1. What is the objective?
Defining the intended objective helps to then understand the challenge and identify an effective response. Preferably the objective should be measurable and aligned with key local or regional strategies, including responding to redundancies or new job creation.
This could be to increase basic skills levels for a particular community. Or it could be a focus on particular skills or capability (eg digital), supporting basic skills for a particular group of adults such as parents, unemployed people or migrants, or to improve basic skills as a contribution to other prioritise, such as community engagement or increasing apprenticeships.
2. Do we understand the challenge?
Who has low basic skills? This could be a demographic group or a particular geography within the council. Has coronavirus increased the impetus for some groups to retrain or upskill?
Is high quality basic skills learning available? This will help understand the provision already available and whether it matches the needs and motivations of local people.
What is holding back engagement and take up? This could be lack of suitable provision including online, low awareness, lack of referral routes, issues with transport, childcare etc.
Answers to these questions can be informed by: previous research; speaking to local people, particularly those in the target groups; and engaging with providers of basic skills learning. It may also be worth ensuring the portfolio holder is aware and engaging with them.
3. What works
A range of evidence demonstrates some core factors that make basic skills provision a success. Evaluations from the UK and other countries should be considered, alongside engagement with those delivering basic skills learning and other stakeholders. The following framework may help:
Engagement. People have to both want to learn and be able to access learning. The right message (tailored to people’s interests and motivations) and medium (eg via trusted intermediaries like community groups) are important. As is tackling potential barriers to learning like fitting learning around work and home life.
Contextualisation. Learning works best when it is tailored to people’s motivations (whether for life or work), whether as standalone provision or integrated with other learning. So it is important to understand the motivations of the identified target group, the purpose of the provision, and how contextualising learning can help with both engagement into learning and retention in learning.
Provision. Learning needs to fit with work and life. That means considering where learning is delivered, including in communities and workplaces, when to deliver so learning fits with work and home life, and how, including blended and online learning. In addition, behavioural interventions, like text messages, can help with retention in learning and completion of learning.
4. What support and services are already available?
Mapping the main local programmes and providers can help in identifying any gaps or shortfalls, as well as opportunities for new ideas and joining up support.
Basic skills learning is funded through the adult education budget and built into employment and skills provision, including: council adult and community learning provision; DWP and Jobcentre Plus employment support; integrated into other learning, such as apprenticeships; and standalone programmes delivered by colleges, training providers and community learning providers. Basic skills provision is also commissioned or delivered through housing associations, charitable trusts and foundations, community groups, employers and others, and funded through European Social Fund and its successor the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
5. What are the options for intervention to improve outcomes?
A full range of options focused on the challenge should be identified, and their potential costs, benefits and potential unintended consequences analysed. This can be informed by engagement with key stakeholders identified in step 4, in particular local colleges and learning providers including councils’ own adult learning services.
The options could include: developing a new engagement campaign including building referral routes with trusted intermediaries and promotion by the local authority; expanding existing provision or increasing its focus on the target group; further embedding basic skills in other learning, skills and employment provision; introducing or testing a new type of engagement or provision such as one that has worked elsewhere or for another group; or looking at how existing provision could work more effectively together (for example, referrals and data sharing).
Options for implementation could include: commissioning of new support by the council; influencing what others are commissioning; co-commissioning; influencing national policy; or ensuring structures for more effective coordination of support.
6. How will we know if it's working?
- Defining success. Success will mean engaging sufficient people in learning and achieving benchmarked completion rates. But it is important to consider the potential outcomes of learning, such as health or accessing public services, too. And the intervention must be value for money: achieving results additional to what would have happened without support, and at a unit cost comparable to other similarly successful provision.
- Effective design and evaluation. The new provision or support should be designed from the start so that its impact and effectiveness can be assessed. Evaluation is also important to identify impact and learn lessons. This can included quantitative evaluation, such as cost-benefit analysis, and qualitative research with staff and learners.
- Key performance indicators. These could include numbers of people engaged, whether they complete learning, and achievement of other outcomes (such as work, health or community engagement). Taken together, they should provide measures that start from engaging people, through to provision and completion of learning, and the impact of that learning.
- Taking a systems view. Provision may have unintended consequences, particularly given the importance of embedding and contextualising basic skills learning. It is important to watch out for these and consider, for example, the impact on participation and completion of other forms of learning, including apprenticeships.