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3

Supporting learning

Introduction

Supporting learning is about making sure your learners have the necessary opportunities they need to succeed. There are many organisations, agencies and people who can support learners in different ways. These include employers who wish to support their staff to undertake training, stakeholders who supply funding for learning to take place and support agencies to help learners overcome barriers to learning.

This chapter will explore how you can obtain relevant information regarding your learners via initial assessment. How you can work with others to support the learning process is covered, as is the support you might need to carry out your own role effectively.

This chapter will cover the following topics:

• Employers and stakeholders

• Teachers and trainers

• Learners’ needs and points of referral

• Barriers to learning

• Learning support assistants

• Initial and diagnostic assessment

Employers and stakeholders

Employers and stakeholders could have an influence on the types of courses offered within an organisation. An employer might wish to support the learning and development of their staff by arranging on- or off-the-job training and/or assessment. If it’s part of your role to liaise with learners like these, you would need to communicate with their employer to ensure you are all working towards the same aim. There might also be stakeholders who support the learning process, perhaps financially, or have an influence upon the design of a course. A stakeholder is a person or an organisation who has an interest or a concern in the operation of the organisation and/or the learners.

Employers

Local employers might have an impact upon the curriculum which is offered by your organisation. For example, if you work in a college which is close to several businesses and/or factories, your organisation might be approached to offer training for them. Alternatively, your organisation could approach them to find out if they have any training needs or to inform them of ways in which your organisation could help their staff. If local employers are struggling to hire skilled staff, this could be an area where your organisation could collaborate with them.

When working with an employer, it’s important to find out exactly what they need as well as agreeing costs and expenses. This way, there are no hidden surprises or expectations which might not be met. This might include their need for you to provide training, assessment and/or coaching and mentoring support to their staff. If this is the case, you will need to ascertain what is required and agree realistic targets and timescales. It might be that staff can come to your organisation for off-the-job training, or you might go to the company to deliver on-the-job training. Contracts will need to be negotiated and suitable action plans agreed with the individual learners. There might also be some legal and insurance considerations to take into account as well as following certain policies and procedures. Communication with the employer should be ongoing, open and honest. Feedback regarding the employee’s progress at work as a result of the training, should be obtained on a regular basis. This will help to ensure the employer is receiving value for money for the investment in their staff.

Different employers will have different needs; these might depend upon the industry, businesses or manufacturing taking place in the local area. If you are delivering or assessing staff in a company which has asked your organisation for this service, they should not be able to dictate changes to your organisation’s policies and procedures. However, you will need to respect their own policies and procedures if they are applicable to working on their premises. For example, you might need to obtain security clearance and follow particular procedures in factories, petrochemical works or military installations.

Activity

If you are currently teaching, find out if your organisation is already providing any training or services to local employers and, if so, what these are. If not, what training needs do you think local employers might have? How do you think your organisation could approach them with a view to supporting them, if this is feasible?

Your organisation might partner with or sub-contract some aspects of training and assessment to other companies. If this is the case and you are involved, you will need to make sure they follow the policies and procedures of your organisation, to ensure a consistent approach to the learning process. A partnership agreement should be put into place so that everyone knows the boundaries of their role, what is expected and by when.

You might find it useful to familiarise yourself with the types of businesses in your local area or those intending to locate there: for example, retail, factories, industrial and farming. This could help you to understand the needs of the local businesses and community, perhaps to offer training courses to help the unemployed upskill in anticipation of gaining local employment. You might be able to build up contacts with local employers to enable your learners to partake in work experience with them. This might help the future employability of the learners.

Stakeholders

A stakeholder is a person or an organisation who has an interest in something, for example, the progress of learners. Stakeholders can affect, or be affected by the actions of those involved with the learners. Examples are local authorities, councils, employers or companies that your organisation associates with. Stakeholders in the further education and skills sector can include government departments such as Ofqual and Ofsted, who regulate and inspect accredited qualifications in England, and funding agencies who provide money for training and assessment. In an international context, various national or multinational agencies might be involved with monitoring the quality of training. There might also be government departments similar to those in the UK which will have an impact upon the qualifications offered.

Stakeholders can also include anyone who has an interest in the learner, for example, employers, parents, guardians, carers and/or social workers. These people might need to be kept up to date with the learner’s progress and achievement, as well as any personal issues or anxieties they may experience. It would be useful to have a list of names, along with contact details, in case you need to get in touch with them at some time.

If stakeholders are involved with your organisation, it means you, or others will be held accountable in some way. Perhaps by supplying information and data to funding agencies. Statistics might be required such as the number of applications, enrolments, achievements and leavers, as well as progression information. You might be responsible for keeping track of this data or it might be someone in a specific department within your organisation. Demands might be made upon you and others, such as to achieve organisational key performance indicators (KPIs) or to meet certain targets within a timescale. However, the learner is the most important person so try not to get too obsessed with targets. If you feel a learner, or indeed you, cannot meet a certain target, make sure you talk to the stakeholder to keep them informed. The needs of the different stakeholders as well as their learners should be ascertained. This is so that everyone is clear about what they need to do and when, and are operating transparently.

There are organisations which exist to support teaching and learning, for example, professional associations and networking groups. You can find details of these in the Introduction chapter. Although they are not considered stakeholders, they will have an interest in what you do and how you maintain your professional development. For example, if you belong to a professional association, you may need to keep records of how you are keeping current with your subject skills and knowledge.