Scottish Government

APPENDIX 2 - KEY EVIDENCE GATHERED FROM STAKEHOLDERS

Focus groups and interviews with key internal and external stakeholders

There was considerable consistency between the responses received from key stakeholders.

• Almost all felt that Learning Connections had achieved a positive impact on CLD, particularly through ALN development and key Government statements on policy.
• Almost all were concerned at the manner in which Learning Connections distributed grants and other funding. They were concerned at a lack of strategic direction for its use, short timescales, a rush at the end of the financial year and a perception that a small group of favoured organisations received considerable contracts and commissions with insufficient scrutiny of impact.
• All believed that there was a need for a united and coherent policy team covering all aspects of CLD.
• Almost all believed that there should be a separation between practice development and policy development.
• A range of potential places for practice development were identified. Most popular of these was LTS, although this came with some concerns relating to LTS's school focus.
• Most believed that there was an imbalance between the practice development support for ALN and that offered to other aspects of CLD.
• All believed that the CLD Standards Council should be separate from Government. Most popular of the available options was LLUK.

Staff Views - interviews and focus groups with Learning Connections staff

• Most staff see that there have been benefits from becoming part of SG in terms of closer links and involvement with policy colleagues in SG as well as involving higher recognition for the work LC do and contribute to
• Most staff recognise that LC has suffered from a lack of strategic direction in the last 18 months as a result of not having a Deputy Director. This is also possibly reflected in the lack of strategic direction applied to some of the work.
• • Members of the ALN/ ESOL team work on a theme based approach
  • 26% of programme budgets had not been spent by the beginning of the 12 financial month.
• There is general agreement that the current split of CLD policy between LC and other parts of government is not helpful and is preventing effective joined up delivery.
• • However, most staff consider that CLD links across boundaries to several related policy areas (CfE, Skills, Worforce +, MCMC, Health, Community, etc) and this is seen as a beneficial and working effectively
• There is amongst staff, a recognised split between policy ( CLD team having a policy focus) and practice ( ALN teams having a practice focus, supporting practice and delivery).
• • Some staff also consider ALN to be a subset under the CLD 'umbrella'
• However a number of staff believe the current internal structure (in terms of the CLD and ALN/ ESOL teams) of LC is not fit for purpose - and needs updating.
• • There is an apparent imbalance of resources between the two teams and a tendency for one team to have all CLD backgrounds and the other has a mixture of standard civil servants and those with a CLD background.
• Staff who have come from a CLD background (with particular ALN expertise) tend to be concerned about any option that would result in a dilution of their professional expertise group.
• • They would generally not wish to take on a more standard civil service job/role
  • They would also be concerned if posts that became vacant were filled by civil servants without CLD background/expertise.
• Staff believe the 'added value' of LC includes:
• • its ability to act as "joiner-uperer" - making effective connections/ links to other policy areas in SG as well as to external stakeholders;
  • its expertise in CLD/ ALN areas;
  • its direct involvement and contacts with field.
• There is a general consensus amongst staff that the CLD Standards Council should be outwith government - this is based on detailed stakeholder engagement they undertook before its creation, continued stakeholder expectations and a belief that the function can not operate effectively & independently within government.

Online survey

The review team used Survey Monkey, an online questionnaire site. The returns were anonymous and the link to the survey was distributed directly to the Learning Connections stakeholder list and then publicised by some membership organisations. The survey attracted over 200 responses. The key findings were:

Key points from the survey include:

• LC provides opportunities for networking, information sharing, contacts and for sharing of and coordinating activities/work
• LC provides much appreciated practice development support, are seen as experts and a source of knowledge as well as of funding
• There is a repeated call for strategic direction and lead; including a stronger purpose and leadership; more contribution to policy development on a strategic level; more impact on other SG divisions; more explicit connections across CLD portfolio to take forward priorities; and also better planned funding opportunities for stakeholders external to LC
• Many respondents consider there could be more effective work through collaboration and greater clarity and consistency of roles
• Some respondents think there are duplications of teams and efforts, e.g. in relation to youth work and HE/ FE sectors.

Overview of respondents¹¹

Of those who replied:

• Approximately 54% were from Local Authorities, including ALN and CLD partnerships. (24% of LA respondents were CLD partnerships (specifically mentioned))
• Approximately 17% were from FE/ HE sectors (17% of these respondents are from HE sector)
• Approximately 17% were from voluntary sector organisations
• Approximately 10% were from agencies and other public organisations
• Approximately 2% classified themselves as "Others"

The views put forward in this survey come from a variety of organisations who have been invited to take part in the survey after having been identified as stakeholders by LC staff, networks, email lists ( LC staff's and others) and by 'snowballing' the survey invite. It is important to bear in mind that the purpose of the survey was to consult with as many diverse stakeholders as possible. As such the 'sample' is to some extent self selected and cannot be said to be 'representative' of a general population of LC stakeholders.

Below is an overview of the responses from the survey. ¹²

What is your organisation's main role or function?:

As the figure above shows the majority, 78.4%, of organisations of the main role or function of organisations respondents work for deliver learning to adults. The main role or function of 56.9% of respondents' organisations is community development/ community capacity building. ¹³

Which of the following areas does your organisation have a stake in?:

The majority of the organisations respondents work for have a stake in Adult Literacies (85.1%), closely followed by Community Based Adult Learning and English for Speakers of Other Languages (both 73%). ¹⁴

Key partners beside LC include (this list is not exclusive and in no particular order) :

LAs, Colleges, Youthlink, Voluntary sector organisations, Social work, Libraries, SG, WEA, Jobcentre plus, Police, SPS, Trade unions, NHS, Prince's Trust, SCVO, Scottish schools, Careers Scotland, local businesses, Bookstart, Equality groups, SDS, other training providers.

It would be helpful to indicate that there is the local dimension to L.C. work with colleges and the national dimension via Scotland's Colleges as the sector's development agency.

What aspects of Learning Connection's work relates to the work of your organisation?:

The figure above show that most aspects relate very closely to the work of the respondents' organisations - 55.9% relate very closely with national and/ or strategic level implementation of ALNIS and 49.8% very closely with direct support for practitioner support and/ or delivery. ¹⁵

Please expand on your answer above to detail where you see Learning Connections adds the greatest value - for example what added value does LC bring that other stakeholders are not offering:

The main themes from the responses are listed here ¹⁶:

The main 'added value' of LC according to those who responded to the survey are that LC provides opportunities for networking, information sharing (e.g. newsletters), contacts and that LCprovides practice development support. This also includes arranging and running seminars (or conferences), providing training and CPD opportunities as well as sharing and producing training materials. Generally sharing and coordinating activities/work are also seen as a major added value of LC.

" LC provides an umbrella which provides excellent opportunities to share good practice [and] engage in peer support…"

Some respondents also see an added value in LC being a national focus point, an organisation with a national overview ("… with central focus on CLD…"). Others claim that the most important aspect of LC is that they have and offer a specialist support role (e.g. practice development), that they are experts and a great source of knowledge and also that LC is a source of funding.

" LC serves as the glue that connects a range of professional communities of practice, LC provides focus and coherence to t he work of those diverse practices and in doing so reflects the diversity of needs…"

Other important, but less frequently mentioned, aspects of LC are information advice and guidance ( IAG); LC having a bridging and linking role (e.g. between Government and practitioners); that LCinfluence policy development. LC is also seen as adding value by carrying out research and disseminating the findings; and by having raised the profile of CLD, ALN & ALNIS as well as ESOL.

There are some comments on LC duplicating the work of others, of LC not being required and not adding any value at all, but these comments are few.

What could Learning Connections do differently that would have a greater impact on CLD in Scotland?:

The main themes from the responses are listed here:

What stand out from the responses is a call for a more strategic direction. This includes also a stronger purpose and leadership; a call for contribution to policy development on a strategic level; more impact on other SG Government divisions; linking up more to related policy areas; clearer clarity and a greater consistency of roles; and a request for a more integrated approach to CLD.

"A clear and coherent strategic plan. There are some very good pieces of working going on but they don't always knit together and there is not always a clear consistency of way things are done."

"Be more powerful advocates at a strategic level…"

More, differently allocated and better planning for funding are issues that are raises by a number of respondents. They are also looking for more strategic, longer term funding.

Other themes include LC being more effective to reach learners and support providers, including also specific training or support for specific groups as well as general training support and having more events; a call for LC to listen to the needs of the field and engage with delivery organisations more, also in 3 ^rd sector; promote stronger partnership working; and a call for LC to be more involved in other areas, such as employability agenda, workplace strategies and work with organisations such as Jobcentre plus and the NHS.

A few respondents would also like to see literacies made into a profession; ALNIS refresh continued; LC being entirely independent from Government; LC harnessing the existing expertise; and LC supporting the North more.

When considering what LC does, are there any gaps or areas of duplication with the work of other organisations?:

The main themes from the responses are listed here:

Again it is repeated that a more strategic lead would be desirable as well as strategic direction of "who supports who". Respondents also think there would be room for more effective work through collaboration, also within Government where there now is seen to be duplication of teams, e.g. in relation to youth work. There is also seen to be duplication of the work the FE/ HE sector as well as LAs do and in relation to some other organisations such as Youthlink (which is mentioned specifically by several respondents). There is also reported synergies with Youthlink.

"Greater clarity of purpose would iron [out] any duplication with organisations like YouthLink, CLDMS etc. Scope for more synergy with Education colleagues particularly in relation to Curriculum for Excellence and alternative awards."

Some other duplications include SDS¹⁷ and SLP. Some respondents also think there are too many agencies and that the landscape is cluttered.

"There is a need for greater clarity and synergy at a national level. There are too many agencies which appear to have a development and support remit within the CLD sector, leading to some overlap and confusion."

Other respondents think that the relationship between ALN and CLD needs to be reinforced and that there needs to be support for the delivery and policy related to CLD. Some respondents think there is too much emphasis on literacies work rather than CLD and some that the specific work on ALNis crucial. A couple of respondents think there are duplications of database information (e.g. resource banks) and gaps relating to CBAL, ALN and ESOL statistics. One respondent think that LC's influence has been diminished as a result of Concordat.

Several respondents also answer "no" to the above question, state that they "don't know" or that they "cannot think of anything".

Any further comments you wish to make:

This snapshot of responses include a number of responses which relate to the need of strategic lead and direction:

• LC needs to continue communicate future directions and priorities so stakeholders know where the agenda is going
• Overall need for strategic body in linking into Government but more strategic lead needed on ALN in particular
• More explicit connections across CLD portfolio to take forward priorities of the SG and Scotland's people
• If LC did not exist then CLD would not have a voice within or outwith Government
• CLD activities suffers from poor national leadership
• Continued need for a national agency to support practice development of CLD
• There is lack of clarity on national policy and practice relating to the skills agenda
• Higher profile of LC needed
• Have gone quiet during the last 18 months which is not good
• To practitioners LC appear powerful; at a strategic and policy level they appear emasculated
• Links to health, community safety, education important
• Scotland needs a national locus for ALN and CLD and LC is needed to continue the good work done in ALN
• LC's remit might becoming too wide and literacies work might be swallowed up
• CLD Standards Council should be independent
• Ring fencing needed for ALN and ESOL provision
• LC being relatively new, it takes time for things to settle
• LC having been fantastic in developing ALN by pulling together resources, workers and to promote shared practice, but need to offer more of this
• LC training, seminars and conferences have been great learning experiences
• Development of TQAL has taken too long
• Challenges remains
• More could be done to support LAs recruiting and retaining staff
• Invaluable source of IAG
• Staff unfailingly pleasant and helpful
• Experts
• Would like to see greater level of public accountability for the work LC does
• Please don't let them disappear. Save literacies services across Scotland
• The survey questions assume that Learning Connections is a given. Why?

Joint HMIE / Learning Connections event

In a recent consultation meeting with the sector about the future direction of CLD, jointly hosted by Learning Connections and HMIE, the following action points emerged:

National structures and roles

• The CLD landscape is too cluttered. An audit of organisations and networks is required at national level in order to get clarity of roles and responsibilities. There needs to be much more coherence between them.
• There needs to be clear roles for bodies operating at national level who support and develop CLD practitioners.
• A stronger and clearer national infrastructure is needed.
• The role and contribution of the voluntary sector must be understood and valued - too often CLD is 'owned' by the local authority.
• There is an important role for senior civil servants in championing CLD at national level.

Policy links and drivers

• There is a real need to be clear about which policies CLD contributes to and what it contributes, but equally there is a need to be clear about what it doesn't contribute to - CLD can't do everything! This needs to be articulated properly.
• CLD is too spread out across a range of policy portfolios - it needs to be more coherent.

Outcomes and Evidence Base

• There is a need to keep up the momentum with this - there is a lot of good work that has already been done around this and there is a need for continuing work to embed an understanding of outcomes and how to generate evidence.
• We need a 'Delivering Change 2' to fit within the context of SOAs and NPF.
• Need to map out what evidence is available.
• There is lots of good evidence collected locally and we should make more use of this.
• A research programme is required to develop a stronger evidence base.

Developing CLD as a profession

• Developing the CLD workforce needs to be a key priority - capacity, skills, understanding, confidence. £4m was allocated in SR2007 to address this.
• The CLD sector needs to have a professional identity and confidence - this includes the need for clarity about the unique contribution CLD makes to a broad range of policy agendas.
• The impact of CLD needs to be made more visible
• Raising awareness, understanding and influence of key decision makers and agencies is crucial.