Skills for life planner

A pilot course was run for cleaning staff across five schools in the Burton-upon-Trent area and participating staff were paid to attend. The target audience for the project was lower-paid members of the workforce with skills for life needs. Many of those taking part had not done any learning since leaving school and lacked confidence in their skills both at work and in their personal lives.

The main objective was to get participants interested in learning again by helping them develop their skills and knowledge and gain confidence in their abilities. The partnership also wanted staff to recognise their existing knowledge and skills: for example, many participants had run a household budget for years but did not see this as a useful or transferable skill.

The pilot course, ‘Starting points’, ran for two hours a day, one day a week. It was extended by five weeks at the participants’ request. Topics covered included punctuation, using a thesaurus and dictionary, and the metric system of weights and measures.

Following the success of the pilot, the course was rolled out to cleaning staff in the Tamworth area. Representatives form UNISON, the WEA and Staffordshire County Cleaning Services visited local schools to talk to cleaning staff about the course and encourage them to take part. Demand for places was so high that two courses had to be run.

Following feedback from participants on the first course, the sessions were extended to three hours a day once a week and the 30 participants were given paid time off to attend. Staffordshire County Cleaning Services then agreed to roll the training out progressively through the county. The course now forms part of the service’s pre-NVQ training programme.

Staff who complete the course are awarded Open College Network credits at entry levels 2 and 3 in writing and computer skills. The programme evaluation showed that participants gained in confidence, enjoyed meeting new colleagues in a safe, supportive environment and felt capable of using a computer with their children or grandchildren. Most participants said they want to continue to learn, showing that the project has been effective in breaking down barriers to learning. Some have expressed an interest in undertaking further training and becoming cleaning supervisors.