Thematic report |
Listening to the community: How good are providers at finding out the learning needs of adults in their local communities? July 2009
Most providers don’t have consistent procedures in place for gathering the opinions of learners about provision in their local area. In the best examples, learners are involved in curriculum planning at all levels and providers and networks use project funding to identify local learning needs.
Recommendations
The Welsh Assembly Government should:
- work with other Welsh Assembly Government departments to clarify how community learning providers can drive forward service improvement;
- facilitate longitudinal studies of learner-generated learning activity to document outcomes and promote good practice; and
- create a national learners’ panel on the development of adult community-based learning programmes.
Community Learning networks should:
- use learner consultation more consistently to create more engaged and well informed citizens in order to promote greater local pride, ambition and accountability in their local communities.
Individual providers should:
- improve the consistency of consultation events for learners; and
- identify links to the local network in order to co-ordinate learner consultation activities with other local organisations and local authority departments.