

for Life

Early findings from field research

Tutor training: Building capacity for Skills for Life

Purpose of learning theme:

* To identify successful models for staff development and training in this field; and

* To identify successful strategies to build capacity for staff development in the workplace, further education (FE), Probation, Prisons, Jobcentre Plus, voluntary sector and community learning settings.


Fieldwork consisted of:

23 semi-structured interviews in June/July 2004, mostly face to face, with range of cross-sectoral organisations across the South West managing and delivering tutor training for Skills for Life

Interviews included case studies in: universities, further education colleges, local Learning and Skills Councils, voluntary and community organisations, prison and probation educators, Connexions, learndirect, adult and community learning providers, work based learning providers, local learning partnerships


Interview questions covered:

Contexts and settings for tutor training

Range of models for delivery: integrated vs discrete

New and existing qualifications and progression

Strategic location of Skills for Life within organisation

Staffing structures, experience and employment (F/PT)

Staff roles and responsibilities at different levels

Raising awareness of LLN through Skills for Life

New opportunities for partnerships and coordination


Contexts and settings for tutor training

Tutor training has been well received by those delivering S4L flexibly in a wide range of settings

Capacity building has been essential to success of S4L in many contexts and has been a powerful vehicle for awareness raising for tutors, learners and senior management

Tutor training offers opportunities for wider professional development in new partnerships between sectors

BUT … there is much work to be done to integrate tutor training for S4L in work based contexts


Range of models for tutor training

Models have highlighted the benefits of both integrated and discrete provision for tutors

Flexibility in delivery can be tailored to the wide diversity of existing and new tutors for S4L

Integration of provision links into both mainstream teacher training and broader professional development programmes

BUT … levels of support for S4L tutor trainees are dependent on internal provider capacity; mentoring and one to one tutoring are not well evidenced


Qualifications and progression

The new national curriculum has been universally welcomed in raising visibility of S4L tutors and learners from a ‘Cinderella’ position

Progression routes are clear, and for many staff offer their first opportunity for structured professional development

Flexibility provides individualised access routes for diverse staff with a huge range of experience

HOWEVER … better links are needed with mainstream teacher training; late rollout of Level 3 has delayed progress


Who are the S4L tutors?

Qualified teachers wishing to specialise in adult literacy and numeracy

Front line workers in public services agencies

Members of the Armed Services, probation staff, prison staff and inmates

Volunteers from the community

Long serving adult literacy and numeracy tutors

Many need encouragement to raise their own skills levels and confidence, particularly as an older female workforce


Strategic location of S4L within organisation

S4L training is high on the agenda for public sector providers and local Learning and Skills Councils

Smaller providers and the voluntary sector are not always able to resource training for S4L as a priority

Innovative agencies set up to pilot S4L are developing excellent cross sectoral tutor training models

Large public organisations (eg Forces, Prisons and the NHS) are successfully tailoring S4L training

However, S4L training has not yet made much impact in the workplace nor the union learning agenda.


Staffing structures, experience and employment

The impact of S4L training requirements on part time staff has been huge, and sometimes overwhelming even for experienced tutors

Some tutors see Level 4 as inflexible, and overly theoretical for the needs of practical delivery

Even when fully trained, tutors’ employment by providers can still be part time and without secure contracts

Providers have capacity concerns re ‘poaching’ of trained S4L tutors where demand exceeds supply.


Staff roles and responsibilities at different levels

There are tensions between staffing and delivery responsibilities for Level 4 tutors supervising trainees

Unit 1 of Level 2 has been very effective in accrediting a ‘signposting’ role across sectors for those with a low skills base – but may not lead to progression

Vocational tutors can struggle to locate their practical delivery skills within the S4L training framework

Many LLN tutors are more comfortable working with learners sub Level 2 – but S4L training programmes do not address skills needs below this threshold


New opportunities for partnerships and coordination

ACL and public providers have taken the lead in initiating innovative partnerships for S4L tutor training

S4L training has been a springboard for joined up, area based approaches bringing together public agencies and private providers

Universities’ involvement with S4L has developed regional links with colleges, boosted quality and unlocked additional funding sources

Local Learning and Skills Councils can allocate training resources flexibly towards enhanced S4L partnerships with employers.


Lessons emerging across sectors

Practice has been enriched by: embedded curricula and assessment, differentiating roles aligned to framework, taster sessions and modular framework

Institutional commitment shown to broad strategic principles of training and development

Capacity remains an issue, particularly for internal development and for smaller organisations

Level 3 training will highlight professional integration of non-S4L teachers, embedding and linking S4L into other learning


Future trends to monitor

Consortium/partnerships between colleges work well, particularly for Level 4 qualifications – which could be

used to support smaller organisations

Qualified teachers with Level 2 could take on LLN delivery under supervision

APEL approaches/Level 2 could be recruitment tools

Level 4 specialists are not necessarily equipped to teach; extra support for them should be available

Providers need to be looking ahead to how to resource S4L tutor training within their own business plans once development funding is withdrawn.

Contacting the Skills and Learning Module

South West Regional ObservatoryUniversity of Exeter St Luke’s Campus T 01392 264 850Heavitree Rd F 01392 264 966Exeter EX1 2LU

www.swslim.org.uk

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





Documents

Presenters: Jo Pye, SLIM Sue Hunter and Tat Ruck, Consultants Tutor training: Building capacity for Skills for Life Early findings from field research