Written evidence submitted by learndirect (ALE0039)

 

 

 

Who we are:

•              Helped more than 4.5 million individuals get the skills for wok and more than 75,000 businesses improve the skills of their workforce

 

•              Supported more than 250,000 employability customers last year and provided training to c40,000

 

•              30 years experience delivering Apprenticeship and vocational training programmes, following the merger with JHP Group

 

•              On average one of our long-term unemployed customers gets a job every 20 minutes

 

•              We find a work placement for one of our customers every 15 minutes

 

•              Helped more than 6,500 customers get a work placement last year

 

•              Delivered more than 20,000 Apprenticeships last year 94% customer satisfaction.

 

 

Introduction

 

learndirect is the largest provider of skills, training and employment services in the UK and has supported more than 4.5 million individual customers and more than 75,000 employers. 

 

In 2000 we challenged the norm and took a bold step to deliver learning online. We established ourselves as the foremost UK provider of Adult Basic Skills delivering learning to thousands of people each year through a network of hundreds of centres. Ten years later we challenged it again by opening a state-of-the-art, unique support centre in Leicester, which has already worked with more than 10,000 learners. 

 

Through the integration of employment and skills, we are helping thousands more unemployed people into sustainable employment every year. We do this by using technology to increase accessibility and fit with customers’ lifestyles.

 

We are the largest provider of Apprenticeships in England, a Prime provider and a sub-contractor to seven other Primes for the Work Programme, and hold major funding contracts with the Skills Funding Agency, Education Funding Agency, the Department for Work and Pensions, Skills Development Scotland, and the Welsh Government; as well as commercial contracts with clients including the Ministry of Defence, McDonald’s and The Co-operative Group. Our employer clients include tens of thousands of SMEs and large national organisations. 

 

learndirect operates across England, Wales and Scotland using flexible delivery models via four main channels: online, work-based, local centres and network partners. By utilising our geographical scale, technological strengths and service portfolio, we provide holistic, end-to-end employment and skills solutions for individuals and employers alike, benefiting local communities and economies.

 

We are Ofsted grade 2 with a grade 1 for Leadership and Management.  Our consistently high standards of delivery result in above-average achievement rates which exceed targets.

 

Executive Summary

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. What is the Government currently doing to help adults improve their reading, writing and maths skills?

 

1.1              Despite a period of significant reform and investment in education and skills, the English and maths skills of young people and adults in England remain a serious concern.  This is well documented and evidenced, for example:

 

 

1.2              We welcome the priority given to maths and English across all phases of education.  There is a particular focus on maths, with increasing focus on Level 3.  However we must not forget about those who are starting from a low skills base and need to get a Level 2 qualification to progress into further learning or employment.  The requirement for all young people to continue to study English and maths until they are 19 or they achieve the required standard is also welcome and in time this will result in more people entering the workforce with the necessary basic skills. 

 

1.3              The focus on maths and English will place increasing pressure on the teaching/tutor workforce.  We are already seeing a shortfall in the number of appropriately qualified teachers, tutors, assessors and workplace mentors. More training and support is required to improve the skills and confidence of the teaching workforce in these subjects. 

 

1.4              The inclusion of maths and English as a core element of Traineeships and Apprenticeships will help to plug the skills gap in the workplace and reduce the need for employers to pay for remedial training in this area.  Employers can then be free to focus training budgets on job-specific training, such as Apprenticeships, which gives them a greater return on investment.

 

1.5              We support the Government’s commitment to retain the entitlement to fully funded English and maths which supports progression to Level 2 for adults with a diagnosed need.  As Departmental budgets get tighter, the Government must remain committed to fully funding basic maths and English for those who need it to keep pace with our international competitors.

 

 

  1. How can the Government make sure adults have the right skills that can help them find a job, which in turn will help the country, and more widely?

 

2.1              Basic maths and English skills are fundamental to sustainable employment.  The maths and English curriculum in schools and for adults must reflect the changing needs of the modern labour market.  Schools need to have some flexibility to provide practical maths and English qualifications, particularly for those who are unlikely to succeed at GCSEs either the first time, or the second time around.  We work with many people who feel they have failed and ‘can’t do maths or English’.  In the adult system we therefore not only have to re-engage these people but we need to work hard to turn around this lack of confidence and motivation from ‘failure’. 

 

2.2              Whilst we acknowledge the new GCSEs from 2015 will be more functional, the GCSE remains a broad qualification designed to prepare learners for progression to A-levels. Functional Skills, which were specifically designed with input from employers, give learners the confidence and practical skills they need for work.  They provide employers with the reassurance the employee or potential employee will be numerate and literate. Practical qualifications, such as Functional Skills, must continue to be offered to young people and adults as an equal alternative to GCSE qualifications, including in Traineeships and Apprenticeships.

 

2.3              As an illustration, the practical maths and English qualifications which are delivered by learndirect allow the learner to apply their skills in real life or work contexts.  When combined with additional employability skills or vocational qualifications, this allows the learner to build their confidence which supports their transition into the workplace.  The graph below shows a shift in the mix of qualifications undertaken by our adult learners.  This shift reflects the fact we are now helping more unemployed learners get the skills they need for employment.  Our success rates have increased during the same period.

 

 

“Learners develop good skills in English, mathematics and ICT and apply these in their personal lives in a variety of ways such as household budget planning, calculating discounts when shopping and producing promotional materials for fundraising events. Learners on employability programmes use their newly acquired skills and knowledge well including writing effective personal statements for university applications and successful job application letters. Progression to higher-level qualifications or additional learning is good.”

 

Learning and Skills Inspection Report – learndirect (Foundation mathematics, foundation English Learning programmes for 19+), Ofsted, 2013

 

 

2.4              As outlined above, employment outcomes are increasingly important to our learners.  When we surveyed our adult learners in 2013, we found:

 

 

2.5              learndirect has more than a decade of experience helping those learners who are hardest to reach and furthest away from the labour market.  We have more than 400 learning centres across England, deliberately located in areas which have higher levels of deprivation; around two thirds of our current learners are from the 40% most deprived postcode areas. When developing our maths and English offer for adults, we recognised many of these learners had not done any learning for several years and so needed to build their confidence as well as their skills.  For these learners and those who want to do just enough learning to help them get a job, we developed a suite of Awards and Certificates in English and maths skills.  These courses comprise a number of short modules which are QCF approved.  This modular approach allows people to progress at their own pace, building confidence and encouraging successful completion:

 

 

 

“Learners benefit from strong encouragement to overcome negative feelings about themselves and to value their existing skills and learn new skills. Learners are well motivated and some find their lives transformed through the positive experience of learning.”

 

Learning and Skills Inspection Report – learndirect (Foundation mathematics, foundation English Learning programmes for 19+), Ofsted, 2013

 

 

2.6              Whilst there is some flexibility in the QCF for maths and English qualifications, there are no building blocks or progression routes linking Functional Skills and GCSEs.  There is currently no credit system so if a learner achieves their Functional Skills and they want to progress to a GCSE, they usually have to study the whole GCSE course.

 

2.7              This is also the case at higher levels of study.  We know people feel more competent the more they practice and make use of subject knowledge, so the concept of CPD (not just achieving a qualification grade) in maths and English is vital.  Maths and English topics should be modularised as part of intermediate and higher Apprenticeships using this credit approach.  The same could be embedded in Higher Education programmes.  The development of a resource bank of online maths and English modules for specific frameworks would be a cost effective way to resource individual organisations to achieve this. 

 

 

  1. What are the best ways to help adults learn how to read, write and do maths – through formal education providers or in a different way?

 

3.1              The use of technology in the delivery of maths and English can support improvements across the learner journey.  In our experience young people and adults find online learning motivational as they can learn at their own pace, in a safe and comfortable environment and with support which can either be provided face to face or remotely online or by telephone.  When asked what they like most about learning with learndirect, 79% of learners said they like the flexibility to learn when they want and at the pace they want.

 

3.2              The way people live their lives is evolving fast due to technological advances and the use of social media.  Therefore the way people learn new skills needs to evolve at the same pace.  Every learner is unique with different learning goals, motivations and approaches to learning.  Increasing the use of technology, particularly mobile technology and social media, can personalise and tailor the delivery of maths and English skills training, making it more relevant to different work settings or sectors.

 

3.3              learndirect has researched the effectiveness of using technology to support people with literacy and numeracy learning needs.  We found the use of technology in learning was attractive to learners and resulted in improved participation – 92% of learners said they found the use of ICT motivating and the large majority of new users found little difficulty in learning to use ICT.  The key success factors for learndirect online learning to date have been:

 

 

3.4              In 2010 we invested in a remotely supported, web-based model of delivery for maths and English which we operate from our unique Service Centre in Leicester.  We have brought together rich interactive online learning materials and assessments inside a personalised web-based learning environment with qualified maths and English tutors offering remote support and contact centre technology and methodologies to efficiently manage the learner interactions.  Many of our employer clients are choosing this as their preferred way to receive training services for their employees. For example, through a new partnership with McDonald’s, we will help more than 4,000 apprentices every year achieve around 6,000 maths and English qualifications.  We are quickly able to tailor the maths and English programmes to each industry sector and this completely online solution allows maths and English experts to support employers who are owning and delivering all the other technical aspects of their Apprenticeships.

“We’re a 24/7 business so a lot of our employees work shifts. It’s really important for them to be able to access their learning at any time which suits them.


“By delivering learning online and providing tutor support via a dedicated customer service centre in Leicester, learndirect is able to provide employees with the flexibility they need.
 

“Time and time again our employees tell us they feel more confident when they’ve completed an Apprenticeship and a lot of the confidence comes from the Functional Skills element. It’s widened our talent pool and has helped people who might not have ordinarily put themselves forward for higher positions.”

Sue Husband, Education Manager, McDonald’s

 

 

3.5              Engagement: Technology has a key role to play in increasing demand for learning. learndirect has successfully used web technology, including social media such as Facebook, Apps and Games, to engage and retain learners providing them with a comfortable environment in which they can learn and communicate easily with their tutors and peers.   From our research we know people like the flexibility of being able to learn online – where they are not restricted by location, term time or time of day. 

 

3.6              Initial assessment: When pre-assessing using technology, learners can self-serve their initial and diagnostic assessments at a time and location to suit them. The use of technology for initial and diagnostic assessments allows multiple aspects of English and maths curricula to be tested quickly and efficiently with no scope for errors in marking. The results of the pre-assessment tools are presented to learners in a learner-friendly manner, and to tutors in a detailed report mapped to the Adult Core Curriculum. Tutors use a programme builder tool to quickly and accurately design a highly individualised programme, relevant to the learner’s learning needs.

 

 

“Initial assessment is effective and ensures that learners are on the right course and at the right level. In English and mathematics a recently revised initial and diagnostic assessment process

very effectively helps with the development of individualised courses. Individual learning plans are fit for purpose in setting timely targets for unit completion.”

 

Learning and Skills Inspection Report – learndirect (Foundation mathematics, foundation English Learning programmes for 19+), Ofsted, 2013

 

 

3.7              Pedagogy: In more traditional settings the teacher has a key role in the design, delivery and assessment of the learning process. In the learndirect model, the combination of the courseware, the learning platform and the tutor, all interact to provide the learning experience. The courses are media rich and interactive and designed to ‘teach’ the learner allowing the scarce resources of the tutor to be focused on motivating the learner, reviewing progress, setting goals and supporting the learner in putting their learning into practice.    As the learner progresses through their programme, it is easy to track and monitor their activity, including areas of the programme where learners have spent more or less time. Through their journey, using innovative methods, including gaming principles and rewarding at points of success. In this model qualifications become only one element of a reward based learning journey.

 

3.8              Personalisation: Online learning allows a learner to undertake an individually tailored programme of learning in response to the outcome of their skills diagnostics, the time they have available to study each week, their preferred place of learning and their learning style.  They can undertake this learning with remote support or in a blended way with face to face tutor support in a learning centre. learndirect’s new online English and maths content allows the tutor to put create a tailored suite of modules and courses. The online diagnostic generates a tailored programme for the learner comprising a series of ‘learning bites’ which are delivered at the point of need.  The tutor can then tweak or refine the programme as necessary.

 

 

“Learners only have to learn what they have shown they need to learn … Good that learners can practice and demonstrate their skills rather than guessing at multiple choice exams.”

 

learndirect Tutor, May 2013

 

 

3.9              Contextualisation: Our new maths and English content is now even more interactive, with a focus on the functional elements.  This allows the learning to be contextualised to the workplace or real life situations. The content uses a combination of e-learning tutorials (we have hundreds ranging from 5-30 minutes in length), video, factsheets, pdf practice activities and exercises and quizzes which can be undertaken in any order so the course in less linear in structure.

 

 

“Online learning materials allow appropriate flexibility for learners to choose their own pace and place of learning, including working at home and late at night. Learners enjoy using materials which develop English or mathematics skills in a range of realistic contexts, for example, through interpreting timetables to book travel tickets or the application process for renewing a passport. Most group sessions are planned well and are effective in helping learners understand a particular concept. For instance, in one centre, an excellent range of activities quickly developed learners’ skills in tally and bar charts.”

 

Learning and Skills Inspection Report – learndirect (Foundation mathematics, foundation English Learning programmes for 19+), Ofsted, 2013

 

 

3.10              Support: We currently use a combination of channels and technologies to support our learners. This innovative model reflects the way learners live their lives in the rapidly evolving digital world.

 

 

3.11              Quality: Our technology enables independent and retrospective assessment of quality and audit by government bodies such as Ofsted, eg by using telephone call recordings and technology tracking of every intervention. This means quality can be assessed by looking at what actually happened, giving integrity of evidence and ability to monitor at any point in time. This is efficient for both parties as the information is already there (ie does not have to be re-created) and is immediately accessible. learndirect has maintained a grade 2 from Ofsted at the same time as digitising the learner journey.

 

3.12              Assessment: Formative assessment inside the materials allows the learner to know what progress they are making, return to topics which need more study, go at their own pace, try out testing scenarios – all of these put the learner in control of their own learning.   Currently tests, with the exception of speaking and listening, are taken in an accredited test centre. Speaking and listening is assed utilising technology including web-based conference applications, skype and webcams. Tests can be taken as soon as the learner is ready. 

  1. Conclusion

 

4.1              If England and the UK are to close the skills gap with its international competitors, a new approach is needed to ensure all young people and adults – whether unemployed, or those already in the workforce – have the opportunity to get the basic maths and English skills they need for sustainable employment.  Based on the evidence provided above, our key conclusions are:

 

 

4.2              The evidence provided above, along with the case studies attached at Appendix 1, demonstrate the real benefit learndirect’s online learning model brings to both the learner and employers. 


Appendix 1(a)

 

 

 

Costa Coffee

 

Costa Coffee in Stratford is passionate about developing its staff and turned to Apprenticeships to help them do this. Through learndirect they’ve provided staff with Apprenticeships in food and beverage which has led to some of the apprentices being promoted to assistant managers.

 

Rachael Dixon, store manager, said: “The main benefit of the Apprenticeship programme for us is succession planning. It means we can keep talent in the company and help them progress. Two of the apprentices we’ve had this year have progressed from Barista Maestros to assistant managers.

 

“As well as being able to learn on the job, the maths and English functional skills have proved really beneficial. We have lots of young people working here but because of the way these subjects are taught at school, they easily forget what they’ve learnt. This gives them the opportunity to give it another go.

 

“Having good maths skills is particularly important for those who progress to assistant manager because they need to be able to understand figures and budgets. One of our apprentices who gained promotion would have really struggled with this 12 months ago but by doing it regularly and applying it to the world of work, he’s now competent in this.

 

“We have a great relationship with our assessor at learndirect. We get all the information we need well in advance and dates in the diary so we can plan shifts around any work the apprentices need to do. It means we can be well organised and make sure when apprentices need exam conditions, we can arrange this for them.

 

“I’d definitely recommend Apprenticeships to other businesses. They give staff direction, help them knuckle down and it’s made things in the store run much smoother and more efficiently.”

 

 

 


Appendix 1(b)

 

 

Mum-of-three, JS, 46 from Lowton in Warrington is back in work after 16 years thanks to the new skills she gained through learndirect. She was struggling to find work due to a lack of qualifications and recent experience but after completing maths, English and IT qualifications with learndirect she gained the confidence to apply for jobs which she’d originally thought out of her reach.  She’s now got a job as a supervisor for SPAR and wants to continue learning to take her career further.

 

JS said: “After 16 years looking after my three children I decided I was ready to get back to work again.  I had no current experience in the workplace and I didn’t do very well when I was at school.  With the currents jobs situation like it is I was worried and realised I needed to get some qualifications to give me a better chance.

 

“I decided to do maths, English and IT qualifications with learndirect. I could just about get by but my skills weren’t brilliant.  I especially struggled with maths and couldn’t help my children with their homework. Before I had the children I did lots of different jobs, including some office work, but computers have changed massively since then.

 

“It was very daunting going back to learning after such a long time and I worried it would it would be like being in a classroom but it wasn’t. I was also thought it was going to cost me a fortune but a lot of it was free and you could do the learning at your own pace and in your own time.

 

“I did most of my learning at the learndirect centre, but I could do some at home as well. The atmosphere in the centre was really good, the tutors were great and I really enjoyed the learning.

 

“Before I came to learndirect I was struggling to decide what I wanted to do. I’d been applying for jobs but had quite a few refusals so didn’t have a lot of confidence.  But learndirect changed all that.  My new skills gave me the confidence to apply for jobs which I’d originally thought were out of my league but now realised weren’t at all.

 

“As a result of my new qualifications I was successful in getting a job as a supervisor at SPAR.  I’m currently working part time but when my youngest child starts school I would like to move to full time work. I’m thinking about doing more qualifications with learndirect so I have the skills needed for an even bigger range of jobs.

 

“Before I came to learndirect I felt I’d been left on the rubbish heap but now I’ve got loads more confidence and it’s great to be back in work after such a long time.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 1(c)

 

 

JC, 24, from Coalville had been out of work for nearly a year after having her son. After applying for jobs but not getting anywhere she realised she needed to gain some qualifications to help her get back into work. After completing maths and English qualifications with learndirect and gaining invaluable advice on how to improve her workplace skills, JC is back in employment as a classroom assistant.

JC said: “I left work to have my son and was finding it really difficult to find another job. I realised I needed to get some qualifications and after going to Jobcentre Plus I was advised by a Next Step advisor to go to the Amethyst learndirect centre in Coalville.

“I’d only had simple jobs in the past like admin and packing roles and I really wanted to further myself.  I’d done ok at school but I messed around a lot and it wasn’t until I left school I realised how important qualifications were.

“I knew I had it in me, I just needed the qualifications to prove it. I was a bit apprehensive about going to the centre and didn’t have much confidence but after a few days I loved it, thanks to the dedication and support I received from the staff at learndirect.

“I could work at my own pace and the staff were so supportive. I spent most of my time in the centre because I enjoyed it so much but I could also do a bit of learning at home in the evenings if I wanted to.

“As well as doing my maths and English qualifications I also took a course to help me improve my workplace skills. The learndirect staff suggested I do this when I arrived at the centre but at first I didn’t think it was something I needed to improve.

“However, I soon realised I could benefit from brushing up on these skills and in the end it was so helpful it was unreal.  Because I’m young I didn’t have a lot of experience with job interviews and I realised I’d been asking all the wrong questions in the interviews I’d had. They also helped me sort out my CV.

“I enjoyed my time at learndirect so much I asked if I could do some volunteering at the centre and this lead to me being offered a job as a classroom assistant. I’m now doing further qualifications so I can hopefully progress to being a tutor.

“I’ve always wanted to have a job where I can help people so I’m really pleased with where I’ve got to.  I’d recommend learndirect to anyone with low confidence who wants to gain more qualifications.  It really sorted me out and gave me the boost I needed to not only to improve my skills and confidence but also my life as a whole.”

 

7 February 2014