LSIS Foundation Learning Support Programme
Consultant and Trainer 2010
Working with a range of 14-19 providers to develop and
implement Foundation Learning programmes.
Providing in house support, standard and bespoke staff
development and consultancy to plan and implement effective
integrated curriculum models for learners in a range of
vocational contexts.
LSIS Skills for Life Support Programme
Consultant and Trainer 2008-10
Writing new professional development materials for practitioners
on approaches to supporting literacy, language and numeracy
needs with emphasis on e-learning approaches.
Providing CPD, facilitation and support for a range of discrete
and embedded literacy, language and numeracy action research and
development projects in various contexts and settings.
Offering consultancy for raising quality and capacity to improve
through whole organisation approaches and a Digital Inclusion
‘Total place’ project for Adult & Community Learning.
LSIS Functional Skills Support Programme
Consultant and Trainer 2007-10
Providing regional and in house training sessions for Colleges,
ACLs, Secondary schools, PRU’s and training providers to support
their participation in Functional Skills pilots.
Writing and delivering new training materials to support
managers and practitioners in Adult Learning providers make the
transition from Skills for Life to Functional Skills.
Supporting practitioners in action research and development
projects to develop curriculum models, programmes and resources
for learners.
Providing Functional Skills briefings for regional stakeholders
and teacher training professionals.
LSIS Skills for Life Improvement Programme
Embedding Regional Lead 2007-8/Regional Manager 2006-7
Responsible for leading a regional team of LSN consultants and
trainers to deliver support for SfL and vocational teachers to
raise quality and achievement.
Writing and delivering professional development activities and
peer networking sessions to support providers with collaborative
development and quality improvement strategies.
Supporting organisations to embed literacy, language and
numeracy into work based learning programmes.
Providing consultancy, training and support to providers to
raise quality and learner achievements in Key Skills and
vocational learning.
Regional reporting and contributions to published materials and
resources.
E-learning development adviser for the
London Strategic Unit for the
Learning & Skills Workforce (LSU) 2006
Our remit was to help the Institute of Education’s LSU develop a
pan-London strategy to raise the quality of e-teaching and
e-learning in support of the DfES’s ‘Harnessing Technology’
strategy.
Investigating current e-learning practice, resources and
requirements of the post-16 sector and working with a range of
partner organisations to improve the skills of London’s teacher
trainers.
The outcomes of this project were two guides for teachers – a
prospectus of e-learning courses in London and a Workforce
Briefing.
LSC/QIA Skills for Life Quality Initiative
Facilitator and E-learning Teacher Trainer 2003-6
Working with a range of providers to raise standards of
provision and increase the professionalism of their workforces.
Providing briefings and support for QI advisers and facilitators
to enable them to help organisations include e-learning
strategies in their strategic planning processes.
Delivering e-learning training and supporting trainers in their
own organisations to contribute to the raising of teaching and
learning standards in a variety of organisations.
Contributing
to the national evaluation of impact of the Quality Initiative.
Lead Consultant for E-learning in Skills for
Life for the
Learning & Skills Network
Commissioned by the LSN’s Skills for Life team to co-write both
the one day ‘Introducing E-learning’ and ‘Integrating
E-learning’ training courses for literacy, language and numeracy
practitioners and teacher trainers.
After training a national team of teacher trainers, the courses
were delivered through the Skills for Life Quality Initiative to
over 1000 teachers and trainers over a three year period.
Providing support and quality assurance to the regional team of
trainers for London region.
Also contributing to LSN’s ‘Exploring E-learning’ L3 accredited
training which was delivered extensively across the UK.
Skills for Life Quality Adviser for A4E
Devising and helping to implement quality improvement
strategies, policies and procedures to raise standards in the
management and delivery of Skills for Life learning in A4e
learndirect provision in north London.
Identifying the professional development needs of staff and
devising and delivering both bespoke and accredited professional
development programmes.
Whole Organisation Approaches to Embedding
Skills for Life Pathfinder Project
Working with LSN to support Pathfinder providers seeking to
raise the quality of provision and learner achievement by
developing, piloting, evaluating and disseminating approaches to
embedding literacy, language and numeracy within vocational
teaching and learning.
Offering both consultancy services and training for
practitioners and managers and facilitating sharing and transfer
of successful practices between providers.
Level 2 Accredited Staff Development for UfI/learndirect
After a long period of
writing and delivering non-accredited Skills for Life training for
learndirect staff, UfI commissioned Simons Associates to help them
develop Level 2 accredited training.
Working with the Basic Skills Agency to develop a contextualised
version of their Level 2 ‘Link Up’ course
Gaining funding to run courses with learndirect hubs and centres
in London. Overall course success rates of 97% for participants.
Training learndirect’s’ London region SfL Hub Co-coordinators to
cascade delivery of the L2 courses.
Teacher Training Consultant – ICT/Skills for
Life Pathfinder Project
Working with the national teacher training team for the ICT/SfL
pathfinder Simons Associates developed resources and helped to
support a national team of trainers participating in the blended
‘Train the Trainer’ course which created an online community of
expertise for ICT as a Skill for Life.
UfI Project Manager - Onscreen National Test
Pilots
Working as project manager
for UfI/learndirect alongside QCA, approved awarding bodies and
software developers to introduce on-screen tests for SfL assessments
across the UK. This involved working with over 100 learning
providers to identify, develop & evaluate effective practices in
delivering on-screen tests and raising learner achievement.
Simons Associates:
Contributed to the development of awarding body and learndirect
preparatory tools (e.g. practice tests, navigation tutorials,
guidance information) for learners
Devised and delivered written guidance for providers on
preparing learners for tests and raising achievement in national
qualifications in learndirect centres
Developed and delivered national tutor training courses ‘Helping
Learners Achieve’ and ‘Engagement to achieve’ for learndirect
staff
Devised & delivered an evaluation strategy on all aspects of
candidates and centre staff experiences of testing
Reported on pilot outcomes and evaluations to UfI, Awarding
Bodies, DfES/ABSSU and QCA and made recommendations for progress
Created a promotional leaflet published by the DfES Adult Basic
Skills Strategy Unit to explain the tests to learners
Basic Skills Online – Online Skills for Life
Awareness Training
for UfI/Learndirect
Providing online tutoring and mentoring to four cohorts of
twenty learndirect support staff on the ‘Basic Skills Online’
tutor training course.
Writing an evaluation of the effectiveness of the course for Ufi
with recommendations for future online training for Basic Skills
support staff.
