Case Study 2

Reengaging Young People

The programme

Rainer is a charity that runs learning, training and development projects with under-supported young people. This case study focuses on Rainer’s Breaking the Cycle (BTC) programme and is designed to help young people (both school age and post 16) break out of a cycle of:

Low motivation low achievement
Low expectation (self-) destructive behaviours
Sanctions, consequences problems

The programme comprises a range of accredited and practical learning opportunities, including provision for Yr 10 & 11 school pupils who are disengaged/disaffected and young people aged 16+ who are NEET (i.e. Not in Education, Training or Employment). The programme is mainly aimed at reengaging the young people so it often involves a mix of pre-vocational training, PSE and creative projects to provide a stepping-stone into employment. Accredited short courses include:

First Aid (Appointed Persons at Work)
Manual Handling Certificates
HAP Handling Conflict, Customer Service Selling
NCF Solving Problems, Working Together Making Progress
ASDAN FE Award
CIEH Food Safety in Catering (Basic Food Hygiene)

Some of Rainers’ sites are offering the basic skills qualification, mainly at entry levels, and Key Skills.

The learners

Most of the learners are aged between 14 and 19. There is a wide range of deprivation and disadvantage across the young people. More generally, being part of the voluntary community, the BTC programme picks up young people who would not go to a college or training centre environment, and who avoid government initiatives. BTC take those at a certain stage in their lives where they may need a different structure. BTC does not have a fixed length programme, and the young people can come back and rejoin if they wish (e.g. if they lose their jobs).

Developing generic employability skills

The generic employability skills and attributes which the scheme seeks to foster include:

Communication
Basic skills
Written skills
Reliability
Working as a team
Taking instructions
Taking responsibility
Initiative
Dependability
Reliability
Punctuality

Teaching and learning

The scheme does not use a typical classroom set up of desks and boards etc. Training is done at various venues such as youth centres, community centres, foyers, and housing projects; anywhere where the young people do not associate with ‘government initiatives’ or formal education.

The following box summarises the key elements of good practice in the teaching and learning of generic skills in this programme.

Approaches to help foster the development of generic skills

Work with young people in an informal way.
Use lots of discussions so that learners who have poor literacy skills in terms of writing are able to participate.
Make sure the courses are all very practical and hands on. Teach skills through very practical activities, such as organising an event (e.g. the learners have organised a fundraising event for Children in Need and will record it using cameras and produce a DVD.), or planning a meal (the learners have to do everything themselves, plan, shop, cook, measure, estimate, use money).
Give the learners as much responsibility as possible by, for example, involving them in setting ground rules, arranging the timing of the sessions, undertaking fund raising activities, and helping to shape the organisation’s policy and direction.
Model the type of behaviour one would expect/not expect in the workplace.
Make it very explicit at the beginning and sustain the idea that the learners are here to be employable in whatever they choose to do.
Constantly reinforce the importance of employability skills and have the employer in mind.
Focus very much on the world of work and talk about it.
Get the learners to discuss their own development in terms of employability at monthly reviews.

Assessing and certifying generic employability skills

In general, BTC records and acknowledges the learners’ achievements based on their Individual Learning Plans. First Aid certificates and some basic skills qualifications are also awarded. The client group tends to have no qualifications whatsoever when they enter the scheme, so certificates are given to show the ‘distance travelled’. Because the scheme is not doing specific vocational qualifications, it is deemed important to reward effort.