Creating Opportunities for On-Going Learning (COOL) DP

Target Groups
Non traditional learners, refugees, homeless, remand prisoners

Pilot Projects and Mainstreaming Outcomes

In general the COOL project has very successfully achieved its objectives and outcomes in respect of the pilot phase. COOL has created opportunities for over 1500 individuals who would not traditionally engage with learning and can demonstrate that a substantial proportion of clients in all our initiatives have progressed onto further learning. Considerable effort has gone into ensuring that successful approaches, tools and techniques, courses and qualifications are embedded and mainstreamed for sustainable benefit to others beyond the term of COOL.

Dundee College - Empowerment through the Arts Projects
The pilot provided an introduction to dance, sound recording or art and design activities as per client preference. Successful outcomes include some 90% of beneficiaries have moved on to further learning progression, including part-time / full time study at college, more specialist courses and even into Higher Education at degree / HND level.  The Empowerment through the Arts methodology has been successfully adopted for mainstreaming through all course subject areas at Dundee College. Additionally, liaison with local authority to inform their policy development for the NEET target group and input to the national NEET strategy in respect of their mentoring approaches. Working with NHS Tayside to advise on the COOL experience being adopted for the national programme development of activity for young inpatients with chronic mental health issues.

Forth Valley College - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Trainers (EDIT)
The EDIT course has been developed to provide a qualification in diversity training and has been accredited at SCQF level 6. Training materials are provided in a memory stick format that permits simple dissemination and cascading of the training. In this way the materials can be used flexibly by trainers and applied in a variety of workplace scenarios to promote a positive and inclusive outcome. Forth Valley have been working with Scottish Enterprise National to tailor the EDIT course for potential commercial roll out.

Learndirect Scotland A Place to Learn & Freedom to Learn Projects
Learndirect has been working with two of the most disadvantaged groups in terms of life and learning opportunities. Through A Place to Learn, over 100 homeless individuals have been supported to access e-learning tasters that direct them on to further learning opportunities available through lds branded learning centres. The Freedom to Learn project has supported around 300 remand prisoners and their families to access learning provision where previously there was none. learndirect work with Glasgow Homelessness Network (GHN) Training and Employability Forum will ensure access to learning provision will continue beyond the life of COOL and throughout the hostel closure programme in Glasgow.

Scottish Further Education Unit - Peer Mentoring Project
70 student mentors have been trained to support other students in Scotland’s colleges who may be at risk of disengagement. The project produced a toolkit of training materials which support all aspects of establishing a mentoring scheme, providing training for mentors, recording information and evaluating a scheme through a quality framework. SFEU in collaboration with the Scottish Mentoring Network is establishing a thematic network for practitioners involved in Mentoring in colleges and universities in Scotland. The network is hosted on practitioners Plus, an on-line community of practice hosted by SFEU. Funding will be available through the SMN and the Laidlaw Foundation to sustain the thematic network after the end of the project.

The materials will be further used by SFEU in support of future work funded by the Scottish Funding Council in support of young people who are disengaged or at risk of disengagement from education.
Plans to develop a Professional Development Award in supporting mentoring interventions for lecturers who teach in Scotland’s colleges are currently being considered.

Scottish Further Education Unit - Redress the Balance Project
Redress the Balance has reviewed existing good practice in Scotland’s colleges in support of males and females enrolling and successfully pursuing non-traditional training programmes.  Working with six Scottish Colleges the project has undertaken research through case studies and focus groups to inform college policy and procedures to promote gender equality. A key outcome of the project is the development of training and practical support materials to help college staff to support the number of males and females who wish to ‘redress the balance’.  View the website for more details www.redressthebalance.com

STUC - One Workplace Equal Rights Project
Reflecting the STUC’s commitment to advance equality issues, the One Workplace Equal Rights project is a comprehensive capacity building programme for trade union representatives and officials to mainstream equality and tackle discrimination in the workplace. The activity has included development and delivery of training for TU representatives, 16 action learning programmes and the establishment of a diversity champions network in the NHS. Notable work to mainstream One Workplace is through dissemination of the DVD of the diversity awareness raising theatre performance and accreditation of an Action Learning module for trade unionists. Additionally, the STUC approach is being used as a model for Welsh TUC and have secured Scottish Government funding ongoing to maintain this programme.

One Workplace project presented at an Equal European policy forum in Hamburg focusing on trades unions and was invited back thereafter to discuss with European, national and territorial decision-makers with the goal of making a concrete contribution to the future ESF programming period. This resulted in a number of Equal projects embarking on similar initiatives.

Theatre Workshop - Empowerment Through the Arts Project

Theatre Workshop is an Empowerment Through the Arts project and activity has involved participants in an intensive series of workshops for 2 separate programmes:

• Babylon Burning  worked with participants over a four month period to develop theatrical skills including acting, singing, dancing, writing, costume making. Confidence and social skills were significantly improved and the culmination of all the hard work was a live production performed to capacity audiences.
• Trouble Sleeping develops film making and performance skills in the making of a feature film. The film works with refugees and disabled participants and tells about the experience of five refugees living in Edinburgh. The film will be screened on BBC in December 2008 following launch at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

A Final Report has been produced to document the methodology and approach adopted by Theatre Workshop. TWE have worked with Scottish Screen to establish career pathways into the industry for their beneficiaries.

University of Strathclyde - Certificate in Applied Language Study
The Certificate in Applied Language Study (CALS) is a qualification which was developed as part of the COOL project.  It is now a fully accredited University Award within the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and will continue to be offered by the University beyond the lifetime of the COOL project.
As part of the University’s new Organisational Strategy for Excellence (2007-2013), Knowledge Exchange with employers/industry/the community is one of three key strands.  CALS is being mainstreamed within that strand of the Strategy and will be developed accordingly.

A marketing campaign to attract additional employers to participate in the CALS programme as part of the new enhanced Modern Apprenticeships programme is being developed for the Spring of 2008.  Four additional employers who have not taken part in the pilot have already expressed an interest in participating in the rolled out programme.
In collaboration with the European Employment Service (EURES) we are developing a successor programme which will build on the outcomes of SFEU’s LEOPlus Project and attempt to address the challenges of the European Commission’s Worker Mobility Strategy (2007-2013) by incorporating the option of internship/work placements in companies elsewhere in the EU as part of Modern Apprenticeship training.

Transnational Activities
The COOL partners have embraced transnationality wholeheartedly and every partner has either participated in study visits overseas or arranged and supported programmes for our transnational partners here in Scotland. Notable success in terms of learning and exchange of methods, approaches and products includes:

Swedish activity to develop a regional Mentoring network based on Scottish model

Collaboration between beneficiaries from Hungary, Sweden & Scotland to develop cultural understanding and produce a beneficiary led workshop

Comparison of legislative approaches to equality issues and Action research methodologies.

The extent of network development with France, Hungary and Sweden for potential future collaboration is immense and we look forward to maintaining positive working relationships for many years to come.