This resource offers support to those interested in offering
learners flexible ways to participate in Skills for Life
(SfL) activity. This recognises that increasingly adults want
to learn in flexible and innovative ways and do not want to be tied
down to attendance at a particular time or place.
The
report is based on a Skills for Life Improvement Programme
2007-8 project called ‘Developing models of flexible delivery of
Skills for Life provision’, which worked with 26 providers seeking
ways of making adult SfL learning more responsive and personalised.
The report describes the approaches the providers were developing,
how they went about it and what the outcomes were.
Many providers were concerned to make their Train to Gain and
employer-based delivery more flexible and others were wanting to
open up ways of learning on-line to all their learners. Thus
blended/distance learning and flexible attendance models were the
two types of flexibility being most explored. The report looks at
the implications for pedagogy and for resources of these
approaches.
The project also worked with the LSC to look at viable ways of
funding flexible approaches. There are
guidelines and a spreadsheet to
help with costing this type of work, whether via
employer-responsive funding or adult learner responsive
funding.
Providers found that although blended learning approaches were
often time-consuming and challenging to set up, learner feedback
was very positive and so providers were keen to keep developing and
extending the flexibility of ways they offered to adults to learn.
The report provides a useful starting point for others on the same
learning journey.
Who is it for?
The target audience for the report and practical funding
guidelines includes
- Strategic and funding managers involved in delivery of Skills
for Life and/or Train to Gain
- Teachers, tutors, trainers and assessors in the Further
Education sector and in the workplace, including those involved in
the IT infrastructure needed to support flexible learning.