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2In this issueForeword 1The Skills for Life ImprovementProgramme – a need for moreSkills for Life teachers 3Training literacy teachers toteach in prisons 5Out of the shadows and into thespotlight – focus on numeracy 8Creative Routes in 2007/08 10Places for providers availableon the Improvement Programme 11Events and contacts 12Sign up now for the ImprovementProgramme. Places are stillavailable for:• Workforce development– mentoring• Whole organisationapproach to improvinglearner success rates• Embedding literacy,language and numeracy• Working with people withlearning difficulties and/ordisabilitieswww.sflip.org.uk/07-08Register forregular updatesIf you wish to be informedof developments on aregular basis please emailsflipinfo@cfbt.comwith the subject as‘Register’ and your fullname, title, organisation,address, telephone andemail address in the bodyof the email.Contact usTo express your views,email the editor atsflipeditor@cfbt.comor write to:SfLIP Newsletter EditorCfBT Education Trust60 Queens RoadReading RG1 4BSSfL Improvement Programme Update…continued from page 1that employers’ demand for Skillsfor Life learning for their workforcehas not been fully satisfied.The Skills for Life ImprovementProgramme is an importantelement behind the success ofSkills for Life. Its high evaluationscores from providers’ staff andmanagers in the first year are atestament to its effectiveness,and we look forward to itsfurther development as a wholeorganisation tool, placing theneeds of learners squarely inalignment with the outcomesrequired by potential employersin today’s highly competitiveemployment market. In particular,it allows work-based learningproviders to make sound evidentialself-assessment judgementsbased on benchmarking andgood practice, and to access thesupport needed to bring them upto the level of the best. The notionof the provider taking hold of theirown continuing improvementagenda is one to which ALPwholly subscribes.Quality improvement as acornerstone of self-regulationThe Skills for Life ImprovementProgramme is one of severalquality improvement initiativesvalued by work-based learningproviders in a shared mission toimprove the outcomes for ourlearners and employer customers.As we enter a period of structuralreform, it is sensible that all in thesector are involved in reviewinghow we address raising standardsstill further.ALP is a participating memberof Sir George Sweeney’sworking party which is designinga blueprint for colleges andindependent providers totake more control themselvesof matters such as qualityimprovement. In a demandledsystem, it is important thatemployers and learners can easilyunderstand the indicators, whichshow how good the provision onoffer is. Ensuring high quality Skillsfor Life provision must continueto be a vital consideration ofthe deliberations as the reformsgather pace.What is the Associationof Learning Providers?The Association of LearningProviders is recognised as thevoice of independent learningproviders throughout England.The majority of its 400 membersare private, not-for-profitand voluntary-sector trainingorganisations. Membership isopen to any provider committedto quality work-based learning(WBL) and it includes over 50Further Education collegesinvolved in WBL.ALP works closely with policymakers such as Governmentdepartments, Members ofParliament and skills fundingagencies such as the Learningand Skills Council, JobcentrePlus, Ufi and Business Link. ALPis involved in the developmentof Government strategy.Members’ views on trainingare represented to the policymakers when new initiatives arebeing planned. The strength ofALP lies in the banding togetherof learning providers.The Association is asubscription organisation. Itis run by an elected Board ofDirectors who give their timevoluntarily.ALP representatives sit on theadvisory group of the Skills forLife Improvement Programme,alongside colleagues from theAssociation of Colleges, theLSC, the Department of Workand Pensions, the Departmentof Innovation, Universities andSkills, Ofsted, QIA and others.Published by CfBT Education TrustCommissioning Editor: Richard GossAssistant Editor: Bharat Mistry© The Quality Improvement Agency forLifelong Learning (QIA) 2007
The Skills for LifeImprovementProgramme – a needfor more Skills for LifeteachersRichard Goss, AssistantDirector – Skills for LifeImprovement Programme‘The ImprovementProgrammesupported staff from1,200 providers in2006/07.’In its first year, which ended31 August 2007, the Skills forLife Improvement Programmewas more ambitious thanits forerunners, the Skills forLife Quality Initiative and theWhole Organisation ApproachPathfinders. Its aims went broaderand deeper than any singlenational programme since thelaunch of the Basic Skills Strategyat the turn of the millennium.When the ImprovementProgramme was launched inautumn 2006, the Leitch reporthad not yet been published, butit was already clear that Englandhad a considerable skills need,and that Skills for Life learning wasfundamental to addressing thatneed. Good Skills for Life teacherswere needed. The ImprovementProgramme was charged withhelping to improve teaching,learning, progression andachievement across all learningsettings in the country.First year successesThe Improvement Programmeset up programme developmentgrants for teacher educationinstitutions to offer more innovativecourses to help staff to becomequalified, and QualificationSupport Grants for individuals andtheir employers to help them meetthe cost of training. As a resultof these grants, 1,486 additionalteaching staff enrolled on coursesleading to qualified status.The table below shows thenumber who took the subjectspecialistcourses and the numberwho took integrated courses,combining a teaching course withthe subject specialism. Top-upcourses were also offered toexperienced and well-qualifiedESOL teachers to give them theopportunity of meeting currentqualified status requirements.Regional spreadFar fewer places were takenup in the central regions of thecountry, particularly in respect ofnumeracy teaching. NRDC, theSkills for Life national researchcentre at the University of London,is investigating whether suitableteacher training places werealready available in those regions,whether teacher educationinstitutions were able to accessalternative grants, or indeed, asseems probable, a substantialneed is still unmet. This year weare prioritising numeracy, offeringbigger Programme DevelopmentGrants to teacher educationinstitutions for creative routes innumeracy teacher training.To add to the challenge ofachieving a fully qualified Skillsfor Life workforce, there was, andremains, a shortage of teachertrainers, particularly those who areknowledgeable about a range oflearning contexts – for exampleembedded learning, work-basedlearning, and offender learning.The Improvement Programmetrained over 200 teacher trainers,as well as over 500 experiencedstaff, to become mentors.Quality through a WholeOrganisation Approach, betterteaching and learningThe Improvement Programmesupported staff from 1,200providers in 2006/07. Of these,850 providers were supportedContinued overleaf…SubjectspecialismonlyIntegratedteaching coursewith subjectspecialismDiplomatop-upTotal %Literacy 425 60 N/a 485 33%Numeracy 238 58 N/a 296 20%ESOL 293 272 140 705 47%Total: 1,486December 20073
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