Category 101 – Capturing Learner Voices and Identifying Needs

Community Learning Development Resources – Category 101

 

Capturing Learner Voices and Identifying Needs

SUMMARY

In this category of resources is we are concerned to engage with people as learners, in ways that put them at the heart of the learning activities, prompting us to be learner-centred in the ways that we work with them. Capturing their attention and interest is key, as is their initial capacity to choose to access themselves to engage with us. Our starting points are wherever they are at in their own lives and our interventions and actions must relate to them as they are in their own comfort zones.

We are concerned to identify and assess their needs and wants, with them, so that they choose to start any learning journeys with us. We may feel able to decide what we think their needs are or should be, but what we must do is encourage and support them to identify what they feel the need and want. Such inputs will shape and inform any learning agenda and the nature of their learning journey.

The practice of making contact with local people in communities and neighbourhoods can be for a variety of purposes. Two main purposes are explored in this category of resources – that of ‘voice capturing’ and that of initial assessment with new learners. The focus is mainly on developing effective practice that might work successfully with non-traditional, excluded and non-experienced adult learners.

 

CAPTURING LEARNER VOICES AND IDENTIFYING NEEDS The 101 Category Resource Guide (101 – 01)
Resource	Notes for Readers and Trainers
101 – 02	Identifying the Learning Needs of people living in local communitiesIdeas about the principles and practice of identifying learner needs.Learners and their needs are reviewed I relation to needs identification practice. Prompts for reflection and discussion are provided.
101 – 03	Listening to learnersHow can we enable learners to have a voice in deciding how we should work with them? Practical methods are identified and readers are prompted to explore their choice of  approaches.
101 – 04	Initial Assessment practiceIn relation to building a learning relationship with a learner – exploring the purposes and practice of initial assessment with learners. Ideas for what might be explored during initial assessment and for initial and informal assessment practice.

101 – 05	The capacity of workers and agencies to engage in community learning Questions and reflective prompts used during audits of workers engaged in community learning work, in two urban areas – a social housing estate and an inner city housing area. The checklist could be used by workers to self-assess and review their own understanding of the work and their capacity to effectively engage.
101 – 06	Widening Participation – Pablo Foster’s principles of engagementSeven principles relating to working with community learning groups.
101 – 07	Widening Participation ideasA summary of observations made about widening participation reaching hard targets and the nature of work with non-confident learners, with prompts to review thinking about working with non-traditional adult learners.
101 – 08	Working above and below the lineNotes from a widening participation – voluntary project workshop  Working above and below the line which separates traditional, confident, self-referring learners from non-traditional, excluded adult learners.Implications for the practice of working ’below the line’, are explored.
101 – 09	Provider purposes in working with ‘hard to reach’ learnersThe purposes and methodologies of widening participation and community learning work are reviewed. Can be used to prompt workers to look at their reasons for engaging with adult learners within community settings. Opportunity also to prompt thinking about effective practice and collaborative practice.
101 – 10	The case for listening to learnersPeople have an entitlement to be meaningfully consulted and listened to in respect of the activities of any statutory or voluntary services or organisations that might impact on their lives. Listening to learners, particularly those who do not engage in formal learning or are from non-traditional learner sectors is seen as crucial.
101 – 11	Capturing the Voice of ‘Hard-to-Reach’ learnersAdvice about connecting with non-confident learners, from the 2004 National Family Learning Week planning guide.Identification of the benefits of involvement for workers and learners. Ideas for connecting with non-confident learners.
101 – 12	A Case Study – effective recruitment at an outreach venue Case study raises the issues of how relationships and informal contact are important in building the trust that underpins initial participation by learners – and the limitations of formal promotional materials.

101 – 13

Three Case Studies Case studies from Community Learning work within defined ‘hard to reach’ communities of learners. Each offers a different challenge to workers and in combination can enable them to explore the practice and the issues within this work.Lists of findings are provided, together with prompts for reflection and discussion.

 

CLD Resource Category 101   CAPTURING LEARNER VOICES AND IDENTIFYING NEEDS   SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

Workers recognise and value the individuality of all learners and seek to establish partnerships with them that support and enable their learning and learning success   Workers understand the importance of identifying and assessing learner needs with individual learners   Workers recognise the importance of ensuring that the voice of all learners is captured and listened to when learning opportunities are being planned and delivered   Individual workers are able to identify and use methods within their own practice, which encourage and enable different learners to identify their own learning needs and participate in planning their learning journeys.