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| National helpline for adult basic skills and general adult education
courses available in your area - tel: Learndirect
on 0800 100 900. An adviser will send out a free Get On video
with more information on the reasons for improving basic skills and
how to go about it plus information on courses available in your area.
The Government's Get On campaign to encourage more people to sign
up for basic skills training was launched on 5 September 2001. |
Are adults too embarrassed to sign up to basic
skills courses?
Reaching people who need help with basic literacy and numeracy is a delicate
matter. The wrong approach can send target groups heading for the hills.
How to go about it has become a hot topic within colleges and the National
Institute of Adult Continuing Education. What is becoming clear is that
some now believe it is better to operate by stealth.
The problem is that not every adult responds to an upfront offer of a
basic skills course, even though it can change lives and may be on their
doorstep. So some favour the embedded approach where the course on the
surface is about, say, making Christmas decorations but all the time basic
skills are being observed. Then people are offered help as appropriate.
But there is a danger this approach can backfire: people may feel indignant
if they feel literacy and numeracy has been thrust upon them. Some favour
explaining course content upfront, possibly through a union representative
at work-based courses.
So, is it better to be upfront or work more subtly? NIACE has studied
the issue. It has been commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council
and the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit to look at the effectiveness
of "embedding" literacy and numeracy in other courses.
NIACE has examined 37 case studies. Project officer Heather Clary suggests
it is possible to be upfront about basic skills, if you sell them in a
way that makes them relevant to the central course content. "There
are ways of telling people. With aromatherapy someone might say 'we will
help develop you writing skills because you'll need to put together a
folder of evidence'. However, she admits opinion is divided on how subtle
to be.
(TES, 11 April 2003)
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