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The needs in Mole Valley were assessed by looking at the demographic profile of the area, housing, employment, health, transport provision and the local economy and also by looking at learning achievement and participation in the District. The Index of Deprivation 2000 was used to make comparisons between wards in the District, Surrey and in England generally. It emerged from this analysis and also by looking at research already undertaken by the Mole Valley Shared Agenda Group that the wards of Leatherhead North, North Holmwood and Leatherhead South can be identified as the areas of greatest need within the District. They are characterised by higher rates of unemployment, higher levels of unsatisfactory housing conditions, higher numbers of people with poor basic numeracy and literacy skills and lower achievement and participation rates; compared to the rest of the District.
The barriers to learning people face vary across the District. Different people living within Mole Valley experience different problems in accessing and engaging in further learning and training. The main barriers identified include: lack of time; lack of childcare; courses offered at unsuitable times and poor transport provision especially for those who do not have their own means of transport and are living in the more rural areas of the District. By offering further provision in out-centres where viable or promoting distance learning, the physical barriers would be reduced and you would move a step closer to encouraging people who would benefit from some form of learning or training to participate. A lack of clear information about courses and a low awareness of the opportunities available have also been identified as barriers to learning. Minority Groups such as Travellers and Ethnic Minority Groups also face cultural barriers which are harder to overcome. People with Learning Disabilities and Physical Disabilities are faced with the added barriers of accessibility and transport.
There are 24 Surrey County Council Primary Schools and 4 Surrey County Council Secondary Schools in Mole Valley. There are no Further Education Colleges in the District but all the secondary schools have Sixth Form provision and parts of Mole Valley are in close proximity to FE Colleges such as East Surrey College, Nescot and Guildford College. There is one designated Adult Education Centre in the District responsible for the delivery of non schedule 2 courses; the Dorking Adult Education Centre, they also utilises a number of out-centres such as local schools, church halls and community centres throughout the District. East Surrey College provides accredited part-time adult education courses at different out-centres across the District. There are four Surrey County Council Libraries in Mole Valley which are also places of learning. There are a number of providers within the District who provide for people with Physical and Learning Disabilities, these include: Surrey Adult Education Services; The Grange, Bookham and also the Queen Elizabeth Foundation, Leatherhead. There is a considerable amount of good practice in the District with East Surrey College, Nescot and Surrey Adult Education being the main lead for a lot of the community type of learning projects being initiated.
Although a large number of people access the provision available, there is a significant minority who does not participate in any type of learning. A lot of the learning provision is concentrated in the town centres of Dorking and Leatherhead. Those living in the more rural parts of the District or those reliant on public transport have difficulty in accessing the different learning opportunities. Further provision is, therefore, needed especially in areas of disadvantage in the District. The high levels of poor basic numeracy and literacy in certain parts of the District require, in particular, further provision in or near these areas and an innovative approach to engaging these learners.
Targets for the county have been set by other organisations such as the Surrey Learning and Skills Council (Surrey LSC) and the Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership (SLLP). The Mole Valley Community Learning Partnership (CLP) can mirror these targets once they identify what areas they need to focus on in terms of developing innovative solutions to local learning problems.
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- A co-ordinated approach should be developed in the collection and dissemination of information about community learning activities delivered in Mole Valley, and also Surrey as a whole, which would benefit other organisations. Many different projects are being implemented which are not documented or recorded. Information on these would inform good practice and reduce duplication of effort.
- There needs to be clearer explanations given for the differences between accredited and non-accredited courses and for different levels one can study for accredited courses. A mechanism for divulging information on learning opportunities needs to be developed and easily accessible to all potential learners.
- It would be useful for all organisations working in the area of lifelong learning to develop a data collection system for all learning in the District. There is currently no mechanism in place for monitoring the numbers of learners involved in different types of learning both formal and informal making it virtually impossible to ascertain participation rates in each area.
- A link needs to be established between non-accredited and accredited courses, where possible, for those learners wishing to progress onto accredited courses, ensuring an ease of progression for these learners.
- It would be beneficial for the Community Learning Partnership, if organisations working within the District were encouraged to think about and discuss learning opportunities - to get learning on to their agendas.
- Researching the barriers to learning was hampered by learning rarely being a priority in any community surveys or focus groups conducted in the District. This type of research needs to be undertaken in order to get a clearer picture of the learner needs in the District.
- Further outreach needs to be developed in the communities to engage the non-learners, especially those who would benefit most from it in areas like North Leatherhead, which has been identified as a disadvantaged area, but comparatively has very little participation in learning. The CLP could liase further with organisations who are already in many areas providing informal learning but where opportunities for encouraging progression are missed.
- There is very little Family Learning provision in Mole Valley. This mechanism for engaging non learners should be further developed and targeted at the schools in the District which have been identified as underachieving and located in disadvantaged areas.
- Many Mole Valley residents have problems accessing learning provision due to the location of most of this provision within the main centres of the District. It is a rural area and therefore warrants more remote access. The CLP should look into different forms of provision, which could take learning out to the more rural parts of the District but still ensuring its viability.
- The CLP needs to be better resourced. Bidding for different funding opportunities, identifying local need, planning and implementing projects and networking with other agencies in the District all requires a lot of work and time. It will need access to more resources, especially people resources, if it is to be an effective partnership in identifying local learning needs and providing mechanisms for developing and delivering innovative solutions to local learning problems.
- There is a need for a co-ordinated approach in the collection of information about adult learning activities delivered in Mole Valley, and also Surrey as a whole. There are many different projects being implemented, which are not documented or recorded. There is also a lack of clear information about courses available and the difference between accreditation and non-accreditation. A mechanism for collecting and disseminating information on learning opportunities needs to be developed and easily accessible to all potential learners.
- A data collection system needs to be developed for determining the numbers engaged in learning in Mole Valley and also in Surrey. A joint database could be developed to help track people's inclusion and transition between learning opportunities. There is currently no mechanism in place to collect this data and thus make possible the monitoring of the number of learners involved in different types of learning both formal and informal. This means that it is virtually impossible to ascertain participation rates in each area. A data collection system would, for example, assist the monitoring of all non schedule 2 projects and also help organisations such as the SLLP and the CLP to establish whether their targets are being met.
- A mechanism for disseminating and sharing information between different providers and organisations working in the District should be developed. This will ensure that all good practice being initiated will be shared between the interested parties and prevent duplication of effort. A number of groups have pointed out that they had been asked the same type of questions by other organisations in the past. This duplication is wasting a lot of time and can easily be prevented if information on research projects and on going work is disseminated properly.
- A better link needs to be established between non-accredited and accredited courses ensuring an ease of progression for learners who may decide to continue in learning. A brochure could be developed for adults outlining the learning options available to them in the District from different providers.
- It would be worthwhile for the Community Learning Partnership members to participate in a facilitated session to establish what their aims and objectives are, and what areas of learning, identified in this plan, they would like to focus on. It would enable them to have projects identified and planned before bidding for the funding required and ensure they can access all funding opportunities available to them.
- A strategic aim for the Community Learning Partnership would be to encourage organisations working within the District to examine ways in which learning opportunities could be facilitated in their operations.
- Specific research on learning should be conducted which would establish the learning needs in the District. This could include Community/ Resident surveys, workshops, focus groups or some other appropriate forms of consultation. There has been a limited amount of local research conducted in the District with learner needs as the main priority so there is a great need to establish learner consultation mechanisms.
- Further outreach needs to be developed (especially in terms of Basic Skills provision) in communities such as Leatherhead North and including groups such as the unemployed and lone parents. Mechanisms for engaging these types of learners could be through:
- Liaising with organisations in the District who are already providing informal learning activities but where there are few opportunities for encouraging progression, such as the All Saints Family Project, which works with young parents and lone parents. Some of these parents have already indicated that they would like the opportunity to engage in learning to improve their current skills.
- Similarly liaising with different community groups in the Districts such as parenting groups, youth groups, the different focus groups (for example the Traveller focus group) to identify how they can work with these groups in identifying their learning needs and providing solutions to this need.
- Family Learning Projects should be further developed in primary schools in Mole Valley. I have not been able to identify any school based family learning projects currently within the District even though a number of the schools have computer suites which could be used for family learning provision. Family Learning has been recognised as an effective way of both raising standards in schools and also widening participation. The projects should be targeted at the schools in the District, which have been identified as underachieving and which are catering for disadvantaged communities. Parents should also be targeted with a view to ensuring that those who will benefit most from this type of provision are given the opportunity to participate.
- Many Mole Valley residents face problems in accessing learning provision due to the location of most of this provision within the main centres of the District. It is a remote area and therefore warrants more remote access. The CLP should look into different forms of provision, which could take learning out to the more rural parts of the District but still ensuring its viability. The opportunities of Distance and E-Learning could be further promoted. An audit of families with access to a PC should be carried out to determine whether mobile provision of laptops is needed and whether taster courses to introduce people to distance learning could be provided in village halls, community centres etc.
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Kevin Delf, Chief Executive, Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership