Community
Learning Campaign:
Another Step Forward
by Martin Yarnit
Over
100 local people will be employed to spearhead a community
learning campaign for Burngreave, if New Deal gives its support
to an exciting new plan. Local organisations have endorsed
an ambitious proposal to take learning into the community
which is designed to reach out to almost three thousand local
adults over the next five years.
The aim is to tackle literacy and numeracy
problems which act as a barrier to people getting jobs and
improving their qualifications. It will target people in all
sections of the community, including White people, African-Caribbeans,
Yemenis, Somalis and Pakistanis. It will also serve the needs
of refugees and asylum seekers. The plan will also help more
people to take part in learning, enabling them to gain the
skills and qualifications that employers are looking for.
Bringing the communities together to share
resources and ideas is at the heart of the plan drawn up with
local people by Sheffield-based consultants, Martin Yarnit
and Liz Cousins.
Local people will form part of a campaigns
team which, it is proposed, will be based in a prominent location
close to Spital Hill. New Deal is being asked to give the
go ahead to recruiting 18 people on a pilot basis to test
out the idea over two years.
They will
divide their time between working as learning assistants and
following courses leading to qualifications which will enable
them to advise local people on learning opportunities and
to teach basic skills. They will be based in an upgraded network
of easily accessible local learning centres open to all.
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