Skills for Life - Developing the Workforce - Stepping Stones Project
Making a Difference in your organisation
English and Maths skills are critically important to performance at work. These basic skills, or Skills for Life as they are sometimes called, are the important underpinning skills adults need in order to be confident, competent and responsive to change in the workplace,
e.g.
- follow instructions, understand health and safety information
- leave messages, fill in forms, write reports and letters
- take part in meetings, give instructions, deal with customers
- handle money, read scales, take measurements
It is estimated that about 7 million people in the UK have difficulties with these skills and about half of those needing support are in employment 1. As migrant workers have become a larger element in the labour force, the need for ESOL 2. support has also increased.
This lack of skills can be a high cost to business in terms lost production, lower quality, more errors and an increased need for supervision.
The new ACER Stepping-stones Project offers you funding and support to begin to tackle this skills gap.
1 Moser Report, DfEE, A Fresh Start: Improving Literacy and Numeracy, Report of London Working Group on
Post School Basic Skills, London, 1999
2 English for Speakers of Other Languages
Why get involved?
Offering workplace Skills for Life support - the benefits for employers
Employees in all sectors have to meet the continuing challenge of greater flexibility in job roles, changing technologies, higher qualification levels, improved standards in health and safety and more rigorous quality systems. As a result there is a significant need for them to update their English and maths skills to keep pace with workplace demands. Supporting employees to improve these skills can therefore be a key element in meeting organisational improvements and business objectives.
Employers already involved in workplace SfL programmes are often driven by their commitment to -
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Workplace Skills for Life training can therefore help to create;
- a more confident, flexible and skilled workforce, responsive to change and committed to quality and efficiency
- a lifelong learning culture at work that supports employees at all levels
The level of need
It is estimated that 45% of the working population in the East of England are below Level 2 in both literacy and numeracy3 so most employers will probably have staff who at some stage could benefit from building confidence with their communication skills.
3 Literacy and Numeracy Basic Skills Need in the East of England, East of England Skills and Competitiveness Partnership, February 2006 www.eastofenglandobservatory.org.uk
Comparing performance and qualifications up to Level 2
Where to start?
There are opportunities to offer Skills for Life (SfL) support at different stages of the employee development cycle. Employers may therefore like to consider different support strategies depending on the size of their workforce, qualification levels, training priorities, etc.
ACER Stepping-stones Project offers you support from a broker to choose a delivery model that suits your business needs. The diagram below summarises some of the support opportunities that employers may like to explore -
ACER: rising to the challenge
The ACER Stepping-stones Project aims to raise the literacy, language and numeracy levels of the region’s workforce. Funding and support are available to enable employers to benefit from:
- a Skills for Life organisational needs analysis
- awareness raising workshops for managers and team leaders
- Skills for Life learning relevant to the needs of the workforce
- free taster sessions and short courses delivered at the workplace
- financial incentives for employees to encourage them to start or complete or progress onto other courses
- increased levels of confidence and competence as staff achieve qualifications at Entry Level
- effective progression routes to Train to Gain programmes
- support to adapt and develop recruitment and workplace training materials
- funding to cover, where necessary, the release, travel and childcare costs for staff attending training
For further details, please contact our Services to Business team on 01284 716246, or email: s2b@wsc.ac.uk
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