Learner Feedback Workshop by NIACE. Listening to learners is not straightforward, not least because learners themselves are a very diverse group with an almost infinite range of backgrounds and intentions. To find out what they think is a creative, active process. Don't wait for them to come to you. It is necessary to devise opportunities in which the views of learners and potential learners can be expressed and, if the process is to have any credibility with those involved, it must lead to action. The importance of the learner voice Planning is one of the key LSC responsibilities. It is to be led by demand, by the requirements of learners and potential learners rather than providers. Learning Partnerships have a crucially important role in identifying learner views and feeding them into planning processes. The LSC and Learning Partnerships both have a key contribution to make to the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. To be successful, the Strategy must include the voice of the community, learners and potential learners, and identify triggers which can draw marginalised people into learning and keep them there. Monitoring and discussion All agencies with learning agendas - including the LSC, Government Offices, Regional Development Agencies and the Basic Skills Strategy Unit - need the engagement of communities, learners and potential learners to monitor the appropriateness of delivery methods, quality, outcomes and overall relevance. How we can make it happen The following two examples of good practice illustrate what can be achieved and how. In each case they are based on close listening to learner needs and aspirations. Through the WEA (Workers Educational Association), parents of children with learning difficulties and disabilities came together to provide informal play activity for their children, wanted to learn more, contacted the WEA, moved to a structured course and then OCN accreditation and further progression. Through an Adult and Community Learning Fund project, Fircroft College in partnership with NHS trusts and voluntary organisations used drama and discussion to deliver relevant learning on health issues. Implications Working with marginalised people to create relevant and effective learning experiences takes much longer than more standardised approaches. The process usually needs to be helped by people who know what is possible, and know the way to deal with institutions and ‘the system’. Feedback from workshop participants;direct quotes are in quotation marks and italics. Who should listen to learners? Participants seemed to feel that everybody should play a part in listening to the learner, not only Learning Partnerships, learning providers of all kinds, LSC, Local Authorities and Trade Unions, but also community and voluntary organisations, faith groups and activity groups and employers. In terms of communicating to local LSCs the essence of learner opinion, it was felt that Learning Partnerships had the primary part to play. ‘LPs must be inclusive, act as broker, pool intelligence, find out what access member organisations have to potential learners in order to push out the boundaries of learner participation.’ Learning Partnerships, it was considered, were in a position to co-ordinate with Local Authorities Community Strategies and tap into local, countywide, regional and national networks to find out about learners and potential learners. They could also cross boundaries into other agencies, for example Social Services, to access their information. However, there was a feeling that some Learning Partnerships were likely to be much better than others in this task, and that many Partnerships were set up with a narrower intention than would be appropriate for a major communicator of area-wide learner opinion. Basically, in one view, ‘Learning Partnerships are there for their members, not for the LSC.’ It was thought that local LSCs themselves had a responsibility to ensure that organisations do have effective procedures in place for listening to learners. How to listen There were a variety of suggestions about how to find out the opinions of learners and potential learners:the general view was that no single method would do the job. One approach would be through structured survey methodology, which could be straightforward for current learners, but awkward with those out of learning. People might be reached through their ordinary life activities, through groups they might join for non-learning reasons, for example, through churches, or mother and baby clinics, or housing associations. Engaging with such interests and concerns could open the way to effective and relevant learning experiences. Sometimes people’s views can be discovered through a simple form of communication -a note taken home by primary school children asking their parents what they want. However views are obtained, it is important that people are told what is done as a result, and, if something cannot be done, why not.

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