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5. Coaching to support the development of employability skills

Employability — the facts

The March 2006 White Paper, Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life chances puts learning for employability high on the FE management and leadership agenda. The DfES states: ‘we agree with Sir Andrew Foster that the key strategic role for the sector is to help people gain the skills and qualifications for employability, so that they are equipped for productive, sustainable and fulfilling employment in a modern economy.’ (Paragraph 2.4) This mission must now be central to the work of providers and will need to be driven forward by senior management teams.

The White Paper focuses particularly on:

  • the need for providers to develop specialist excellence in one or more areas
  • putting employers in the driving seat so that they can influence what is funded and how services are delivered
  • providing ‘progression pathways’ which can help learners at entry level and Level 1 to progress through manageable steps to Level 2 and beyond
  • implementing a national strategy to ensure high quality teaching and learning for all, with the Professional Training Programme for Subject Learning Coaches being one of the most significant parts of this strategy
  • ‘upskilling’ staff to industry standards.

The focus is on your staff. Do they have the skills and knowledge to deliver high quality teaching and learning?

Employability is not only about developing vocational knowledge and skills: it is also about learning how to learn, about effective team working and about problem solving. These are just some of the areas where Subject Learning Coaches can make a difference by supporting colleagues to use the innovative and active approaches to learning that lie at the heart of the QIA subject resources.

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Challenges for managers

Providers are getting to grips with the challenge of employability, but many still need to bring about changes in attitudes and in the way staff work. There are already some significant skill shortages which limit providers’ capacity and capability to meet the needs of employers and learners. And not all staff recognise the importance of employability to all learners. To change attitudes and practices, all managers and leaders need to use every available opportunity. Subject Learning Coaches are ideally placed to work with staff to help bring about change.

Changes will not be confined to learning situations and the pivotal role of front-line staff such as teachers and trainers who work with customers — both employers and learners — also needs to be recognised. Recruiting, developing and retaining good front-line staff will be vital. Staff will want to work in an environment which values and develops their skills as teachers and trainers, and where they can update and enhance their vocational skills and knowledge. This is a concept that is promoted throughout NTLCP and supported by activities in the ongoing subject coaching networks.

Staff will also need to be able to work with employers to:

  • identify needs
  • design programmes
  • deliver learning
  • assess learners
  • evaluate and improve their work.

Of course, the challenges associated with employability are not just about working with employers and learners in traditional settings. For example, research indicates the value of developing employability skills with offenders. All learners — wherever they learn — will have to prepare for a world in which work changes dramatically throughout their lifetime.

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How Subject Learning Coaches can support the employability skills agenda

Here are some ways in which Subject Learning Coaches working alongside their colleagues can enhance the employability skills of learners:

  • helping teachers and trainers to make the links between theory and practical on-the-job learning
  • disseminating and modelling a wide range of resources to improve learning for employability: group and team work, thinking skills, the ability to communicate effectively, personal skills such as moral and ethical awareness and the capability to improve…
  • coaching staff to meet the diverse needs of their learners and to tackle the personal and social factors that can be a barrier to learning
  • facilitating sessions to share effective practice between staff
  • supporting the development of staff by coaching them so that they draw maximum benefit from work placements, visits and the opportunity to gain further professional qualifications.

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Working with your Subject Learning Coaches

Subject Learning Coaches can support many processes in your organisation. You may like to consider and discuss with colleagues the following questions about the contributions that Subject Learning Coaches can make in the area of employability skills.

  • How can Subject Learning Coaches encourage and support the changes required by the employability agenda by focusing on outcomes and solutions, rather than barriers and problems?
  • How can they help you to disseminate the employability agenda to your staff and motivate individuals to rise to the challenge of embedding employability skills within the curriculum?
  • How can Subject Learning Coaches develop and disseminate resources that promote employability to learners?

Remember too that, through attendance at regional networks, Subject Learning Coaches can explore how other providers are tackling employability and give you feedback on wider practice.

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Three tips for getting the most from your investment in coaching

  1. Give your Subject Learning Coaches encouragement and time to work with teachers who are not yet clear about the employability agenda: the Subject Learning Coaches can coach those teachers and help them to understand how they can integrate employability skills into their teaching
  2. Ask your Subject Learning Coaches for some examples of how the QIA teaching and learning resources will support the development of specific employability skills. Your Subject Learning Coaches are sure to find some that will be perfect for you to use at staff training sessions!
  3. Encourage your Subject Learning Coaches to work with staff to help them develop and use relevant industrial examples in their teaching. I rather hiccupped over ‘industry standard examples’. Do you mean relevant examples from learners’ everyday working life? If not, clarify? You could collate and disseminate the examples to other staff online.

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Success stories

I have used the target setting which I learnt on the programme with learners. They learn to set targets effectively which helps them at work. It’s just one of the work skills the programme has taught me.

Coach from large FE college

At Shape Training, Coaches have helped trainers make learning more practical and relevant to learners on Entry to Employment programmes. Learners report that they enjoy sessions more, and attendance has risen to 98%.

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