Tag: Adult Learning

CLD Response to Covid-19: South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire Council ESOL Service

Continuing our case studies on the amazing response of CLD during COVID-19 lockdown, we now want to highlight work from South Ayrshire’s ESOL service.

South Ayrshire Council English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) staff within the CLD service, identified several challenges as lockdown was introduced. Firstly, many staff were temporarily redeployed to co-ordinate free-school meal provision, and work alongside staff from other council services to deliver almost 2,800 meals a day. Secondly there was a clear need to maintain contact with the more vulnerable learners including those with mental health issues; and, provide continuity of support for learners working towards accreditation. Thirdly there have been technical challenges presented by staff remote working; upgrading IT infrastructure; and, securing online access for learners in rural areas.

ESOL tutors adapted to provide support for learners via video lessons and online tutorials, and also continue to provide English classes for learners who returned to their country of origin prior to lockdown. ESOL learners were involved in the planning of the learning sessions – including selecting times of delivery and identifying a digital platform they were comfortable using, thus reducing digital and financial barriers.

Tutors routinely translate and provide learners with the latest Government guidelines on shielding, social isolation and keeping safe, as well as all Police Scotland notices, and information issued by schools. Staff maintain a reflective log to capture activities, as well as issues that may be noted under duty of care, such as supporting a learner subjected to domestic abuse and signposting to Women’s Aid.

Local authority officers shared insight to some of the impacts to date. ESOL learners have positively benefited from continuing support provided by their tutors – receiving advice and guidance on aspects of their life affected by the lockdown. For example, signposting new families arriving in Scotland to register for free school meal provision.

Moving to a digital platform enabled the ESOL tutors to work with smaller groups based on the level of learning. This has resulted in increased confidence, with learners creating their own peer support groups out with the sessions. Subsequent peer support networks within the ESOL community have continued to develop. For example, with the support of the ESOL staff, learners now have a support network to source halal food from Glasgow.

Virtual participation is also helping to reduce barriers for parents/carers of school aged children. The ESOL team provides activities for children while their parent/carer takes part in a virtual ESOL session. There is also anecdotal evidence that parents/carers and their children are supporting each another with their learning. Learners have reported that the virtual ESOL support has been vital in keeping up to date with schools and nurseries.

More broadly, staff report positive impacts from working in multi-disciplinary teams delivering bespoke services during lockdown – with strengthened relationships and improved understanding of substantive roles. In addition, there have been positive benefits in staff undertaking professional learning and research while working at home.

South Ayrshire council ESOL service identified a number of areas for consideration looking forward: Issues arising from gaps in learning, social isolation and poor mental health will require sufficiently well-resourced CLD services to aid recovery. The Ayrshire ESOL partnership comprised of South, East and North Ayrshire Council ESOL services and Ayrshire College, has established a model to maximise learner engagement and progression – there may be merit in further examining how to apply this model to other learning pathways – with CLD provision as an entry point.

For more information check out @CLDSouthAyr on twitter

CLD Response to Covid-19: Dumfries & Galloway Lifelong Learning

Dumfries & Galloway Lifelong Learning Team

Continuing our case studies on the amazing response of CLD during COVID-19 lockdown, we now want to highlight practice from Dumfries & Galloway’s Lifelong Learning Team.

The team adapted quickly by transferring programmes to online platforms. This quick response ensured they could continue to offer learning opportunities in:

  • Adult learning
  • ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
  • Adult Literacy and Numeracy
  • Family Learning,
  • Digital,
  • Accreditation Learning opportunities

The team adopted a social practice approach to choosing which digital platforms to use. They surveyed learners to establish which digital platforms they already had access to, and were comfortable using. The team then began a steep learning journey of their own as they quickly developed their own skills to use these platforms effectively, and safely. This resulted in the team being able to offer these learning programmes on a range of platforms.

To help remove barriers to digital participation within vulnerable groups, the team provided a number of solutions including the lending of equipment, with additional set-up support. For example, iPads that were purchased for the Syrian Refugee families were delivered to homes fully set-up.

The programmes don’t just focus on learning and skills development. The team recognised how key it was to support the health and wellbeing of their learners in such challenging times, something that is especially important in the rural geography of Dumfries and Galloway.

The team secured funding from several charities/organisations which enabled them to provide learning packs with a health and wellbeing focus to over 200 vulnerable adult learners. The strong relationships the team already had with learners enabled them to customise the packs to meet individual needs. For example, some contained pots and seeds to support the delivery of relaxing STEM learning activities. The team delivered the packs to learners’ doors. Due to the geography of the area, many vulnerable learners were living in very isolated conditions and this was their only face to face engagement. Having this socially distant contact enabled them to have a general conversation about how they were coping. Many were living in very challenging circumstances and the CLD Team were able to support them with a range of issues including crisis grant applications, housing issues, accessing free school meal entitlement and additional shielding packages.

      

                               

The support provided by the team didn’t stop over the summer. The success of the adult learning packs helped to secure further funding from the National Lottery for 200 family learning packs which the staff delivered to the doors of families across Dumfries and Galloway over the summer holidays. These packs provided a range of fun learning activities for the family to do together. They also contained basic resources to create their own activities, for example pencils and paper. Again, this provided an opportunity for a face to face check in with families and ensure they were accessing all the support they needed. For example, they were able ensure that ESOL families were accessing Scottish Government Covid-19 Guidance. For families where the parents/carers were isolating, they were help to make additional deliveries of learning resources for the children to ensure they could continue to learn together over the summer break.

 

          

The children were very excited to receive their parcels!

In addition to delivering the packs, the team also ran a virtual summer programme for 4 weeks in July. Each day of the week had a different theme- Motivate Monday, Try it Tuesday, Walk Wednesday, Take a trip Thursday and Fun Friday. Activities included a virtual live life well course for adults, cooking, virtual Peep sessions, themed walks, quizzes, STEM sessions, photography workshops, family challenges, dance and yoga, crafts and games and more. This ensured that there was a wide variety, something for everyone.

The programme was delivered through social media platforms the families were already accessing. Participation rates in the summer programme were very high with most activities reaching an audience of 2, 000 and some reaching nearly 5,000. Feedback from the participants was very positive with many sharing photos and stories of them engaging in the activities  on their own social media feeds.

The move to a digital platform has enabled the team to expand their social media presence. One Lifelong Learning account alone went from just over 1,000 followers to 8,000 with posts reaching over 1.5 million accounts, including many other learning providers and families in the UK engaging with our content.

The impact on the team, both in terms of their practice and confidence levels has been significant. Staff who were nervous about introducing digital platforms into their practice have reported that the peer support colleagues and partners provided has been invaluable, as they develop their skills and approaches. The team are continuing to develop their digital skills to enhance their learning offer, not replace face to face delivery. This will ensure that moving forward, learners now have even more opportunities to engage in a blended learning model which meet their needs.

You can find out more through their social media channels: LIfelongLearningDGC Facebook  @DgcLearning

Adult Learners Week 2020

5th – 11th September Adult Learners Week 2020 in Scotland. We want to highlight all of the fantastic work that Community Learning and Development (CLD) do to deliver high quality adult learning opportunities across a wider variety of areas. These include social isolation, health and wellbeing, digital inclusion, English as a Second Language (ESOL) , literacies, numeracy/maths, family learning, community inclusion, progression pathways, financial inclusion, personal development and active citizenship. 

  The thing that surprises most people about CLD is the variety of roles and diversity of learning that is covered. People who work in CLD often have a variety of disciplines to cover and ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide these. The CLD Standards Council is the professional body for people who work or volunteer in CLD. 

 Adult Literacy & Numeracy in Scotland follows a social practice model. It looks at the skills, knowledge and understanding that a learner has to build on and relates learning to a context within personal, family, working or community life. Provision is offered in a learner centred way and can use real life resources such as bills, letters, newspapers or other household resources to support learning to have a real life context. 

Community based ESOL is delivered by CLD teams across Scotland. Scotland has supported the Syrian Resettlement Scheme in recent years which also links to ESOL provision and wider CLD activity in communities although this can look different in different local authorities.  ESOL learners can come from any country in the world and groups can be made up of a variety of languages and cultures. 

 Community based adult learning in CLD can cover a wide variety of learning opportunities that are intended to be informal, relaxed, friendly opportunities that aim to break down barriers for learners who are hardest to reach. These can be adults with multiple barriers such as mental health, physical health, learning difficulties, alcohol and drug addictions, long term unemployment and social isolation among others. 

CLD Adult Learning covers a variety of areas such as confidence building, health issues, bereavement, life changes (such as divorce, redundancy) focussing on areas of high deprivation where poverty impacts on households and families. 

 CLD is a value-based practice and CLD professionals have committed themselves to the values of self-determination, inclusion, empowerment, working collaboratively and the promotion of adult learning as a lifelong activity. Programmes and activities are developed in dialogue with communities and participants, working particularly with those excluded from participation in the decisions and processes that shape their lives. 

 The focus of CLD in all areas of adult learning are improved life chances for people of all ages, through learning, personal development and active citizenship resulting in  stronger, more resilient, supportive, influential and inclusive communities. 

 The Education Scotland CLD Team works to support the CLD sector in delivering high quality learning opportunities relevant to the communities that are in need. The team supports professional learning across different areas of adult learning in CLD and supports the creation of new policies and strategies. They are keen to share and promote interesting practice that is of interest delivered by CLD workers who work tirelessly to improve the communities and individuals they work with.   

Follow @edscotcld for more information

Adult Learning – National Organisations

Here at Education Scotland we have been promoting Adult Learners Week and would like to take this opportunity to highlight the wide range of third sector organisations that also contribute to Adult Learning in Scotland. We do not have space to name everyone but here is a few of the national organisations. We know there are also lots of local community organisations too. Please tag us at @edscotcld  and we are happy to promote any adult learning happening out there! 

 Or feel free to tag Education Scotland CLD Officers @LauraMc50938627 @soozeeps @MacdonaldDehra

 There are a wide range of third sector organisations that contribute to Adult Learning…below you can read about some of the main organisations in Scotland and access their websites and twitter to learn more 

 WEA – Workers’ Education Association (Scotland) 

The UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult education in England and Scotland. Founded in 1903, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) is a charity dedicated to bringing high-quality, professional education into the heart of communities. With the support of nearly 3,000 volunteers, 2,000 tutors and over 10,000 members, they deliver friendly, accessible and enjoyable courses for adults from all walks of life. 

 They have a special mission to raise aspirations and develop educational opportunities for the most disadvantaged. This includes providing basic maths, English and IT skills for employment; courses to improve health and wellbeing; creative programmes to broaden horizons and community engagement activities that encourage active citizenship. WEA’s members also help support their mission and campaign for adult education. 

www.wea.org.uk/ @WEAScotland

 Learning Link Scotland 

Learning Link Scotland was established for and by third sector adult learning organisations. Learning Link’s vision for Scotland is for a learning nation where Scotland is not only the best place in the world to grow up in but also the best place to learn. 

 At the heart of their vision is that adult learning in Scotland will be recognised by all as a central element of personal and community empowerment. They strive to ensure that people will have access and equal opportunity to strong, independent and vibrant Third Sector adult education, and that organisations work in partnership with others to fulfil lifelong learning, social inclusion, and democratic aspirations. 

Their purpose is to ensure Third Sector adult learning organisations work together to create a successful, dynamic and forward-thinking Scotland.

www.learninglinkscotland.org.uk @LearningLinkSCO 

 Lead Scotland 

Lead Scotland is a charity supporting disabled people and carers by providing personalised learning, befriending, advice and information services.  They have projects across Scotland and a national helpline and information service.  The local services are community and home based, one to one or in small groups so that people have the right support to learn and participate. Lead Scotland support people to build a bridge to reach their ambitions of personal development, learning, volunteering and work. At a national level, they provide information and advice on the full range of post-school learning and training opportunities, as well as influencing and informing policy. 

www.lead.org.uk @leadscot_tweet

 Scotland’s Learning 

Scotland’s Learning Partnership is the national partnership for adult learning bringing together the interests of learners and providers in Scotland. By working to develop equality in the relationship between learners and providers we aim to: 

  • Advocate the common interests of learners and providers to key policy makers and politicians 
  • Promote non-formal adult and family learning through the Adult Learners Week and Family Learning Week campaigns 
  • Create, design and deliver innovative projects that reach the most excluded groups 

www.scotlandslearning.org.uk @SLPLearn