|
to people with life-disrupting problems |
Training Review
Looking Again at the LITE Course
One of the difficulties of running a 17 week course is that people who are interested in joining often have to wait a long time before the next course starts. To overcome this difficulty, Andy started to run the course on a 'carousel' basis, with people able to start at the beginning of any week. This proved to be a mixed blessing: it was harder to create a 'team spirit' with people joining every few weeks, and the lack of a gap between courses made it hard for Andy to spend time documenting what was done and recruiting new people.
We decided to ask Andy to undertake a major review of the course, starting in April 2001. A great deal has changed since we started running the LITE Course 11 years ago. At the time, we were one of the few places in the country where such training was available; now, many groups offer some form of basic skills training. So we needed to know if there is still a need for us to run the LITE Course.
Andy spent several months researching this question, with both our customers and other groups in Bristol.
- What other basic skills training is available in Bristol?
- What does it cover?
- What are the restrictions?
- Who can access it?
- Who really does make use of it?
- Is there a 'gap in the market' - something our customers need, which they will not get somewhere else?
- And, if there is a gap, how can it best be met?
To cut a long story short, there is considerable need for basic skills training for our customers, but it can best be delivered in a much more modular fashion. Instead of asking people to commit themselves to a 17 week course, they sign up to a module that lasts between 3 and 5 weeks. Each module has a distinct focus, so people can sign up for the modules which are relevant and helpful to them. And they get a sense of achievement as they complete each module.