The peaks and troughs of outreach work

Below is an article by Alan Scarisbrick - a college tutor from Hertfordshire Regional College who relates his experience of meeting basic skill needs at a Tesco Distribution Centre. It shows how college tutors can work with Learning Reps. The article was first published in the Basic Skills Bulletin.

Five years of teaching in Primary Schools didn't really prepare me for the consequences of providing workplace-based tuition. However, my cycling trips to Harlow did allow me time for thought as I pondered the possible situations that might arise. I was appointed to Hertfordshire Regional College and my new career began at the end of the summer term.

When my Head of School started talking about working for Tesco I saw the familiar shopping aisles. The reality of a large storage depot proved to be a far more stark prospect, for the employees if not me, their guest.

The Shopfloor

Sir John Harvey-Jones taught me a great lesson when he demonstrated the importance of a visit to the shopfloor whenever he was invited to undertake a workplace consultancy task. The comfortable offices that were placed at my eventual disposal contrasted considerably with the internal stacks of pallets that awaited the "pickers".

The experience of the shopfloor certainly impressed upon me the reality for my potential learners. It also spurred me on to try to offer suitable learning opportunities.

Going back a step or two to the first meeting on site, I went armed with a colleague for both moral support and her possible advice. The good news was that any other possible contenders for the work had fallen away, so we were the main focus for Basic Skills tuition. Happily there was even more good news, in the form of Usdaw Learning Reps. It turned out that with assistance from their Usdaw Consultant, the Learning Reps had already conducted a thorough audit of the likely Basic Skills needs of all their staff.

Over forty potential learners had already been identified and the Learning Reps were very keen to demonstrate to these candidates that tuition on site was becoming a reality. Everyone present seemed to be very positive about my planned role, so the next step was to arrange a tour of the site and then to arrange time to see my possible candidates.

Quite a daunting prospect for someone like me who had only recently been introduced to the world of adult education, but the support of those around me, at all levels in the college, gave me the impetus I needed.

Shift Work

The first bridge to cross was to understand the nature of the shift system. The staff work a system of alternate early or late shifts, or permanent nights. The shift pattern was 6.00 am - 2.00 pm, 2.00 pm - 10.00 pm and 10.00 pm - 6.00 am the next day. So there were three shifts, but also the nature of their working hours was to complicate matters. They operate on the basis of annualised hours contracts around a seven-week cycle, through different 'crews'.

All of which meant it was a major task allotting each person an interview slot, which is where the Learning Reps really proved their worth. My three new colleagues were tireless in their pursuit of the candidates whom they had previously identified, each of them working to their respective shifts.

Interviews

The first phase of interviewing continued over two weeks, during which time I spent thirty minutes with over forty employees. (More individuals came forward once they heard that a connection had been established between the depot and the college.)

Tesco had allowed their employees time to see me out of their working time, consequently it meant being available literally 'around the clock'. This was not a problem as the flexibility built in to my college-based teaching allowed me to either go back to bed, or go on from work, depending on the time slots given.

The other benefit of working at 'strange hours' was that it made a very pleasant change from the rigidity I had endured for the previous five years. My family commitments didn't suffer either, as I was able to be around when they needed me during the day, there being little need, now my children are old enough, for night-time ministrations.

Issues

How to assess my candidates? This was the next issue for me to face. One college colleague had invested many hours in the production of curriculum-linked assessment materials, but as my interviews proceeded I felt more convinced that 'tests' were not appropriate for my learners. In fact it became apparent that what many needed was a rather more gentle return to the learning environment.

This sent me off on a tour of web sites and agencies, but to no avail. One web-based assessment tool did exist, but proved to be beyond my reach. I eventually decided to defer the issue until a later time, particularly because teaching would be best offered within small, collaborative groups.

What to teach and how to structure the sessions? Well, the curriculum documents gave plenty of scope; so short six-week courses were devised incorporating elements of either Numeracy or Literacy. The Numeracy sessions were planned to be delivered in traditional form, with slots for all three shifts, ditto for Literacy. The availability of laptop computers for the Literacy sessions led to the course focussing on Communications using Microsoft Word.

Usdaw provided multiple copies of the TUC Numbers and Communications discs which became integral to their respective sessions.

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