REPORT OF THE SECOND N.I. IMPACT FORM MEETING

21 APRIL 2015

Venue: Open University

Present: Eileen Kelly (Chair), Colin Neilands (FALNI), Jan Eldred (NIACE), Ann Osborne (NOW), Peter Shields (AMH), Trevor Neilands (former FE CEO), Angela Scanlon (Ulster Uni), Anne McVicker (CEO WRDA), Katherine Robertson (WRDA), Paul Kelly (Libraries NI), Susannah Chambers (NIACE), Patricia Cochrane (DEL),Niall Casey (Invest NI), Norrie Breslin (BIG Lottery),Patricia Short (OCNNI), Michael Bower (Open Uni), Kelan McClelland (Simon Community), Trevor Wright (Extern), John McAliskey (BBC), Harriet Ferguson (DEL), Karen Brennan (Community Change), Ashfa Slater (EPALE), Elizabeth Kwaw (EPALE).

Apologies: Emma Dunseith (BBC), Sandra Bailie (NICVA), Michael Donnelly (VCU DSD),Paul Donaghy (HSC),Gerry Campbell (CEO CollegesNI),Deborah Wooderson (Simon), John D'Arcy (Open Uni).

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Welcomes & Introductions

Members were welcomed to the second Impact Forum meeting by the Chair, Eileen Kelly, especially new members.

Report of the last meeting was approved as accurate and there were no matters arising that were not covered by the agenda.

Update on Wider Project

Jan Eldred (NIACE) reported on her role in the project. This is to be the linkage across the nations and to draw together reports. Initially these have been by country but will become thematic to establish similarities and differences in practices. Identifying what does make impact and what impacts still need to be achieved?

Jan also shared that NIACE is preparing another funding bid to the EU and because of the initial success of the Impact Forums the intention is to seek a further 2 years of funds to enable these discussions to continue and have greater impact. A result should be known late summer/early autumn.

Jan and Colin also informed members of the UK annual conference which will be held in London on 16-18 Sept. The Impact Forums will have a central role. Colin encouraged members to put the dates in their diaries as it would be important for Northern Ireland to be well represented. He has asked NIACE if bursaries would be available to enable the attendance of members from smaller organisations. He will keep all members updated on the conference as details are confirmed.

Thematic Discussion - Excluded Groups and Progression

Papers were presented by Susannah Chambers (NIACE), Ann Osborne (NOW Project), Peter Shields (AMH), Trevor Wright (Extern) and Kelan McClelland (Simon Community) - see Appendix.

Forum Concerns

Members broke into small groups of 3 to react to what they had heard and to address 4 questions. Feedback in plenary raised the following points:

What common barriers are experienced?

  • Inflexibility of programmes
  • Inappropriate guidance to courses not meeting actual individual learning needs/levels
  • Accessibility – e.g. rurality
  • Lack of individual support
  • Lack of joined-up thinking at strategic level
  • Insufficient childcare provision
  • Lack of funding – specifically need for more collaborative models
  • Early failure at school
  • Constantly having to prove the above barriers to funders
  • Differences in language/understanding between funders and learners in describing needs and desired outcomes

What are we doing well?

  • Organisations championing the needs of excluded groups are still here and managing well with limited resources
  • Women’s sector Live & Learn project is a good example – as is DE's After Schools prog
  • Lots of good examples of collaborative projects, with different approaches – raises the question of what models are most effective and transferable – perhaps the UK-wide Impact Forum project can assist with this learning
  • A lot of the successful innovation in the community/voluntary sector

What actions could be taken to improve access and progression?

  • Challenge how success is defined, measured and reported
  • Identify models of good collaboration – learn from elsewhere in UK
  • Improve cross-departmental funding opportunities/coordination
  • Clear definitions of learning outcomes are vital for progression from one programme to another – particularly important if the provision of the community/voluntary sector and the statutory sector are to be effectively aligned (and better relationships built)
  • Advocacy for adult learning, linked to need for local research
  • Find a mechanism to facilitate the sharing of learning and data across sectors (within limits of data protection)
  • Celebration of adult learning
  • Improved information on learning opportunities that are available
  • Real consultation with service users i.e. learners

What could the Impact Forum do?

  • Advocacy – become clearer on key messages and supporting data and use language that will engage the interest of politicians –effective use of the good examples that we can all provide
  • Create a longer-term strategic view, linked to Government objectives
  • Identify a resource to capture the unrecorded/unrecognised work of the NGO sector (and other sectors)
  • More discussion on how we evidence impact – this needs to be taken beyond numbers – a new language to describe key impacts and to redefine outcomes – in England the health sector seems to have accomplished this successfully so can the adult learning sector learn from it?
  • Challenge the fact that strategy/policy making is not evidence based (frustration that so many reports are produced but not utilised)
  • Be a channel for an independent voice for adult learning
  • Find funding for a secretariat for the NI Impact Forum or FALNI so that identified needs/actions can be addressed

ToR for the Impact Forum

The Chair introduced the Terms of Reference document and called for any issues arising. Two suggestions were made:

  1. Include the time scale of the current project so that the aspirations are seen within its limitations
  2. Consider a representative from the schools sector

Action Points from 1st Meeting

Adult Learners’ Week

Colin updated the Forum with the work which FALNI will undertake. There will be a half-day seminar on 16 June at NICVA where there will be presentations on the Live & Learn project, the Impact Forum and the NEETS Strategy Forum – as well as workshops on funding and effective use of social media. The main audience will be 3rd sector simply to address its current need to re-energise and focus after a bruising period for many of its members.

FALNI also intends very shortly to create a web presence (a Facebook page) and to use this to promote ALW. Colin will keep members appraised of this development and hoped that they would all contribute to the page, using it to address the above action of making the success stories of adult learning more visible. A Twitter account will also be created. John McAliskey said that the BBC could assist in the promotion of good stories and dissemination via its social media channels/links. EPALE could also help with promotion.

Research

There was extensive discussion and many ideas emerged, though these need to be tempered by the limited current resources of the Impact Forum.

Have conversations with relevant Government departments to discover the impact evidence that they currently require and seek to engage them in collaborative work to create common definitions that meet the needs of the wide spectrum of stakeholders. Resources are tight for the current year but establishing a relationship now could be beneficial later

Can the NIACE participation survey results be disaggregated to provide us with NI specific data?

Contact local universities to discover if any research has been carried out or if relevant depts. could consider undertaking a project

Meet with the Inspiring Impact Initiative and ARK to see if they can assist

Lobbying

Time did not allow for much discussion. Linking adult learning to the next Programme for Government remains an aspiration but in reality how much can be achieved by the close of current funding for the IF (i.e. October 2015)? The successful model of NIACE is built around continuous engagement with politicians and key civil servants. The NI Impact Forum needs to start such a process and the 4th meeting of the IF which will take the form of a conference in October, could be key to initiating this. Colin made an appeal for assistance in planning this event – members were asked to indicate their willingness to help via the evaluation form.

Evaluation

Members completed short evaluation forms and participated in a brief plenary exercise.

Members were asked how fully the meeting met their expectations on a scale of 1-5 and all scored it between 3 and 5, showing a continued high level of satisfaction.

Forum members seemed well pleased with the event and the following strengths were identified:

Relaxed, informal structure

Good linkage throughout to past event and future events

Good focus

Good to have information sent out in advance

Good to hear the examples of good practice – local and UK

Members were asked to identify personal actions that they will undertake as a result of the meeting. Actions given included: feedback to colleagues in their organisations; dissemination of information amongst networks; reviewing own organisation's data collection and sharing; considering contributions to ALW; passing on info to Colin; and volunteering to help plan the October conference.

Dates of Next Meetings

17 JuneBBC Broadcasting House, 9.30 - 12.30

Core theme: Digital learning

6 OctNICVA, 9.30 - 15.30

Core themes: Employability, and Lessons for Adult Learning from UK & Ireland