Strategic plan

Our learning will support social inclusion and social mobility.

We will make a difference, supporting individuals who are disadvantaged through previous educational experience, life circumstances / social background or geography to progress towards and within employment and to support societal inclusion

We will build a reputation for integrity, innovation and delivering value.

Core Activity

ActivityAction
We will deliver both formal and informal learning through direct delivery to adults aged over 19 up to and including level 2 where qualifications are being delivered:

 

We will target activity to support priority learners, limiting activity to level 2
We will respond to market needs where no offer exists locally to support the wider economy.
We will support progression through a wrap-around advice and guidance to deliver effective, meaningful outcomes for our learners.

 

We will develop the learning support teams through dedicated roles supporting effective initial assessment linked to learner longer-term goals and progression into and out of courses both within and outside of Learn Devon
We will develop the vocational offer with line of sight to local FE provision in respect of content, learning styles and clear signposting.
We will support wider DCC services to deliver their objectives

 

We will engage widely across DCC to understand the Council drivers and pressures, seeking to offer –
–            Vocational courses linked to sector priorities
–            Quality assurance and support for wider EES programmes including multiply and Bootcamps
–            Delivery of programmes where this fits with core curriculum competencies
English supporting skills development and qualifications up to GCSE Level – supporting entry to employment, FE, HE, and community cohesion

 

We will grow English provision through qualification delivery, building progression into the offer through family learning, longer qualifications and working with FE and HE institutions to support access to higher level qualification courses. We will support over 350 learners on qualification courses
Maths supporting skills development and qualifications up to GCSE Level – supporting entry to employment, FE, HE, and community cohesion

 

We will support over 900 learners in the next academic year through effective promotion of the offer, delivering multiply as an engagement / development activity seeking progression into the offer in year 2.
Digital skills supporting improved social mobility and employment opportunities through skills development and qualifications

 

We will grow the enrolments and learners on the programme through two routes:
– We will support  over 1000 learners through the offer.
– We will mainstream the Digital Devon offer (one to one informal support and advice) across the county, targeting disadvantaged communities and groups to complement the anchor offers as a progression route / skills builder route. The offer will support inclusion for communities to engage with health, welfare, education, employment and social inclusion needs.
– We will offer online skills development around specific work packages at lower levels (eg MS Office),
ESOL supporting integration with the community and employment

 

We will offer formal and informal courses to support the wider Council and District needs to support Ukrainian visitors and Asylum seekers, together with wider employment skills supporting health and social care sectors.
This will be funded through ESFA and DCC / external.
Vocational – supporting entry into the core Devon sectors including employment skills

 

We will offer teaching and learning in schools qualifications to over 20 learners in the first year to support entry into the industry.
Support skills delivery and progression around short interventions to support entry, wrap-around delivery mechanisms.
We will identify pathways into sectors and FE colleges  / providers through online and face to face delivery qualifications up to level 2 across the key sectors identified in the DCC Sector Skills strategy and support over 500 learners.
Community Engagement including Family Learning supporting families to learn together to improve skills of learning, English and maths

 

We will support over 1000 learners
We will re-invigorate the offer tackling topical issues – eg cost of living, green issues, children’s development, targeted at the most disadvantaged communities identified through local intelligence and IMD analysis. We will use Multiply to support family learning offer particularly where we are seeking to build momentum.
We will transition the arts and crafts offer to support family learning / engagement in key locations and signpost into further learning
For adults with disabilities to support independence and employment opportunities

 

We will offer ability not disability style delivery to support progression, independence and employment opportunities working with local business communities and DCC services (RFI teams, EES Work Hubs, EES Inclusion Officer) to promote access, DWP job coaches to support access.
We will halt / repurpose the matters courses  – supporting and promoting volunteering opportunities where ‘clubs’ are a valuable option.
We will support over 200 learners

 

We will achieve

MeasureMeasurement Tools
79 % of learners participating in the offer will be those disadvantaged through previous educational experience, life circumstances / social background or where they live

 

Mapping of learner characteristics across each curriculum area:
–            English, Maths, Family Learning, ESOL – all learners
–            ASB – all learners with less than Level 2 (or equivalent)
–            Geographical – those in lowest 3 IMD area identified through postcode
–            Learners with a self-declared disability / learning difficulty and/or receiving additional learning support
79% of those undertaking a qualification will achieve this through our programmes

 

Measurement of Retention, Success and achievement rates against each qualification aggregated to a whole-service total
85 % of learners will achieve their learning outcomes

 

Measurement of achievement of ILP across all activity
Analysis of Learner Voice
75 % are supported to move into further learning and/or employment

 

Measurement of destination data
–            Tracking of progression across service over 12 month period and 24 month period (across academic years)
–            Analysis of Learner Voice
–            Marketing data analysis (how did you hear about us)
95% of learners will rate the provision as good or very good

 

Analysis of Learner Voice

 

We will make a difference through working collaboratively in identifying, designing and delivering programmes

PartnersActions / Impact
Devon residents, particularly the most vulnerable – supporting delivery across children’s and adults’ services to support their clients (families for children’s services) including troubled families, care leavers, adults with learning difficulties, adults with disabilities and older adults

 

We will locate staff across Devon, with tutors, learning advisers and customer service officers working in targeted geographical areas, making links with local groups, schools and services based in the areas
Curriculum staff will work with DCC services to develop and promote the offer to DCC service users. The offer will be a blend of bespoke activity and supporting access to the wider public offer.
Communities & local groups – supporting diverse and disadvantaged communities to improve their wealth and health.Working alongside local groups, the offer will be developed by tutors through discussion and evaluation of take-up and impact acted upon seeking opportunities to learn and build the offer across the county according to need
Employers – improving productivity through the development of staff skills up to level 2

 

Working with large employers and professional organisations in target sectors, tutors will develop the offer to support entry into employment (and redundancy) though relevant modules, with learning advisers working with individuals to develop the learning plans
FE landscape – working with partners to develop impactful provision that supports progression into or within these partners.

 

Working with departments across Devon, the tutors will develop the courses to support entry to level 3 and above
Voluntary sector – working to support and improve capacity across the sector to deliver social inclusion

 

Developing volunteering and training and qualifications where needed to support our own and wider initiatives together with leadership, digital courses face to face and online.

 

Working in an agile manner

Agile workingAchieved through
A professional, motivated teaching and learner support team including tutors, and learning support, supported and enabled by professional managers able to coach, mentor and motivate to deliver high performance. The aim is to maximise the time spent delivering teaching and delivering impact for the learnerReviewing the roles of the teams and the reporting structures to better serve the teaching staff.
The quality assurance process will seek to work with staff, engage, inform, and provide the tools and skills to deliver improvement rather than a to-down approach.
Reducing and removing administration processes outside of the essentials required for the delivery of the contract.
A core infrastructure team, supporting professional delivery – maximising the use of technology, sufficient to deliver, and retain into the future, the intellectual knowledge / memory to deliver improvement.

 

Reducing the size of the team as we automate and reduce processes that have required manual intervention including data inputting, report generation across MIS and wider office systems.
Retain a small specialist team supporting critical processes where these are not easily accessed external to Learn Devon and are critical to contract delivery and learner support.
All staff will be expected to use standard DCC IT infrastructure and systems over time to reduce the risk of cybersecurity breaches and the resource required to maintain a local system.
A responsive, informed engagement team, working closely across communities, drawing upon the capacity and capability of the organisation.

 

The team will be based within communities across Devon, working with learners on a face to face and online basis to support choices into Learn Devon and progression within and outside of Learn Devon.
Operating close to the community, moving away from core to flexible premises, staff working from locations secured within the local communities.

 

We will cease the management of existing premises across the county, using a blend of longer leases and increase ad-hoc use of suitable accommodation for learning to support local opportunities – reducing costs of travel and improving accessibility for learners.
Staff will be encouraged and supported to use wider DCC premises locally to reduce travel for administration.

 

Financially sustainable

SustainabilityAchieved through
We will use a fully resourced approach, using core ESFA / DfE funding together with additional income, including a fair contribution from DCC, to focus on meeting the vision.  We will operate from a small core team with flexibility to grow according to demonstrated needs.Review of the roles across the service and reduction of non-valuable activities. Wherever achievable, projects will adopt a mainstream approach for administration. The costs of projects will include all associated costs as part of the decision to go ahead and commit resource. This will be supported by external resource.
Activity will be considered in light of the value it creates for the community balanced with the resource necessary to deliver this – taking account of the positive impact of promoting inclusion together with attention to environmental sustainabilityReview and balance of course viability to achieve delivery of the core contract within the resources available.
balanced risk-taking where provision is new, emerging or acts to support recruitment to the anchor courses either in-year or in the following year. Course location will seek to take advantage of public transport and/or reduce travel through locating close to priority communities. Where the offer directly targets inclusion, the course viability will be reviewed considering SROI measures.

Updated June 2023