Priority Area Final Reports
March 2008
Community First
Objective 4
Jan Brant
AVC & ACL
1. With reference to the Year 1 Business Plan, please provide a summary of
work/activities undertaken since joining WMCETT.
PTLLS
Recruited and supported the running of VCS specific
course for 12 practitioners
Awareness raising
- Inclusion at strategic networks through Elspeth, Mark
and Michelle across both Counties
- Recruited to PTLLS from 10 different organisations
- Written information circulated to over 2000 VCS
organisations / contacts
- Electronic information on website with open access
- Open briefing event
- Information day for identified potential learners prior to
applying for PTLLS
Needs analysis
- 26 individual nextstep analysis
- 17 organisational needs analysis
- Recruited 5 personnel / organisations to PTLLS delivery
partnership
APL
Identified and working with case study for APL into
DTLLS
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2. Identify any activities listed above which have been particularly
successful and explain why you think this occurred.
2a
Each potential learner / practitioner had a 1-1 nextstep interview as part
of their recruitment process and was provided with an individual action plan.
This ensured that :
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Practitioners fully understood their goal in undertaking PTLLS or were
provided with alternative progression routes
Practitioners fully understood the PTLLS style and content
Individual learning support needs were identified and implemented prior
to commencing the course
Practitioners felt fully supported by VCS experts which raised their
confidence in the course being tailored to the needs of the sector
Tutors had good prior knowledge of individual support needs
The outcome of this is that :
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11/12 practitioners will complete within the 2 month timescale.
1 practitioner has put their award on hold due to illness.
2b
Marketing activities were proven to provide access to a wide range of
organisations and individuals promoting best practice in diversity.
Recruitment included :
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Volunteers, employees and consultants
Part time & full time
Male and female
Experienced, new and aspiring practitioners
Access by both counties (Herefordshire & Worcestershire)
Access by large and small organisations
Access by local and national organisations
Self referrals, word of mouth referrals, organisational referrals
2c
Awareness raising was successful in it’s multi faceted approach in that we
had responses covering the following areas :
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General awareness of new initiative and it’s relevance to the sector
Updating as new information arises
Organisational needs analysis
Individual needs analysis
Individuals and organisations committing interest to a local VCS PTLLS
delivery partnership
2
3. Identify any activities listed above which have been particularly difficult
to undertake, or targets which have proven difficult to reach, and discuss
why.
3a
A difficulty was getting fully prepared to run the PTLLS course in line
with our quality procedures.
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The information day was partly about meeting the tutor and we were
assigned a different tutor after this with no means of contacting him
before Day one of the course.
I was unable to get a clear picture of the structure of the course which
meant that planning to meet individual needs was compromised. For
example one practitioner was unable to juggle with previous work
commitments sufficiently as the microteach came earlier than we had
been led to believe. This caused extra pressure to complete another
course resulting in illness and putting PTLLS on hold for the time being.
Having to distribute updated task instructions which caused some
practitioners concern and confusion
3b
We have identified the need to develop clear and workable APL routes
but have done little implement this yet. This is due only to the timing of our
participation in the year one activities and have a practitioner already pursuing
this method of accreditation. We have agreed to support the practitioner
through this process and use this as a case study to contribute to year two
business plan.
3c
We have carried out little mentoring activity again due to the timing of
our participation. We believe this to be well regarded with our current PTLLS
cohort and other sector practitioners, and plan to implement this through
various networking activities in year two.
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