Over the next 5 years, what do you think Lambeth College can do to help people get into work?

Transcription

1 . using the wisdom of crowds Ideas Bank Development The complete contributed ideas by Category Category: BASIC SKILLS Briefing The Lambeth College online process gathered people s ideas regarding: Over the next 5 years, what do you think Lambeth College can do to help people get into work? This resulted in the collection of 484 ideas from participants. As the ideas collection progressed, a process of analysis was applied, to examine factors such as the ways in which words and phrases were correlated and how ideas could be clustered within broad categories of thinking and identification of issues. The analysis eventually provided sets of keywords characterising a particular Category. At the close of the online process 10 Categories were developed: Collaboration / Course Design / Work Experience / Employability / Staff Development Access / Market Intelligence / Culture / Technology / Basic Skills 1

2 Keywords in the case of the Basic Skills Category included: ESOL - Literacy - Numeracy - Creative - Readiness - Reading - Writing - Competence - Life All contributed ideas were then analysed in terms of their identification with a Category or Categories (one answer can belong to several Categories, based on the keywords it contains). This provided a means by which Categories can be used to identify strategic areas. The Categories are populated by those ideas that have the most direct relevance to that strategic area, so that these can then be discussed, prioritised, and further examined. This Briefing Paper contains those contributed ideas that populate the Basic Skills Category - so, the ideas that concern the ways in which the college can develop and provide basic skills education in support of people getting into work and of employers in having confidence in this provision. The list of contributed ideas is given in the order defined by the level of significance that the online participants gave to the idea. PLEASE NOTE: 1. The ideas listed are in the original, contributed form - keeping the spelling and grammar, with no editorial changes. 2. An answer often contains key words of several different Categories and therefore belongs to several Categories so, you will find ideas being repeated across Categories listings. 3. The headings of answers (that is, the 60 character in brief provided by the contributor)are in bold. 4. The highest ranked answers (in importance) within the Category are listed first under the Category heading. 2

3 Category: Basic skills Offer Courses related to job opportunities Offering training where there is no job progression can leave learners despondent and ultimately lose interest. In addition to offering courses that progress to real work the college should offer support with CV writing, interview skills and possibly post interview reviews to identify what when wrong where a learner has been unsuccessful. Give students the experience of a real life work environment Create a safe work environment for students to gain experience Life Skills Not all young people fully understand how to "admin" their life - basic skills of getting from one part of London to another on time for appointments, how best to use Public Transport, basic expectations on the part of Employers should be taught i.e attitude, punctuality, reliability, responsibility etc Functional English and Maths and evidence of a qualification Good communication skills. Excellent punctuality. if possible some evidence of work or work experience. ensure students gain relevant qualifications that are valued Deliver a range of courses that give students the skills to gain employment and that cover the main skills that employers are looking for eg transferable skills, independance, literacy skills and vocational competence Provide real-life experiences Engage people who have an experience of work or business who can inspire and motivate Employability skills like reliability and attitude needed Many employers complain that it is employability skills like reliability and attitude that are missing. The college can support the development of these critical employment skills incerased self confidence I'm talking mostly about ESOL learneners - We should teach our learners to believe in themselves and in a possiblity of their developing skills so they can better paid jobs, use the skills they have from their countries. We coudl achieve it through work experience and showing positive examples of people who did it, non natiave speakers having good jobs in the UK telling them how they achieved it. We shoudl also help them to develop social skills - some of the teaching time of the teachers should be not lessons but running conversation clubs, film clubs, book clubs, ESOL targeted how to register in an employment agency workshops etc. Students could then learn to socialise with people who don't speak their language and develop confidence in speaking in front of a group in more real life like context. But we need staff to run such activites, not during NTD - teachers are busy preparing lessons and dealing with admin tasks- but as a teaching duty. Also, we shoud organise more trips to encurage the lerners to get to know London. work experience for all interested esol, also JCP some esol students do alreay work experience as a part of their course. I think we should offer it to all learners (not mandatory, but for those interested). This would help them to realise that they can work in an English speaking environment. Most of our Latinamerican learners work as cleaners with Spanish speakers only, havinng an oprtunity to work with non Spanish speakers would do wonders to their confidence. ESOL students should also have a chance to work as waiters and bart staff in college bistro or have an 3

4 opportunity to do work experience in catering business. I came across many learners not working or working for the minimum wage because tehy didn't believe their Englsih was good enough for cathering. Develop work skills into all courses Ensure all learners experience real life work situations into all courses - this can either be through enterprise activities or linking with local busineses and employers to create chances for them. Need to develop their understanding of how the world of work operates and what characteristics they need to develop to be successful part of it. Language courses I really wanted to learn french for my university degree and the course is no longer available. I want to go to university on September 2014 and I need some basic knowledge of an addictional language. I really wish we could have these courses back. mentors use business mentors. from wider organisations, why not include private business and corporations. The students at my campus are still very immature and need to improve their communication skills, reading and writing. There is such a limited interest in wanting to succeed. offer clear progression routes to reach thier goals Lambeth college needs to develop key partnership with local business, link into the developments with in the borough, maximise in the wealth of opportunities across a number of sectors arts & culture, building and construction as well as business and finance which is in close proximity to the college. We need a focus team with business acumen and clear targets which work towards introduction of business to the college and then most importantly offer high quality teaching and learning which is developing students in line with the needs of business to make careers success possible for more of the community in Lambeth. we also need to unlocking the potential of groups such as ACL, Youth engagement: there groups are seeds of development which are opportunities for Lambeth college to inspire and motive students to considerer new opportunity and life choices which will change their and there family lives. we need to consider carefully our employability skills offer and the wider college experience and ensure the learning beyond the classroom is embedded in the culture and atmosphere of the college. we need for the staff to go their professional development journey and for them to reflect on their performance and standards and ask them how do I inspire high expectation in others and what development and standards do I set for myself. Need to develop transferable skills Make sure all courses develop transferable skills and not job specific ones eg literacy, communication, management, team work etc inspire them to set high expectation for themselves Setting high expectations for yourself, your family and friends in terms of careers aspiration and setting high standards for life style, happiness and career fulfillment is key to change the landscape of local people in challenge inner city borough such as Lambeth. Lambeth college must offer the breadth and access points for all levels of learner in order to engage and -rearrange many into the world of ideas in order to prepare students for their careers and to ensure they have the qualifications, skills and determination which is required to unlock their professional success. Lambeth College will set high professional standards for local people in the borough and beyond to be associated with a college which prides it self in excellence customer service, inspire people to achieve their personal and professional goals and is a focus in borough for energetic, exciting and excellent learner experience. The college will become a place where local share leisure time, consider what is possible in the future and becomes a key characteristics of what makes the borough one of the most successful in London. Develop arts skills and provision Evidence shows (cf Highbury School) the transformational effect of the arts on motivation and on freeing young people from barriers to learning. In my republic making things, 4

5 creating things and experieinces would be the core part of the curriculum of all learners. They create a confidence in learning which is fully transferable. I'd guarantee all learners recruited a free learning programme in one of the creative areas no matter what they elected to study. Not compulsory, but desirable. And actually I'd have free access to a gym for 30 minutes twice a week as part of the learning package creative thinking The college can provide an enviroment where learners are being challenged to think more creatively about how they can use their skills / hobbies to turn this into a business or to take part in programmes that can inspire learners to think outside of the box or to extend thier thinking from their "comfort zone". Possibly offer more peer to peer mentoring and business coaching support to allow learners the space to explore opportunities - bring in visitors to the college who are entrepreners - have a "Story to Tell" can be role models for both the young person and adult. Economic downturn and the Changing Labour Market Economy and Labour Market: Due to the economic downturn over the last few years and the way the world of work is looking in terms of class and status. Lambeth College should focus on preparing learners for a workforces that is more dynamic. Young People have been hit hard by the recession and they need encouragment, support and practical help to improve their skills and enhance their work readiness (the Government's New Study Programme) will ideal help the college to design a more suitable range of activities (policy) that fits in with the YP's` aspirations and their need to achieve paid employment, starting up their own business or pursuing a career requiring higher level training (Apprenticeships). Within this scope it is important for the college to develop and maintain strong partnership work with SME's, third sector and the large corporate companies that are recruiting and may possibly have opportunities available for internships, work experience or volunteering. Adults also face similar problems - although the difference being that adults may want to change career paths, faced redundancy and need to map out a different route back into work. The college can support these learners by offering more practical type courses (roll on roll off) that are either customerised to the needs of employers, the labour market growth areas or more entrepreneur type of short courses to set up a small business or learn a new set of skills to create a business idea. Produced by Shoshin Limited 5