Skills for Life assessment and improvement remain a huge challenge even after appointment. There is a wide range of resources available:

• In December 2008, Skills for Care published Skills for Life - a practical guide for social care employers.
  
  
• The BBC launched a new raw skills for everyday life campaign in January 2009 to encourage people to read and write.
  
  
• The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills relaunched its Skills for Life strategy in March 2009: Skills for Life: Changing lives.

For further information on resources, see the following:

• For a list of useful resources, click here.
  
  
• Skills for Health website - to find out about Literacy, Language and Numeracy.  SfH has launched a set of Literacy and numeracy initial assessement tools aimed at assessing the level of literacy and numeracy an individual is operating at.  These can be accessed at http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/qualifications-learning-pathways/for-your-team-or-workforce/Intro-the-Initial-Assessment-Tool.aspx.

• ESF Stepping-stones project led by the Association of Colleges in the Eastern Region (ACER) - to find out about help available.  (See also the Learning Networks section of this website).
  
  
• Applied learning / Work based learning (WBL) is assuming greater importance and there are many excellent examples.   For a case study from Norfolk and Suffolk care homes, Click here.

Small-scale research and resource development projects

In conjunction with the Employer Skills for Life network and, as part of on-going partnership work across the region, a number of small-scale research projects are being funded by Health Skills East. The outcomes of these research and resource development projects will be shared across the network. Projects include:

• Contextualised learning materials to explore numeracy skills.  Since January 2009, staff at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have been piloting a set of numeracy skills check resources on Health Care Assistant induction programmes. The materials were developed at the Trust with funding and support from Skills for Health and ACER’s Stepping-stones project (see above). The resources will shortly be available from this website and include:
  • An analysis of the numeracy skills that underpin the day-to-day work of a Health Care Assistant
  • a card sorting discussion activity that can be used with HCAs on induction programmes to explore strategies for coping with different numeracy tasks in health care
    
    
  • a multiple choice questionnaire which presents the card sorting activity in a 'test' format
    
    
  • a self-assessment skills checklist
    
    For information on how the materials were used contact:
    Julia Watling, Head of Training & Development - e-mail: julia.watling@nnuh.nhs.uk, or
    Bob Read, Skills for Life Training and Development Adviser, ACER - e-mail: bob.read@acer.ac.uk.
    
  
  
  • a Progression Award for non-professional staff that features embedded literacy and numeracy support in preparation for NVQ programmes at Level 2 - Jane Croker, Education and Training, West Suffolk Hospital Trust.
    
    
  • a set of guidance leaflets for Health and Social Care managers who wish to provide ESOL support for their employees - Judy Bloomfield, Skills for Life Consultant.
    
    
  • literacy and numeracy skills check materials for use on NVQ induction programmes in Health and Social Care – Liz Hasdell, NVQ Assessor and Internal Verifier, Barnfield College
    
    
  For up to date information on the development and availability of the resources in the four projects above, please contact Bob Read at the ACER on: Mob:  07795 260483 or email him at: bob.read@acer.ac.uk.

Professional Development

A Whole Organisation Approach to Skills for Life often involves a wide range of staff in a variety of signposting, training or embedded support roles. Such staff may include managers, team leaders, Union Learning Reps, NVQ trainers and assessors.

ACER’s Skills for Life Professional Development Project offers guidance on the different levels of training and qualifications appropriate for those different roles. The ACER project also has ESF funding to cover the cost of accredited Skills for Life professional development for anyone working in the East of England. For more details, click here, or contact Mark Barnsley - e.mail:  mark.barnsley@acer.ac.uk.

For further information on Skills for Life, including the Employer Network and Provider Network, see the Learning Neworks page.