Introduction
Adult Learners' Week Plus was a 2-year project run through the London regional offices of NIACE, supported by funding from the London Development Agency. Its main purpose was to add a new dimension to the existing Adult Learners' Week by aligning it more closely with the regional skills agenda for London.
The project's objective were:
- Promote adult learning and vocational taster opportunities across London
- Align activity closely to the regional skills agenda.
- Undertake promotional work throughout the year, leading to a greater involvement in adult learning vocational tasters by the voluntary sector and Trades Unions
- Demonstrate how progression from non-accredited learning underpins social inclusion and provides pathways to further learning and work
- Deliver learning outputs around vocational tasters and employment help/advice for those not economically active
- Promote greater activity during Adult Learners' Week around vocational taster courses
What is Adult Learners' Week Plus?
The purpose of the project was to encourage and facilitate opportunities for vocational tasters which support learning at work and introduce adults to employment opportunities within the LDA's key growth sectors.
There was also promotional and celebratory work throughout the year, leading to a greater involvement in adult learning vocational tasters by employers and Trades Unions, as well as learning providers, the community and voluntary sector, museums and libraries.
Target learners includes those already employed in the HLTT sector, as well as potential entrants and volunteers. Ethnic minorities and those with a disability were a particular focus, although the project was flexible enough to include all adults across London. Click here for more details.
Current Work Supported by Adult Learners' Week Plus
1. Six-hour Taster Courses
The project supported almost 2500 people to undertake 6-hour taster courses of learning in a wide range of activities. Click here for a list of organisations delivering 6 hour tasters.
2. Employment Advice
The project worked with thirteen organisations to deliver employment advice to almost 300 people, through organisations including PLIAS Resettlement, Hammersmith Bengali Association, Afrique Synergy, Single Homeless Project, African Women's Coalition, African Women Connexion and Congolese Community Media. Click here for a list of organisations delivering employment advice.
3. Capacity Building work
The Adult Learners' Week Plus project worked with the South London Learning Partnership and the Central London Learning Partnership to deliver a training and development session to the voluntary and community sector around how to plan and deliver an effective taster course. The project also offered this session to Union Learning Reps, libraries and museums and sports coaching projects. An on-line toolkit is now available to download free of charge.
Click here for more details.
The project analysed activity during Adult Learners' Week 2007 and produced a worksheet on what made a taster course event successful in terms of marketing.
Click here to download a worksheet on useful websites for planning a taster course.
Click here to download tips on how to market your taster course.
4. London Trades Union Work:
Delivering Learning at Work Day activity through Unionlearn
Aim - the fund encouraged promotional activities and taster courses to stimulate learning in workplaces where trade unions are represented and where Union Learning
Representatives (ULRs) are engaged in recruiting and supporting learners.
The project - this project was funded by the LDA and jointly run by Unionlearn, Adult
Learners' Week Plus and the Campaign for Learning. It enabled London-based ULRs to build on their existing work, try out different types of learning in the workplace, and encourage new people to give learning a go. The fund promoted activity during Adult Learners' Week (19-25th May 2007) and throughout the summer, linking up to the 'Sign Up Now' campaign in September.
The London Trades Union Adult Learners' Week Fund - this fund supported around 75 taster courses during Adult Learners' Week in union-recognised workplaces.
Click here for more details.
The project delivered training workshops to ULRs on how to use materials from other campaigns for ideas on activities during Adult Learners' Week. Click here to download a copy of the presentation.
5. Suporting SMEs in the Hospitality, Leisure, Travel & Tourism (HLTT) sector
The project sponsored the launch of the south London "Positioning Your Business for 2012" guide. This event attracted over 100 employers, mainly SMEs, from the HLTT sector, all of whom came to find out how they could take advantage of the business benefits of the London 2012 Games. Click here for more details.
Adult Learners' Week Plus Calendar
This calendar contains events and initiatives that took place over 2007 that are relevant to the project. They all represent ways of linking learning activities and events to wider initiatives that are marketed separately.
Linking with these events and initiatives is a good way of building on potential learner interests that have already been stimulated through advertising, marketing or other types of PR activity. There are also possibilities of joint activities where funds and experience can be pooled to mutual advantage. The Adult Learners' Week Plus Project linked to as many of these events and initiatives as possible over its lifespan.
Learning at Work day
Learning at Work Day always runs on the Thursday of Adult Learners' Week, and is co-ordinated at a national level by the Campaign for Learning. It provides a special focus on learning activities that take place in and around the workplace, and includes activities and taster courses run by unions, employers, employees and learning providers. Click here for more details.