Learning and Skills Council Skills for Life Quality Initiative 2005-06

1. Learning and Skills Council Skills for Life Quality Initiative 2005-06 Leadership and Management Programme for the Probation Service Day 1

2. Aims of the LSC Skills for Life Quality Initiative 2005-06 To support: • quality improvement in the management and delivery of Skills for Life • the achievement of government educational and economic targets.

3. Objectives • To contribute to professionalising the Skills for Life workforce • To enable providers to develop whole organisation approaches to Skills for Life

4. Regional infrastructure Network of facilitators Professional development activities Planned activity regionally determined

5. Eight National Priorities Whole organisation approaches SfLQI 2005-2006 Embedding Skills for Life Dissemination/Web Leadership & Management CPD Framework/IAG Facilitator network Key Skills/SfL interface E-learning

6. Aims of the session For participants to: • understand the key issues around Skills for Life and how it impacts on the probation service. Objectives of the session By the end of the session, participants will have: • examined the relationship between Skills for Life, the Probation Service and the Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS).

7. Key facts • In any one year around 130,000 people are or have been in prison, with a further 200,000 supervised by the Probation Service in the community. • Around 50% of offenders have reading skills below level 1, 65% have poor numeracy skills and 80% have poor writing skills. • These poor skills are serious obstacles to the rehabilitation of ex-offenders and to their search for employment once they leave prison. Offenders who get a worthwhile job after release are less likely to re-offend. • The Probation Service targets have been set to reduce the people with poor literacy, language and numeracy skills by 6,000 by 2003, and by around 12,000 by 2004. (from OLSU website)

8. The programme The aim of this programme is to enable participants to lead and manage aspects of a probation service, in order to ensure exemplary provision for learners with Skills for Life needs. It will allow participants to engage in reflective practice and apply leadership and management techniques to a variety of issues currently facing the Probation Service.

9. Objectives: Element 1 Element 1: Leading and Managing a Strategy for your Probation Service 1.1 Developing new mission and vision statements 1.2 Dealing with the compatibility of the Skills for Life mission with the Probation’s Service’s mission 1.3 Identifying key challenges for strategic development

10. Objectives: Element 2 Element 2: Identifying and working with key partners 2.1 Understanding LSC formula funding 2.2 Developing skills in negotiation with partners in issues of quality 2.3 Developing agreements with partners and identifying the needs of stakeholders 2.4 Planning partnership working to ensure success

11. Objectives: Element 3 Element 3: Effective Leadership and Management for developing Skills for Life 3.1 What makes good leaders? 3.2 Leadership and management skills in your organisation > Prioritising and action planning 3.3 Workforce Development > Human Resource Strategy and Training Needs Analysis 3.4 Identifying the needs of the Probation Service and others 3.5 Other identified Skills for Life roles in the Service

12. Four key features of successful partnerships Good partnership relies on four key factors: • a shared purpose that offers mutual benefits which can be found in: – a common goal – an agreed mission or statement of project aims – shared SMART targets; • a commitment to a common task, through: – shared training and preparation – allocation of staff time and enterprise – allocation of resources; continued…

13. Four key features of successful partnerships continued • Clarity about who is doing what, through: – job descriptions for key personnel – an agreed action plan – shared criteria for success; • Openness about how it is working, through: – an agreed decision-making process – regular opportunities for review – willingness to be honest about how it is going and to share both credit and responsibility.

14. Workforce development (1) • Skills audit of staff and an action plan for staff to achieve the new qualifications • Ensuring that relevant expertise exists in the teaching and observation teams • Ensuring that these teams report explicitly on teaching and learning in literacy, numeracy and language (ESOL) • Robust quality systems to ensure that everyone is working to the same standards

15. Workforce development (2) • Raising the literacy, numeracy and language (ESOL) levels of teaching staff to level 4, support and vocational staff to level 3, frontline staff and volunteers to level 2 • Convergence of Key Skills and Skillsfor Life training • LSC Skills for Life Quality Initiative Leadership and Management Programme accreditation for Skills for Life leaders and managers • Motivated and knowledgeable team.

16. Workforce development (3) The following is relevant to the Probation Service in that it helps match staff roles to particular qualifications. • For the purposes of most support and referral staff who are signposting in the main, the Level 2 Certificate in Adult Learner Support is the key qualification for staff and volunteers whose role is supporting individuals.

17. Workforce development (4) • The Level 3 Certificate in Adult Literacy, Numeracy or ESOL support is a useful qualification for staff and volunteers who are involved in the initial assessment process but who may be acting as broker for their learners. • The Level 4 Certificate for Adult Literacy, Numeracy or ESOL subject specialist qualifications will be relevant to staff or volunteers wishing to become fully qualified teachers, and organisations which deliver learning.