Welcome | Mapping the Maze | Learning Direct Database Services | Learning Direct Helpline Services | Metropolitan Area Networks and Wide Area Networks | University for Industry | Implementing the Vision Learning Direct Helpline Services Lindsey Muir, BSS Lindsey began her presentation by explaining what BSS is not. It is not a service to assist with GCSE homework! Nor is it a provider of courses. It is, rather, an information service for adults. It offers free, impartial, confidential and national information on learning opportunities, funding issues and childcare provision. If guidance is required then callers are referred to such services at a local level. In practice every third caller requires guidance of some sort. What does BSS do? BSS was founded as an educational charity to support the BBC literacy campaign in which callers were encouraged to be paired with tutors. Services currently offered include: BBC Radio Helpline which is run 24 hours a day and based in Glasgow Temporary and long term helplines such as the Science Line funded by the Welcome Foundation BSS despatches 1.5m items a year including leaflets advertised at the end of TV programmes Training and Consultancy Is a member of the Telephone Helpline Association Why was BSS chosen to provide the Learning Direct helpline? The organisation has a good track record; 22 years experience meeting the demand generated especially by television programmes which can run to several thousand at a time. BSS has strong links with broadcasters; people who may not look to normal channels for information on education and training are easy to reach through television. Integrity and professionalism. BSS is non-profit making. Any income from services goes towards the overall improvement of other services offered. Where is Learning Direct located? There are six centres including a dedicated centre for Scotland and four centres in Wales as well as Learning Direct Manchester. Although based in Manchester, many of the staff employed are from all over the country. There are 60 lines available and a call handling system keeps supervisors informed of the volume of calls coming in and how the advisors are dealing with them. Advisors are trained in deaf awareness. There is a paper based back up which incorporates a standard careers library. However, staff are increasingly making use of databases. The Service Manager is Lisa Abbot. Among the support team is a Broadcast Liaison Executive who is responsible for forging links with broadcasters to promote Learning Direct via regional and national, and networked TV programmes. There are three Helpline Co-ordinators and an Administrator. There are then a mix of full-time and sessional Helpline Advisors, currently 64 in total. Most advisors are graduates with professional qualifications, most with guidance qualifications. The first intake will be expected to have NVQ 3 by Christmas. Some of the sessional staff have day jobs with careers Services. Staff have a wide range of backgrounds - some have worked in prisons, others in the voluntary sector. Some have taken early retirement from the Careers Service or adult education services.. All staff undergo a variety of training. There is a six week in-house training programme covering aims (this is particularly important and it is stressed that what is on offer is impartial advice, no matter what particular knowledge the advisor may have), quality standards (BSS adhere to NACCEG standards), research and library skills, electronic databases, telephone skills, textphone training. To monitor the helpline performance we use a Customer Access Terminal (CAT). This tells supervisors what enquiries are coming in, where from , what percentage are being dealt with and how long individual advisors are taking in dealing with calls. To further aid evaluation an A4 sheet is completed for each caller recording sex, age, status and the nature of enquiries. Detailed statistics are developed from this raw data and provided to the DfEE although it is hoped that this process will not always be paper based. Co-ordinators can listen in to any calls in order to monitor quality. The feedback from DfEE and customers has been encouraging. There have been few complaints and the positive feedback is particularly encouraging for advisors. So far there have been 230,000 callers since February although this is less than the target of 1000 per day. There is no typical enquiry. There is even parity between male and female callers. 60% are between 25-45 and have been out of education for 8-10 years. 30% are interested in FE/HE, 20% interested in training and 11% want careers advice. Over the short history of the service a number of lessons have been learnt. It is important to have access to quick on-line information. callers do not want to be left hanging about and the average time of a call is under seven minutes. Shift patterns need to be flexible as some times are more popular with callers. Staff therefore need to be flexible. There is a need for campaign resource material. The lack of geographic knowledge has been a major problem initially but has been addressed with extra training for advisors. In addition advisors need to become proficient at dealing with a great deal of adult 'baggage'. Many people take advantage of the fact that this is a high profile free phone line. It has not always been possible to anticipate demand Finally, it is important that BSS know what people think of the Helpline. It is after all funded from public money. Feedback is welcome and is acted on. In thanking Lindsey for her presentation John Allred emphasised how important it was for practitioners to 'get it right' at a local level. He then invited questions from delegates to all three Learning Direct speakers. Q: Why do advisors need qualifications in careers guidance if they are not providing such guidance as part of the service? Why not an NVQ in advice instead? A: There was some debate over whether the NVQ level 3 or 4 should be required. In the end it was the DfEE which stipulated that the level 3 in Guidance was the most appropriate. It is important that the advisors recognise what guidance actually is so the they then can refer callers to such services available at a local level. In addition it is conceivable that DfEE may at some point wish to introduce an element of guidance into the service. Q: Can BSS staff offer any guidance to software developers and those responsible for the development of data entry standards as to what search mechanism and fields are required? A: The problems for advisors is that enquirers rarely ask for a particular course in a particular area and therefore they need to look at more than one database and often need to have several open at any one time. A great deal of mental juggling is called for. What is required above all else is a single database with a powerful geographic search engine. Q: What provision will there be for the signposting databases being provided for Learning Direct to be linked with related databases being used at a local level? A: There are no plans to build electronic links between the centre and local resources but it is intended to hold information centrally on what is available at a local level. It is therefore important that delegates kept NTICS or the appropriate provider, such as CHIC, informed of locally available resources. Q: What provision, if any, was being made for LDDS to support and fund local data collection of learning opportunity information? A: Peter emphasised that no provision was being made in the contract for funding local data collection but noted that the existence of a sound local database network was integral to the success of Learning Direct. He reminded delegates that it had always been the expectation that Learning Direct would provide for a national and local information supply and delivery infrastructure. Systems for Database Services were still being developed with this in mind in spite of the postponement in 1997 of the original Local Information Network (LIN) initiative. In conclusion he urged delegates to exploit the possibilities afforded by the UfI/ADAPT funding to take forward ideas and partnerships developed for the previous year's LIN bids.