MAIN FINDINGS
Introduction
This section outlines key themes to emerge from in depth analysis of 9 case studies. (Table 1 above provides a summary of these case studies). The three subsections relate to: engaging with learners; locating learning in their everyday lives and sustaining this model of learning.
ENGAGING WITH LEARNERS
Planning learning with learners
In general tutors viewed planning learning with learners as a collaborative process. Tutors tried to identify and engage with what learners wanted to work on, where they used literacies and where there was potential for this to be developed. However there was variation in the extent to which these ideas were realisable for tutors working across different groups and organisations. The following sections highlight some of the key issues encountered by tutors in trying to plan effectively with learners.
Spectrum of learners
Tutors often were presented with learners who had been identified as a 'person with learning difficulties' without tutors having an understanding of the extent of their impairment. Where learners were able to communicate tutors found it easier to identify and gain an understanding of their interests outside of class. However, some learners had little experience or familiarity with exercising agency in this way and found participation initially difficult. In addition some participants were initially protective of different areas of their lives and were initially uncomfortable identifying and sharing their experiences. For example Gerry was reluctant for his key worker to see the folder which he had produced with his literacies tutor. Similarly Jack was protective of his reading time at home and was initially reluctant to make links between his class work and reading interests at home. Jack and Steve's tutor addressed this initial anxiety by trying to engage more with their interests:
I initially went into the learning sessions and started to have a look at the work that Jack and Steve had covered. It mainly seemed to be "King Street" books and exercises or puzzles such as word searches. Nothing that had any substance or relevance to their lives. Last week I began to talk to them about doing a project based on something they were interested in or had recently done such as a holiday. Steve seemed very unsure of the whole thing but admitted that he was sick of doing the King Street books. Jack also said he was bored of doing the King Street books and then started telling me about "Starlight Express" he had been to see and asked could he write about that. It was agreed last week that the learners "homework" would be to think of ideas for this week (extract from tutor notes).
Jack and Steve have gradually become more active in making decisions about the type of work they want to do in class and there is now ongoing discussion about making connections between their work in class and their everyday lives. There is also evidence that they continue to think about this work between sessions and there is a greater commitment on the part of their tutor to engage with this, making their work relevant and useful. Jack and Steve now review their work at the end of each learning block and plan for the future sessions with their tutor. Their tutor anticipates that this process will get easier as they all become more familiar with this way of working.
Tutors experienced difficulties when learners had a level of impairment or communication difficulties that prevented them from engaging in open discussion about their lives. The ways in which tutors and their project managers addressed this issue varied. In one situation a tutor stated that within their project they would not be able to work with learners who were unable to articulate and express their learning goals. In contrast another literacies project specifically focused on adults with significant impairment. Alison's tutor initially found it difficult to communicate with her, her responses to direct questions would often be 'I don't know'. It was difficult for her tutor to make progress in determining what sort of things she was interested in and hence would like to do within the class. The challenge to Alison's tutor was to develop a more appropriate model of planning, both aware of and sensitive to Alison's situation:
What Alison is good at is communicating…she can be very good at organising herself into what she needs to do…she's quite good at ordering things like a camera and getting photos and she's good at symbols. So it's trying to convey her strengths, what she can do, what she's good at and then reinforce it and give her skills…to become more independent basically (interview with Alison's tutor).
As a means of engaging more effectively with Alison her tutor decided to move from using paper based materials and work folders to a more project focused approach. Planning became a process of engaging with and responding to Alison's needs and interests:
We then went on to a life story project. And it was basically looking at students' life histories; although we let the students decide whether they wanted to tell us a life story or just a story about themselves. So we used computers, photos and collages, names of student's family, things they liked doing, or important events in their life, or what they did during the week. So the students then presented, just before Christmas, and it seemed to work quite well, so they got quite professional, but also it was all their own work…so it was trying to do a project that was going to choose skills that they had, whether they could write or use a computer or not, as wide a range of skills as possible (interview with Alison's tutor).
Timetabled lives4
A further key difficulty frustrating planning with learners was the fact that learners often had busy, timetabled lives that reflected engagement with a range of different services, individuals and support workers. It could be difficult for a tutor to identify and understand what learners did during the week even when they had access to parents and support workers. While the majority of learners engaging with the research project would have been involved in person centred planning with their support workers, the extent to which such planning, or aspects of it, could be shared with tutors was limited. For example Frank began literacies classes after he expressed a desire to improve his reading and writing when developing person centred plans with his key worker at the day centre he regularly attends. Frank's plans were captured on a series of four montages depicting different aspects of his life and aspirations. Evidenced on the plans is a range of literacy and numeracy activities which the keyworker anticipated for Frank such as self travel, looking at shopping and money, all of which were intended to build upon Frank's independent living skills. Frank's keyworker approached community education, requested a tutor and after some time Frank was able to join a local literacies class. However while the keyworker and Frank discussed his life plans with the project researcher, the literacies tutor commented that she had never seen the plans and remained unaware of the extent to which these could have influenced planning with Frank.
Confidentiality
Planning learning often relied on tutors having adequate access to carers/support workers to help in this process. Where parents were the main carer this seems to have been a straightforward process limited only by parental interest and tutor time (see section below). However difficulties arose when carers were employees of service providers. Here carers were very conscious of client confidentiality and subsequently uneasy about divulging any personal information about learners to tutors:
It's confidentiality with everything with us. So I couldn't say "Jack done this", unless it's to do with their class or their group, the likes of the computer course I could say, "oh they've just done their computer course, they've done really well", but apart from that, no, we don't do anything like that [sharing information with tutor]. (interview with support worker).
Addressing this issue could involve seeking official permission from more senior staff:
I think to a certain extent, to do with this [sharing information], yeah, I think it would be a good thing. But I've always got to watch about letting anything out at all, 'cos if somebody else hears, then it's your job, so… it's a thin line isn't it? I mean most of the time I need to go through [name], because he is the manager (interview with support worker).
ENGAGING WITH CARERS/SUPPORT WORKERS
It was important for tutors to establish contacts with key individuals who could facilitate understanding of learners' past learning experience, interests and current activities. As referred to above, learners were often attached to a number of different organisations providing their residential and community support. In seeking an individual to liaise with and establish the aims of the project, tutors and the researcher needed to draw from a variety of people, including parents, support workers and keyworkers, all of whom worked with learners in varying capacities across a range of different contexts. Opportunities to realise literacies development for learners in community activities, employment or work placements required tutors and the researcher to invest considerable time in identifying, making contact and developing ongoing communication with people who had frequent contact with and knowledge of participating learners.
Engaging with parents
Where learners were still living at home, engaging with parents at times provided a straightforward opportunity for tutors to establish contact and exchange information. However the effectiveness of input from parents was variable. Some parents embraced the ideas of the project and were keen to reinforce learning as best they could for learners at home. Others though found this more difficult and required substantial ongoing support. For many parents increasing their son or daughter's independence was of key importance and in trying to achieve this they had supported their involvement with a range of work placements and community based activities. As a result the majority of learners had full timetables (see section below) involving activities which some parents had little knowledge of. One key benefit of engaging with parents was that it enabled tutors and the researcher to gain an understanding of the learner and their activities, a process which issues of confidentiality (see section above) made problematic with other carers.
Engaging with support workers
Tutors engaged with carers and support workers in a variety of ways. For some tutors, carers and support workers were able to provide background information that assisted tutors in planning learning and engaging more closely with learner interests. In one case study the learner's support worker initially attended their literacies classes, supporting the tutor with a new group of learners of whom they had little background knowledge:
I think [support worker] also wanted to kind of steer me in the right direction because…she was the one that knew the background and she knew what folk were able to achieve and so on. She was really, really helpful and then of course when I started, I didn't know exactly how much to expect from people, and on occasions when we had time, she [support worker] would stay behind and I would say "I didn't want to push this with so and so" and she said "oh yes, yes you can" because I didn't really know whether it was the right thing to do because I was new to working with adults and she would say "Och yes he can do that" or "She can do that" and that was good. (2 nd interview with Gerry' tutor)
In some of the case studies there was evidence of informal exchange between tutors and carers/support workers existing prior to the research project commencing. However, as referred to above, learners were often distributed across different organisations and their support workers were not always aware of what learners were doing at other times in the week. For example Gerry's support worker, while responsible for contributing to his person centred planning, was unaware that he was learning to travel independently and was also attending an adult literacies class. Where good links between tutors and carers did exist these tended to have arisen from informal, rather than planned, meetings. Alison's tutor benefited from a close working relationship with her former support worker and present manager of the resource centre organising her daily activities:
Well [name] is the manager of the centre, so he's often around, and he's filled in the background about [name of centre] which is the centre where Alison goes to each day to do her various activities, which has been good, because [name of centre] is quite a big place with a lot of clients, and people get lost, sometimes it's quite difficult to understand exactly how it works, so [name] has been great at filling in the background, how it works, who the best people to contact are, and the best people to deal with a situation, if something arises. (1 st interview with tutor, p.2)
In some instances, viewing the range of possible contacts as a network was useful for tutors and the researcher in identifying areas where people could collaborate. Creating informed networks strengthened the possibility of a consistent approach in how people worked with learners. Steve for example worked closely with his tutor and parent when learning about money and handling change. His tutor and support worker enabled him, by engaging with other people, to take the opportunity to pay for things at a café and his local gym.
Vignette illustrating engagement with tutor and support worker
The following vignette (1) presents an example of close working between tutor and support worker. In this situation the 'support worker' was a project co-ordinator of a local community based initiative aiming to prepare people with learning difficulties for work.
Vignette 1:
Tom attends two projects, one is a part-time work placement in a recycling plant and the second a similar position in a community based charity shop. The shop provides an opportunity for people with learning difficulties to gain work experience. Normally there are five people with learning difficulties working in the shop supported by the project co-ordinator. The shop provides trainees like Tom with experience in serving customers, money handling, health and safety and stock. It has a specific focus on developing literacy and numeracy skills in a practical context. The shop is supported by an adult literacies tutor based within a local FE college. The research focused on the development of closer working between the adult literacies tutor, who visited the project for 2 hours a week, and the full time project co-ordinator who managed the shop. While the college had worked with the project for a number of years it was the new project co-ordinator that initiated a more collaborative form of working. The new project co-ordinator decided to change the image of the shop and the ways in which trainees participated within it: They [trainees] didn't do very much, there was not much involvement with the trainees in the shop, they were very much service users coming to a day service …there was not much going on …they were just clock watching for break time, lunch time, break time, home time. (interview with project co-ordinator, p.2) Both tutor and project co-ordinator started to look at what skills the trainees needed to participate more fully in the running of the shop. Initially they found it difficult to engage Tom in this process as he preferred to instruct rather than follow instructions or participate as a trainee. Tom liked to view himself as 'the boss' but nevertheless lacked confidence in learning certain new tasks. The tutor and project co-ordinator worked at increasing Tom's participation. Over a period of time they explored ways of engaging more effectively with Tom. They worked with Tom's view of himself as 'the boss', exploring with him what being a manager meant and the range of skills this entailed. This provided a means to interact with Tom and engage his interest. The tutor and co-ordinator then engaged Tom in literacies based activities such as producing sets of instructions for the tasks he enjoyed such as cleaning the windows and washing the floor: 
Tom was supported by the co-ordinator to produce these instructions using 'Boardmaker'. These were then used to help Tom and other trainees with this task. Collaborating in this way enabled the tutor and project co-ordinator to work closely with Tom and involve him in activities he was interested in and enjoyed. As Tom's confidence increased the tutor and co-ordinator were able to introduce him to more complicated and challenging tasks such as serving customers in the shop and using the till. Close working between the tutor and project co-ordinator ensured that Tom was given the opportunity to practise skills repeatedly in context. Further to this, the project co-ordinator also developed closer relationships with trainees and had stronger links with carers and support workers. For example with Tom this meant that the project co-ordinator developed effective contact with his parents and used a notebook to record different aspects of Tom's learning enabling others to view his progress. Organisational factors which caused tension with this way of working largely rested with the tutor's college remit. The tutor's outreach work was funded on the basis that the 5 trainees on a Wednesday morning would work towards an accreditation in adult literacies. Whilst the tutor felt comfortable that the college materials could be sufficiently adapted for this group of learners, the process would have benefited from greater planning involving the co-ordinator and trainees. This was further frustrated by the fact that the tutor's formal commitments within FE made such innovative project work difficult. As focus from the college lessened the trainees and project manager started to develop their own materials (using digital camera) which evidenced and reasoned what they were doing. The college are currently looking to appoint someone to work in a more effective way with such outreach groups, however this is still under negotiation. Another important dimension to this project was the tutor and project co-ordinator's attempts to extend this learning outside the shop. Again as the work developed, the project co-ordinator started to look for opportunities such as banking the shop takings or buying foodstuffs in the supermarket. Attempts had been made to engage carers or support staff in this work, however, the co-ordinator has found that challenging attitudes such as people holding a very fixed view of ability, provided too much demand on her limited time. For Tom there is now an opportunity for the co-ordinator to liaise more closely with the learning opportunities available to him within his work at the recycling plant. |
Learner hesitation
As referred to above some learners were hesitant about sharing information about their class with their carers and support workers, preferring instead to keep their class activities separate from other areas of their lives. In this extract from her diary on the VRE, Jack and Steve's tutor describes how, even though they were making significant progress in class, Jack and Steve were still reserved in terms of sharing this with others:
Steve started typing and we made a deal that when I was with Jack, Steve would at least try and spell words on his own and I would help him with these when I came back over. The same deal has now been struck with Jack as well! Steve was fantastic and would try and spell any word, even ones he thought were impossible such as 'volunteer' or 'involved'. I moved between both learners which gave them time to work on their own. At the end of the session Steve said to me, "I could do this all day". I asked him what and he said, "write things on the computer about myself". I was really pleased! They both did their work plans at the same time and I was again really pleased when Steve asked how to spell a word Jack said, "I can help" and promptly told him how to spell it- peer learning coming through! I tried to encourage both learners to talk about their project to anyone they came in to contact with between now and next week such as their carer or family members. They were both quite reluctant but I will keep working on this. Overall I thought it was a really positive session. I noticed a difference with both learners. They seemed interested and a lot more motivated. It is difficult at times moving between the 2 learners but I think they need to get used to working independently sometimes. I also think it will take some time before they involve other people in what we are doing but I am going to keep reiterating it every week and we will see what happens. |
ROLE OF PROJECT RESEARCHER
The project researcher played a crucial developmental role in realising the aims of this project. The following sections describe the ways in which the researcher was able to assist in the development of the project and how her work was effective in fostering a collaborative approach involving tutors, carers and support workers.
Establishing contacts
The initial challenge to the research involved contacting tutors, describing the aims of the project, raising awareness of a social practices approach to literacies and seeking their assistance in identifying possible participants. It was initially difficult for tutors and the researcher to reach a joint understanding as to the extent of the researcher's involvement. This situation arose as, for some tutors, the developmental side of the project in terms of contacting participants and liaising with their carers and support workers placed demands on their time they were unable to meet. It took time for this to become apparent and for the researcher to recognise tasks that she could do to move the project forward. Once tutors identified possible participants the researcher met with them and their carers to describe the project and the form their participation may take. Some tutors had established contact with learner's carers and support workers prior to the research project commencing. In these cases the researcher focused on the development and strengthening of these relationships.
In general, parents or keyworkers were identified at this stage. However as the project proceeded the researcher felt it necessary to expand these contacts considerably to enable learners to engage more effectively. This involved contacting and arranging meetings with, for example, employers and other learning providers. At times it also meant identifying opportunities for learners and negotiating these with key individuals (see section below on locating learning). For example Steve's keyworker was seeking an opportunity for him to do a computer course. The researcher, having established knowledge of local opportunities was able to identify a possible IT class for Steve and working with his tutor facilitated his joining it. In addition the researcher facilitated meetings between his keyworker, tutor and a catering company manager that were necessary to establish opportunities for his learning within his part-time work.
Gaining understanding of learners' lives
The researcher facilitated tutors in gaining an understanding of learners' lives and how to engage with their existing uses of and needs for literacy and numeracy. A key aim of the initial phase of the research was to gain an understanding of each participant's background and present situation. Using an ethnographic approach, the researcher collated information about learners' background, learning histories and current activities. In some cases it was difficult to gain a full understanding of learners' day to day life in abstract conversation and a number of approaches were adopted to facilitate engagement with these learners. In addition to interviews learners were encouraged to take photographs or make short films about their lives (supported by carers) which were then used by the researcher as a basis for discussion. For some learners this process became integrated with the work of their tutors and support workers. Jack and Steve's tutor describes how this process facilitated her work:
Jack and Steve were telling me about their favourite [photograph], why it was their favourite and all about the people who appeared in them. I told them we could go to the ICT Suite and I could download the pictures so that they could type underneath them and they both seemed very pleased with that. We went along to the ICT suite and got started. No sooner had we started and they had both picked their favourite picture, than Jack said he wanted to do Starlight express instead. I was really pleased because this was the first time Jack had taken ownership of what he wanted to do. We copied a picture from the internet and Jack started to think about what he wanted to write about. He started to type out some of his thoughts on the show (tutor diary extract from the VRE).
In two instances the use of photographs was expanded upon by both tutors and support workers as a technique to engage learners in further projects. Information from interviews with participants was similarly, (with participant consent) fed back to tutors were appropriate.
Facilitating communication
The researcher facilitated communication between tutors, carers and support workers on an ongoing basis. This enabled a closer understanding to emerge between parties and was in excess of what individual tutors, carers or support workers could have achieved working unassisted. Key aspects of this work involved regular meetings and phone calls with tutors, carers and support workers as well as encouraging tutors to make contributions to the VRE.
SUMMARY
Planning a social practice model for learners with learning difficulties posed significant problems for tutors to address. The challenge of gaining sufficient understanding of learners' lives in order to begin to locate their learning more effectively was frustrated by a combination of factors:
- Poor communication with carers/support workers was compounded by a lack of time to enable regular meetings/exchanges.
- Issues about protecting learner confidentiality at times prevented support workers from working effectively with tutors.
- Often learners had fragmented timetables which support workers were unable to accurately describe.
- Learners were not often familiar or prepared for working in this way.
However, facilitated by the researcher, a number of tutors were able to address these difficulties and evolve new models of practice. Careful ethnographic work with learners facilitated a greater understanding on the part of tutors of their learners' needs and interests. Where projects incorporated this approach, tutors, learners and support workers were able to work more effectively together and some tutors reported exchanging ideas with support workers a satisfying and useful experience. It is clear that effective planning with learners is an ongoing and iterative process.