Christine Townley, former vice principal, Thurrock Adult Community College, Essex and Steve Biggin, head of Direct Works Services, Thurrock Council
 

An intensive basic skills course in one department of Thurrock Council has provided 60 hours of learning over four weeks as one of nine pilot basic skills programmes overseen by the Basic Skills Agency. Take-up was high and 40 per cent stayed on at college after the programme to complete their Wordpower certificate

Over 120 frontline workers, including refuse collectors, grounds maintenance staff, building cleaners and kitchen assistants working for the Direct Works Services of Thurrock Council, have joined a range of innovatory programmes to improve their basic skills. This fits in with the council's new equal opportunities policy, which gives all employees equal access to training. The programmes were developed in partnership with, and delivered by, Thurrock Adult Community College.

One of the key factors for the success has been that all programmes have involved workforce representatives from the outset. From the beginning management has also shown its commitment by attending a mass meeting, before the shifts begin, to talk to the workforce in order to explain the programmes and answer questions about them.

The first programme, Help Yourself, is in three phases. Phase 1 covers basic skills analysis and development, skills analysis, confidence boosting, exploring learning options and learning styles. It also gives those participating the opportunity to find out more about the council and how their own job relates to the bigger picture. The second phase provides them with a range of taster courses including literacy, numeracy and information technology. It is these subjects that are most frequently chosen in the third phase when the students join a course of their own choice at the college.

As a result, an intensive literacy course, delivering 60 hours of learning to 30 learners over four weeks, was offered to employees as one of nine pilot basic skills programmes, overseen and funded by the Basic Skills Agency. This approach was one of the recommendations proposed in the recent Moser report on adult basic skills. The 30 'learning pioneers', who came from a range of sections in Direct Works Services, studied a mixed curriculum of literacy, numeracy, speaking and listening, and problem solving activities. At the end of the course, students gave a presentation in a local hotel, attended by senior officers and members of the council, to demonstrate their achievements.

The project was a great success: there were no dropouts and all participants gained a unit of the Wordpower accreditation. Forty per cent stayed on at the college after the programme to complete their full Wordpower certificate.
One year on and over fifty per cent of the students are still attending courses at the college. Staff who have been involved demonstrate greater confidence, communicate with the public and their colleagues more freely and demonstrate their willingness to be involved in change. They also encourage others to participate in training. This intensive pilot was seen to be such a success that the Basic Skills Agency has supported a further 10 intensive projects based in the public sector earlier this year. Direct Works Services has just been awarded the Investors in People (IIP) award, which ~ was in part because of the department's commitment to basic skills training.

New developments
Direct Works Services in Thurrock has recently developed a workplace learning centre in one of its depots where the college has developed a basic skills programme for those with very low level literacy and numeracy skills. Employees get help on a one-to-one basis or in small groups on specific literacy challenges they may face in the workplace, such as form filling and time sheets. National Vocational Qualifications in cleaning are being developed which include basic skills assessment and support as an intrinsic part of the process.

Thurrock Council has now established a Lifelong Learning Group that works corporately to look at the development of learning across the authority. This group sees basic skills as an inherent part of its work and is promoting the development of frontline workers, such as housing and benefits staff, who can identify members of the community with poor basic skills and signpost them to relevant provision. The group has also facilitated workshops for local small businesses focusing on IIP - specific workshops have looked at the basic skills needs of the staff of these small firms.
 

For more information email Christine Townley, now development officer at the Basic Skills Agency, at christinet@basic-skills.co.uk or Steve Biggin at sbiggin@thurrock.gov.uk

 
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