Council’s ‘Skills for Life’ programme extended Council-wide
Broxbourne Council has recently extended its ‘Skills for Life’ programme to the whole Council, building on the pilot scheme which has been running for staff at the Council’s service organisation, Broxbourne Services since 2005.
Three Council staff have already attained a level 2 in Mathematics. To date, 18 Broxbourne Services staff have participated in the ‘Skills for Life’ programme, with five people gaining the level 2 certificate in adult literacy; one person gaining the level 1 certificate in adult literacy ; one person gaining the entry level 3 certificate in adult literacy and three people achieving the level 2 certificate in numeracy.
Staff across the whole Council can now take advantage of the 12-week brush up level 2 numeracy course while Broxbourne Services staff also have access to a literacy class aimed at entry level learners which runs for around 40 weeks a year. The Council programs the classes to fit around staff’s working days and matches every hour that staff give of their own time with an hour of paid learning time. Training is provided by a local learning provider, and 12 staff have been specially trained to support adult learners and help them overcome any practical difficulties that they may have once their courses have started.
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The Borough Council currently holds a Go (Get on in Local Government) Award, which was awarded last March and is based on the Council’s adoption of ‘Skills for Life’, the national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills, in the workplace. The Council was one of the five first local authorities to receive the award.
The Go Award is sponsored by the Local Government Employers Organisation in association with the trade union movement and has the full backing of central Government through the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The Council hopes that promoting ‘Skills for Life’, which is done through a framework know as ‘Get on at Broxbourne’, will improve its staffs’ capabilities and improve the quality of its services to the local community.
