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| It's easy to be distracted by trying to pin down fluid definitions, and worrying too much about whether improvements are in basic skills, or key skills, or core skills. The Partnership has kept a clear focus on the variety of enhancements it aims to make and the changes it aims to bring about, and has managed to work towards these on a set of very broad fronts.
Sometimes the focus has been on language development in very young children. Sometimes it has been on trying to establish a consistent 'layer' of service to 0-3s. Sometimes it has been on engaging parents in huge numbers. Sometimes it has been on changing working practices of a range of teachers, classroom assistants, librarians, youth workers, training providers, employers and so on. Sometimes the literacy and numeracy developments have been the sole purpose of a development. Some of the time literacy and numeracy, and the use of ICT as a tool, have been built into the fabric of other programmes whose prime purpose may be sport, or health, vocational training, or community group support. The TOP project is part of Sport England's Active Schools initiative and sets out to engage 18 months 18 year olds to do more physical activity. For 0-5s the programme takes the form of TopStart and TopTots. Each are supported by sport related activities and materials in a bag or rucksack, and each involves a high level of parental involvement. We have worked to ensure that sports words and sports numbers form part of the content of the programme. |
Community organisations have always been able to draw on support programmes such as 'book keeping for small organisations' and 'running better meetings'. We have been working with the organisers of some such programmes to build more numeracy support or communication skills support elements into the programmes.
Similarly further education providers have been exploring ways of building basic skills and key skills, in appropriate ways, into food hygiene programmes; into first aid programmes; into arts and sports coaching programmes with young people; and so on. At the more obvious level, literacy and numeracy are key underpinnings of a wide range of vocational training programmes and programmes for young apprentice training. Trainers on these programmes have been gaining their Key Skills Deliverers Awards and have been looking at the most appropriate ways to integrate practising and assessment of key skills into a variety of vocational contexts. And finally, unemployed people on New Deal programmes can expect that their core skills needs will be met as part of furthering their employability. The set of New Deal processes have been reviewed and a basic skills action plan is being implemented to ensure that at every stage there is a better chance of someone's basic skills needs being recognised, assessed and most importantly - met.
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