Supported by the North Forum, this website aims to prepare front-line non-academic staff in the “gatekeepers to community learning” (colleges and learning centres, job centres, community and voluntary organisations within the North of Scotland) to develop the necessary skills to raise awareness about post-compulsory education within the community and deal with adult learners returning to formal education, possibly after a long break, who may be feeling anxious and unsure of what to expect.

It is vital to ensure that when potential students seek information and advice about further and higher education, they feel comfortable and respected, in the knowledge that your organisation understands their needs and can help accomplish their goals. The delivery of informal guidance and information on further learning opportunities to the community are probably one of your main roles. Adult returners in particular may require information on points other than just courses available, including information that is relevant to their personal circumstances, such as funding or childcare available.

Ultimately, the skills developed with this resource could mean the difference between potential students trying to enter formal education and leaving with a poor impression of your organisation or students crossing the threshold and entering formal education fully committed and fully informed of what to expect and what’s expected of them. 

Objectives

This training resource aims to support you todevelop skills to be able to:

          * Be flexible, friendly and welcoming
          * Offer appropriate advice for each age expectation
          * Talk thorugh different options
          * Build better relationships with potential students
          * Recognise and deal with barriers to progression
          * Ascertain the level of the potential student
          * Respond to students' needs
          * Raise students' aspirations and build their self-confidence
          * Support students through enrolment, retention and progression
          * Explain information in a simple and straightfoward way
          * Deal with a varietu of students and situations 

Benefits

There are a variety of benefits that you and your organisation can experience as a consequence of developing and establishing this resource pack. The most important one is to increase the community's understanding and acceptance of formal education, thus leading to increased participation. Advantages include:

          * Increase participation in post-compulsory education
          * Increased understanding of post-compulsory education within the community
          * Dissemination of best practices between partners
          * Allow you to obtain information and advice all from one single site
          * Eliminate the need to check various sources of information
          * Allow you to offer continuity of advice to students
          * Students receive consistent and reliable advice
          * Strengthen links between North Forum members
          * Development of further collaborations with organisations outside the North Forum
          * Can be tailored to each partner specific needs
          * Can be used as a training tool and a as source of information
          * Better informed students
          * Reduce number of student dropping-out before completing the course