Go-betweens lure the hard-to-reach into education

Citation

(2005), "Go-betweens lure the hard-to-reach into education", Education + Training, Vol. 47 No. 4/5. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2005.00447dab.007

Go-betweens lure the hard-to-reach into education

A growing number of professional go-betweens is helping adults and young people – many of them marginalised from society – to take their first steps back into education. Research commissioned by the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) shows how these “learning brokers”, are working with education organisations (such as colleges, universities and adult-education centres), employers, community groups and voluntary associations, providing advice and support to people who have become disengaged from learning.

The report marks the end of a three-year project that set out to discover more about learning brokers – who they are, where they work and how effective they are at connecting with “non-traditional” adult learners. The main findings are:

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  Learning brokers operate in various settings in different roles, as go-betweens linking people with organisations and services. But the terms “brokerage” and “brokers” are not widely recognised and are often misunderstood.

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  Learning brokers include not only careers advisers and guidance professionals, union learning representatives and national operations such as LearnDirect, but also librarians, health visitors, nutritionists and community-learning champions – even football coaches and hairdressers. They operate mainly through networks, community groups, employers and organisations; not only colleges, universities, advice centres and libraries, but also hairdressing salons and doctors’ surgeries.

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  Brokerage is an effective way of engaging adults in education, particularly the “hard to reach” – those who have had little contact with education since leaving school. It also helps to boost the confidence and self-esteem of employees at work and engages people (such as the low skilled and those from some minority ethnic groups) who have never been involved in learning at work.

The report includes 11 case studies of learning brokerage in practice. Examples include an arts organisation in London (the Arts Learning Partnership) that seeks to engage “at risk” young people in learning through rap, dance, music and theatre production, by linking voluntary arts organisations, education providers, regeneration agencies and local authorities; a Big Issue Foundation project in Birmingham that provides advice, guidance and support on job seeking, education and training for homeless people; and a large brokerage organisation in Sheffield (Supporting People into Employment and Lifelong Learning (SPELL)) that employs 40 staff who offer advice and guidance on learning and employment to local people, using door-to-door sales techniques to find out more about their learning needs.

Kate Anderson, director of research, said: “Widening participation in education and training is a key Government target – and learning brokers are an important catalyst in helping achieve this. The success of national schemes to help benefits claimants back into work, for instance, will rest on having effective business-support networks, with skilled and knowledgeable brokers. But learning brokers also operate effectively at community grass-roots levels. And this research shows the crucial role they can play in inspiring people who have become disengaged from education and in transforming their lives”.

Ivan Lewis, parliamentary under-secretary of state for skills and vocational learning, said: “As part of the skills strategy we highlighted the need to motivate and support many more learners and to re-engage people into learning. For too many people, learning is something that stops when they leave school. Learning new skills at work or for pleasure must become a rewarding part of everyday life. Crucial to this are those who are involved in building the bridges between individuals, learning providers and businesses. I welcome this report and its clear message that a lot of work has already been done to make substantial progress to set in place a network of learning brokers. We must now build on these networks if we are to create a better learning environment for those whose skills are fundamental to the UK in a global economy”.

The report calls for:

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  a clearer professional identity for learning brokers, with structured training and better opportunities for career development;

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  longer-term funding to sustain learning-brokerage activity;

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  a strengthened role for workplace-learning brokers, such as union-learning representatives and learning advisers; and

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  wider dissemination of good practice in brokerage.

Copies of the report are available from: Information Services, LSDA, Regent Arcade House, 19-25 Argyll Street, London W1F 7LS. Tel: 020 7297 9144; E-mail: Enquiries@LSDA.org.uk