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Chapter 7: Entitlement7.1 It is crucial for learners to have a clear entitlement to high quality:
7.2 Individuals without a recognised qualification in English or maths - and everyone for whom English is not their first language - should be entitled to a free confidential assessment of basic skills, whether employed or unemployed. They should be able to get an assessment without enrolling on a programme, and free assessment could be available through a short assessment test in libraries, job centres, community centres and on-line. At the least, it will tell individuals whether they need to improve their literacy or numeracy and, if so, where they might get guidance. Advice and guidance 7.3 Guidance and information on basic skills courses need to be freely available to all potential learners. Toll free call lines, such as that operated by the Basic Skills Agency and Learning Direct, will be a powerful tool. The University for Industry will be a vital new source of information. In addition, major publicity should be undertaken - through broadcasters and the press - to publicise arrangements for free assessment, advice and guidance. Release from work 7.4 Making more intensive teaching available will be of little use unless people who are interested have the time to pursue it. Hence we wish to see day release arrangements improved: we enlarge on this point in the next chapter. Choice 7.5 Adults with poor basic skills should have a wide choice of provision. They are not a homogenous group. They have diverse needs and motivations, different levels of skill and differing pressures in their lives. They will not all want to learn in a particular way and at a particular place. Some will prefer to join a programme at a college, some would only respond to an opportunity if it is at their place of work. Others still would be keener if there are opportunities in a library, local community centre, arts centre and so forth. Programmes incorporated in other activities - health, housing, arts, sport etc. - may be the most appealing of all. 7.6 Participation by learners clearly increases when a variety of opportunities are available to suit their needs, preferences and lifestyles. A good example is the experience of Cornwall LEA's basic skills provision, Link into Learning. This increased the number of adults taking part by almost 10%, by providing a greater range of more flexible learning opportunities and by focusing courses on specific needs and sectors. Successful recruitment has as much to do with availability and diversity of opportunities as with promotional campaigns. 7.7 Programmes should be easy to get to, in busy well-populated areas, served by good public transport, well sign-posted and safe at night. In rural areas, transport difficulties and travel costs are sometimes a barrier, and imaginative approaches are required to overcome such hurdles. But some programmes have been successful even in such difficult conditions and there is much good experience to build on. For example, Somerset LEA developed an effective network of small basic skills open learning centres in different areas of the county. Part of the attraction was supported self-study, including 'distance learning', with learners going to the centre mainly to collect assignments or to attend assessment sessions. But, when short-term central funding ended, these centres were gradually closed. 7.8 In short, what is needed is a wider range of learning opportunities in every area. These must cover:
7.10 Although choice is crucial, it must not mean diverse standards of quality or a lack of coherence. Indeed, in the proposed National Strategy, coherence and achievement of high standards is crucial. Effective teaching 7.11 The targets will only be reached if people who want to improve their basic skills find themselves entitled to the necessary teaching, free of charge. This is a matter of elementary justice. People can get free full-time education up to 19 and, if they qualify, higher education, all subsidised. It is only fair that those who missed out early in life should have the right to free help in acquiring basic skills. 7.12 All learners must be entitled to high quality and effective teaching. How they are taught, what they are taught, how they are assessed and what they achieve, all these key aspects are part and parcel of clear national quality standards. It is particularly important, in view of the proven effectiveness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), that learners should be entitled to ready access to relevant technology, including hardware and software. We return to this point in Chapter 9. 7.13 Research submitted to us suggests that, ideally, adults should get substantial periods of intensive tuition, to enable them to move quickly and effectively towards command of basic skills. The predominant 2-4 hours a week during conventional academic terms implies such a slow rate of progress that many learners drop-out in frustration. The limitations of very limited teaching are best expressed in a report from the USA , which describes learners as enrolling in programmes functionally illiterate, making progress, but still leaving functionally illiterate. A similar situation must occur here with too many learners not reaching the threshold of functionality. 7.14 We considered specifying an entitlement to a specific number of hours of teaching over a given period. On balance, however, we do not think this has much merit. For one thing, it would imply that one can determine accurately the numbers of hours needed to reach a particular level, given that learners begin from such different starting points. For another, it suggests that, when the number of hours of teaching has been used up, the entitlement ends. This would give the wrong message, particularly to those with the most serious difficulties. 7.15 More intensive courses and opportunities need to be made available at different times of the week and at different times of the year. A recent survey suggested that many potential learners would favour courses at the weekend , yet few such courses exist. The success of the recent Summer Schools run by colleges also shows the demand for flexibility. Individual Learning Accounts 7.16 We examined the role that might be played by the new Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) in encouraging adults to join basic skills programmes and to complete their courses. Clearly, if ILAs are to make a difference, they must be taken up by those who are not already active participants in learning. 7.17 The Government has stated its commitment to make basic skills learning opportunities available free of charge, which means that ILAs do not have a direct role to play in basic skills provision. What we propose is a dynamic use of Individual Learning Accounts for basic skills learners which will encourage adults to build on the skills they have acquired, and become 'lifelong learners'. 7.18 We recommend that adults who have successfully completed basic skills courses should be a priority target for the first million Individual Learning Accounts funded from TEC resources. Such an initiative would reward individual commitment to learning, and open the doors to further progress and wider participation. RECOMMENDATION 4 - Entitlement
(ii) People who have successfully completed basic skills courses should be a priority target for the first million Individual Learning Accounts funded from TEC resources to help them progress. (iii) The Government should consider how, in the long term, Individual Learning Accounts can be most effectively used to motivate these learners.
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