3. Fareham College

PROSPECTS

‘PROSPECTS’: How courses were selected
In order to respond quickly enough to the ‘call/invitation’ from the LSC/JCP for support of the long-term unemployed pre-employment and employment enhancement initiative, the Vice Principal, Nigel Duncan, based the development of  ‘PROSPECTS’  on the input of Jobcentre Plus who advised on the programme content and strategies for engagement.
The development for ‘PROSPECTS’ has been based on two main drivers:

• The local market intelligence sourced from the Office of National Statistics (NOMIS), supplying official labour market statistics www.nomisweb.co.uk  and JCP information provided local job data
  • NOMIS provided the intelligence about the number of local people that have been unemployed for more than 6 months
  • JCP Job advertisements gave an indication of what local companies were looking for, which could be interpreted as an indication of employment opportunities
• The capacity, skills and expertise that the College had to offer to match these particular needs.

This activity produced a mix and match draft programme which was the sent to the LSC and JCP for their comments, whilst simultaneously being shared with colleagues in the College to secure their buy-in. All such activity was time limited but using the LMI in this way produced a very specific offer and one which the College knows will need refreshing to reflect shifting local need and labour market conditions as the programme progresses and is evaluated. The initial PEP offer from Fareham College has therefore been selective. ‘PROSPECTS’ is a small yet targeted programme:

Better to limit your offer to match the need than to look good with a huge offer, most of which will not be needed and probably will not run. Nigel Duncan, Vice Principal, Fareham College.

Key Features for Success:
The Vice Principal has suggested the following planning tips to ensure delivery of a successful PEP offer:

• Make sure the expectations of the client group and their support agencies are fully understood to prevent there being a mismatch between the programme and the needs of the target client group. For this Fareham consulted with those who make the referrals to the programme: JCP
• Maintain close working relationships with the referral agencies and establish a single link person to manage the relationship. It is very easy to think you know what the client group needs, only to find out after very few referrals that it isn’t responsive enough, or doesn’t have the right courses to offer etc.
• Ensure that there is buy-in across the organisation at all levels, and that roles and involvement are clearly understood
• Don’t bite off more than the organisation can chew! A few carefully chosen and targeted courses are better than loads that rarely run due to lack of demand.
• Expect to have to modify the programme to fit the feedback you will receive from the referral agencies that you will be working with.

It is very early in our delivery of this programme to measure or even predict its success. Needless to say, we hope that it will meet the needs of the local long-term unemployed in the area and that we are very open to change the offer to meet the need. Nigel Duncan, Vice Principal, Fareham College

Organisational Challenges and Solutions:

For Fareham College there have been two key challenges in developing and delivering the ‘PROSPECTS’ programme. The first has been to adapt the current college systems to ensure they are sympathetic to the ‘PROSPECTS’ offer and associated clients:

The single biggest challenge in developing and delivering a programme such as ‘Prospects’ is developing an organisational infrastructure that is responsive and flexible enough to meet the expectations of the client group and the associated referral agencies. The planning for this is something that has to be compatible with other areas of the College’s provision if the range of provision for all learners is to be developed in line with their needs”. Nigel Duncan, Vice Principal

In order to ensure this level of responsiveness the College specially designed their product, ‘PROSPECTS’, and produced a delivery plan to guide activity. Key to this was the appointment of a Project Manager who could liaise with essential groups, such as JCP, as well as acting as a named point of contact for learners. The College believes that good communication has been vital to developing this offer, and maintaining open dialogue between JCP and the college has helped to grow an effective working relationship which is yielding genuine referrals. Without this dialogue initial referrals from JCP were too broad, but now, with greater understanding between both parties, referrals have became more purposeful:    

At first the enquiries were very general and the JSA clients didn’t know what courses we were offering. After visiting the JCP’s and giving them a copy of the courses we were able to offer, we found that the JSA claimants had a better idea of the courses we were able to offer, so this speeded up the referral process. I also discussed other opportunities with the JCP staff including work placements and Apprenticeship schemes, which we may be able to help with. Claire Middleton, Business Development Manager, Fareham College

College enrolment processes have been amended to ensure a seamless process for clients. The College has set up a referral procedure to ensure that referrals are crucially directed to the correct department and that enquiries are dealt with within 24 hours. A tracking system is being developed to capture learners’ journeys but critically linking them with existing college services to assist learners returning to learning:

My role at the college involves managing and distributing ‘Discretionary Learning Support Funding’ which enables students to enrol on courses if they are facing financial difficulties, especially those in receipt of benefits.  The first hurdle usually faced by JSA claimants is having to fund exam and registration fees for courses which are not automatically remitted – these students can apply to our Discretionary Learner Support Funds to assist with those fees, and in most cases do not have to pay for the fees themselves.  Students can also apply to the fund for help with additional costs such as course materials, textbooks, protective clothing and childcare costs.  Probably the most significant of these is childcare as many students would not be able to attend college at all without this ongoing assistance; daily childcare costs can be huge and many people would not even consider developing their employability skills through education and training if funding assistance was not available to them. Debbie Goodall, Student Welfare Officer, Fareham College

The second significant consideration for the College, which is still on-going, is providing all year round access to the programme. Whilst the College does work across the entire calendar year to provide a responsive course offer outside of the traditional academic year, careful planning is needed to prevent ‘drift’ in the costing model. Initial solutions have been creative and the College is using on-line learning facilities as appropriate to support learners:

It is the summer term and therefore most courses are ending.  We have been able to set up some clients with online training over the summer and they could join a formal course in September. Theresa Kemp, Head of Development, Professional Studies

Impact to date:

Even though it’s still early days there have been areas of real impact as a result of the provision offer and associated new ways of working. The partnership between JCP and the College has strengthened, the dialogue between the two organisations is effective and protocols of working have been established. Chris Moxam from Gosport JCP has commented that Fareham College responded quickly and efficiently to enquiries, and stated that her clients have been impressed by the range of courses Fareham College could offer under the PEP scheme.

The College has reviewed its own systems to ensure customers get an appropriate response within 24 hours. The tracking system is proving essential in ensuring learners are helped and guided through the College system and as evidence for job outcomes.
There have been 40 JCP referrals so far, of which 3 have completed a 4 hour pre-employment course on CV writing, and have booked to do another pre-employment training course, 3 have started a short ICT course, 6 have completed a short course (of between 7 – 9 hours) in either food hygiene, basic ICT or first aid, 11 others are booked to complete similar short courses, and 6 other learners have enrolled on Skills for Life literacy courses. 

Work placements, offered as part of the programme, are having a real impact by offering unemployed people the chance to keep their skills up-to-date. The College includes itself in the mix of employers, and is currently hosting a learner, Michelle Parr, who is gaining invaluable experience by helping the college to review its risk assessments and health and safety policies. Estates Manager Sally Boffee has been impressed with Michelle’s attitude to work, and hopes that her experience at the college will enable her to secure a job in this field.
The College believes that learners feel valued and progress as a result of a personalised service which builds their confidence as well as their skills. One learner reported that the service offered by Fareham College has been very welcome:

…it’s really helpful [the ‘PROSPECTS’ approach]. It’s so nice that someone takes an interest. It’s hard being unemployed for over six months and you can start to think there is something wrong with you. The College phone up and suggest courses which might help you find work in the areas that you are interested in. The course helps you mix in society again, as well as helping with new skills. It’s really helped my confidence, feels genuine and the personal service is so good. Helen Tibble, Learner.  

View Helen's full learner journey