ANNUAL REPORT Community Education Widening Participation

Transcription

1 ANNUAL REPORT Community Education Widening Participation

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3 The Mary Ward Centre, 42 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AQ CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. PARTNERS 3. THE PROGRAMME 4. PARTNER EVALUATIONS & REPORTS 5. THE LEARNERS 6. LEARNER RECRUITMENT & RETENTION 7. LEARNER ACHIEVEMENT & PROGRESSION 8. LEARNER EVALUATIONS 9. IMPACT OF LEARNING IN THE COMMUNITY 10. CONCLUSIONS APPENDICES 1. COLOMBIAN GOLD 2. ADULT LEARNERS WEEK 3. MIND THE GAP

4 ANNUAL REPORT INTRODUCTION: The Community Education and Widening Participation programme has provided a successful and embedded programme of short courses to groups and organisations in Camden, Islington, Westminster and Tower Hamlets. We are currently exploring new partnerships further afield into Hackney. The Widening Participation programme has once again had a busy and creative year. The year has been one inspired by a range of visual and performing arts - a year of large scale community art; exhibitions in prestigious locations, and community choirs evolving and performing at different venues across London. It has been a year where we have identified an increase in health and well-being as the demand for bollywood, zumba and ballroom dance, amongst other fitness classes, begins to grow dramatically. The curriculum has expanded considerably as we continue to work with more partners across central London and thus increasing the number of learners enrolling on courses. Our funding with Camden Equality and Cohesion Mind the Gap project has enabled us to run many more short courses and taster workshops in a similar way to those we ran through the Niace funded project we delivered across 2011/ / / /11 Partners Courses We have built a team that is very knowledgable of the changing needs of the community and that listens to and understands individual groups requirements with diligence. We have an outreach team who, between them, have experience of community development, teaching, family law, project management, fundraising, as well as adult education. 1

5 PARTNERS: Over 2012/13 we have run courses in direct partnership with 37 local groups and organisations, compared to 34 in the previous year. Of these, 10 were new partners to the Widening Participation programme Portugal Prints at Westminster Mind, Crisis Skylight, Charlie Ratchford Resource Centre, Central YMCA, SHP Arlington Road Hostel, Castlehaven Community Centre, The Arbour, Henderson Court Resource Centre and sheltered housing, London Irish Centre, Shan House Sheltered Housing Association, We have partnerships with primary schools, community centres, drop-in and day care centres, hostels, health projects, supported housing projects, advice and resource centres, Museums and Libraries. Our programme continues to include new and growing work which this year has included developing more work with trafficked women, women who have suffered domestic servitude, homeless communities and people with early dementia and complex health needs. Felt Making at Castlehaven Community Centre In addition to working with new and existing partners, the outreach worker spends time following up links and possible partnerships with other groups and organisations with whom we could potentially work to widen participation in adult education. We are currently re-visiting links with some partners we have worked with in the past and investigating links with new organisations such as Mind in Westminster (Portugal Prints), other SHP hostels, and Charlie Ratchford Community Centre Once again our partnerships have been highly successful and mutually beneficial, through effective working relationships, good communication and the maintenance of regular consultation. We have further increased our work with homeless people, particularly in developing our work in hostels with Single Homeless Project. We have introduced new work with people from vulnerable and disadvantaged communities such as at Islington Bangladesh Association and St Hilda s East, working with Bangladeshi women with mental ill health. We have also been successful in setting up courses for white working class women on an estate who, for the first time, have started to make contact with their neighbours. We continue to work with many other vulnerable communities including people engaging in street population activities, trafficked women, 2

6 young teenage mums and other communities at risk. We also developed a project with The Arbour working with newly arrived migrant women. There is clear recognition of the value that learning adds to the opportunities our partners could offer and of the benefit participants gain. It is also clear that in what are financially lean times for many of our partners, the fact that these courses have been funded and that there is no direct monetary cost to them has been very important, especially to the smaller organisations. We continue to maintain that the key to successful outreach is in providing the best possible learning experiences. This means looking at diverse kinds of learning and different learning styles and then making arrangements to meet the needs of previously excluded groups in their own environment. Partnership Case Study: Edith Neville Primary School and Children s Centre During 2012/13 we rekindled and developed our work with parents at Edith Neville Primary School and Children s Centre. We had previously worked with the school some 3 years earlier but difficulties in attracting a consistent group of learners with regular class attendance meant we had to withdraw. However, we are always open minded that groups and organisations change as circumstances change. Over the year we have developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the Centre Manager for the Children s Centre we have been able to make a valuable contribution to their successful Ofsted inspection and they have been able to give us useful and valid evaluative data to help us develop our outreach delivery within the school and surrounding area of Somers Town. Over the year we have introduced classes in bollywood, mixed media jewellery and stitch work and a more technical project designing and making a decorative purse with a clasp. Students have been keen and enthusiastic and where numbers were small at the start of the year they built up and numbers remained consistent. The partner and centre manager reported how much the parents trusted and responded well to the tutors and their way of working; and significantly how the textiles classes really demonstrate the importance of parents being able to make something for themselves e.g. an item of jewellery, a decoration or a purse. Embroidery samplers and work at Edith Neville Primary School 3

7 Bollywood has, however, been a resounding success in many ways. As picked up in the Ofsted inspection, Somers Town is an area where there is a problem of obesity, and is associated with a higher likelihood of unemployment and mood disorders such as depression. We know that several of the parents have told us of problems with their joints, diabetes and cardiovascular disease which we can assume is linked to obesity. The Centre Manager of the Children s Centre has felt that some of these problems are starting to be addressed by delivering courses around physical health and well being. Consistency in attendance shows that not only is the bollywood popular but parents are taking responsibility for their health and feeling invigorated and motivated. We also run a zumba class in nearby Somers Town community centre which parents have also started attending. One single parent expressed how bollywood has transformed her in terms of how she felt about herself and how it has helped to improve her self esteem. She had no friendship groups before and felt withdrawn; now she feels more confident and has started to exercise with her children. The Ofsted inspection of the Children s Centre reported good feedback because activities such as this allowed (vulnerable) parents to make choices and do something for themselves. Another single mum, experiencing domestic violence, has been allowed by her husband to attend bollywood. She has said that this has given her just one thing to look forward to each week. Textile accessories with parents at Edith Neville Children s Centre We have been able to work with the school and children s centre in addressing issues as they arise and seek ways to rectify them. Childcare difficulties - crèche spaces are limited which restricted the number of parents who could join bollywood on a Tuesday; with some re-planning the class was changed to another day so that more crèche spaces could be offered out to bollywood parents. Erratic attendance we noted that the parent s group textile classes had an inconsistent attendance. Communication between the school and parents was tightened and a reminder text is now sent out each week. Attendance has started to get better. Parent engagement we and the school felt mutually that it was important to consider the parents views and how we promote the classes to them. Recommendations are to deliver some tasters to widen learning participation within the school and broaden parents experiences of learning Given the enormity of health problems in the area, we also recommended targeting parents around their health and well-being, particularly those with depression, and looking at cost effective ways of introducing some completely new kinds of course. 4