West Yorkshire - Lifelong Learning Network

The West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network is a partnership of all of the Further Education Colleges, Higher Education Institutions and several strategic organisations throughout West Yorkshire.

The WYLLN aims to improve opportunities for work-based and vocational learners throughout West Yorkshire to progress into and through higher education by working closely with employers and partners to identify the higher level skills needs in and develop relevant and flexible courses as a result.

More details…

 

The West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network is funded for 3 years (from March 2007 – July 2010) by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE are providing funding of £5.9 million over the course of the project as well as funding for an allocation of Additional Student Numbers to be distributed amongst courses developed as part of the WYLLN curriculum development activities or courses related to the WYLLN priority industry sectors. Further funding is provided by network partners.

There are 25 key partners in the network – 8 Higher Education Institutions, 13 Further Education Colleges and 4 Sixth Form Colleges as well as a number of strategic partner organisations. All of the partners are committed to providing quality vocational learning opportunities to enable learners to progress into and through higher education.

The aim of the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network is to strengthen the performance of West Yorkshire businesses and the wider regional economy through improved vocational and work-based progression of young people and adults into and through higher education.

• To improve progression opportunities into and through higher education through vocational and work-based routes.
• To enhance the supply and relevance of higher education provision for employers and individuals through improved institutional processes and procedures.
• To stimulate demand from employers and individuals for higher level education and skills.
• To improve the coherence and accessibility of higher education through information, advice and guidance for employers and vocational learners.
• To build sustainable partnerships between further and higher education, work-based learning providers and employers.
• To train and develop staff in support of the above objectives

The WYLLN is focusing its activities around 7 sectors which reflect the sub-regional higher level skill priorities identified by Yorkshire Forward and those of the Learning and Skills Council for West Yorkshire:

• Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing, including Food Manufacturing and related Industrial Chemistry
• Business Services including the Finance Sector, Logistics and Retail
• Construction and the Built Environment
• Culture, Media, Sports and the Arts; Leisure Hospitality and Tourism
• Digital Industries including Creative Digital, ICT and Print
• Health, Social Care and Early Years
• Management, Leadership, Innovation and Enterprise

The WYLLN’s learner constituency has been defined as follows:

Individuals qualified to level 3, but not in learning or employment

• Individuals already in learning (at level 3 or above)
• Advanced modern apprentices
• Employees already in learning (at level 3 or above)
• Employees qualified to level 3 or above, but not in learning
• Employees skilled to level 3 but not qualified
• Individuals skilled to level 3 but not in employment or learning

Sector Groups have been set up for each sector to identify areas of curriculum development, employer engagement and marketing, and staff training and development needs.

Sector Groups are a key mechanism for understanding the labour market needs in relation to the higher level skills agenda and identifying specific programmes or bite-sized learning which would benefit from curriculum development.

Membership of the Sector Groups will include employers, Sector Skills Councils, academic staff from further and higher education, work-based learning providers, 14-19 advisors, Union Learning Representatives, Information, Advice and Guidance Advisors, Train to Gain brokers and wider stakeholders.

Are you interested in joining a Sector Group?

The West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network will:

• Facilitate the development of collaboration and closer relationships between partner institutions in order to develop progression pathways for vocational learners.
• Support the recruitment to new courses or modules being developed through the Sector Groups, by offering an allocation of Additional Student Numbers (HEFCE funded). For each academic year, institutions will be able to bid for these ASNs against a set of criteria.
• Offer funding which will enable partners to propose supportive network activity around the key areas of information, advice and guidance or progression.
• Provide the opportunity for providers to build relationships with other providers, employers and strategic organisations and work together to identify skills needs and be involved in the development of new and more flexible demand-led courses.
• Enable partners to share best practice ideas, knowledge and expertise with colleagues from across the network.
• Allocate funding for staff training and development across the network to ensure staff are equipped with the right skills to support progression and to provide higher quality information, advice and guidance.

The WYLLN will develop Progression Agreements in order to establish clear and coherent routes onto higher education courses. This will provide vocational learners with opportunities equal to traditional learners following academic routes.

Progression Agreements are formal detailed agreements which enable student progression from one course of study to higher level courses of study and must be agreed to, and signed by, course leaders and the institutions involved.

The sender institution may be a Further Education College, Higher Education Institution, company providing work-based learning, employers’ representative body, or other provider of vocational education.

The receiving institution will normally be either a Higher Education Institution or Further Education College offering higher education courses.

Progression Agreements may make guarantees to learners of interviews, or of an offer of a place on a course. In some cases they will include additional agreements about teaching and learning activities, or about the support that is available to learners.

Each academic year the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network receives a number of Additional Student Numbers (ASN) which can be distributed among our partner institutions. The primary use of these numbers is to support the recruitment of courses or modules being developed through the sector groups. However, there may be some ASNs available for individual institutions to bid for against a set of criteria.

ASNs for the academic year 2008/09 have now all been allocated. We will shortly be contacting all partner institutions and sector leads with regards to our bid for 2009/10 ASNs. Please give some early thought as to what your requirement might be.

If you require further information regarding the criteria or how to apply please email wylln@hud.ac.uk

Visit the IAG Commissioning pages to find out about the current round and submit a ‘Declaration of Interest’ to Joanna Puzo at j.puzo@hud.ac.uk who will send you a Project Proposal form by return.

Visit the IAG Commissioning pages to find out about the current round and submit a ‘Declaration of Interest’ to Joanna Puzo at j.puzo@hud.ac.uk who will send you a Project Proposal form by return.

Visit the Progression Commissioning pages to find out about the current round and submit a ‘Declaration of Interest’ to Joanna Puzo at j.puzo@hud.ac.uk who will send you a Project Proposal form by return.

• Training and development budget. This budget will be used to support the delivery of sub-regional activities commissioned by, or directly organised by, the WYLLN central team on behalf of the Network e.g. workshops, seminars, conferences, mentoring/coaching, work shadowing. For details of forthcoming events visit the events pages of the website.
• Conference budget. This budget will be used to support attendance of partner staff at local, regional and/or national conferences and seminars organised by external bodies. Requests can be sent to WYLLN by completing the Professional Development Activity Request Form

The key areas of activity to be funded through the two centrally held budgets will be:

• Information, Advice and Guidance
• Employer engagement and responsiveness
• Curriculum development
• Curriculum delivery
• Progression and Progression Agreements
• Quality Assurance Enhancement
• National, regional and local policy and funding initiatives
• Network administrative processes and tools

Please visit our staff training and development section to find out about the current opportunities available for training, to submit your training needs or if you are interested in delivering a staff training and development event.

Employers will benefit from:

• Working together with course providers to help shape the higher education curriculum and develop higher level vocational courses or modules to meet the needs of West Yorkshire businesses.
• More flexible methods of course delivery which meet the needs of employers and employees, for example part-time, bite-size modules, distance learning or work-based training.
• The availability of impartial, more coherent information, advice and guidance about the higher education routes available in order for employers to make more informed decisions for their staff and for the success of their business.
• Offering support to employees’ continuing professional development and training needs, leading to an improvement in levels of staff retention, production, loyalty and motivation.
• Staying ahead of the competition by ensuring employees are armed with better skills and improved industry knowledge.
• The development of the curriculum in the 7 priority sectors, helping to fill skill shortages in industry throughout West Yorkshire.
  

Learners will benefit from:

• The development of new progression routes into higher education for vocational learners to help clarify where they can go next. 
•  The creation of new higher level courses, developed in collaboration with employers to ensure courses are relevant and answer the needs of businesses in West Yorkshire.
• The provision of improved, relevant and impartial information, advice and guidance for vocational learners enabling them to make more informed decisions.
• The development of a new Credit Framework to value and recognise the achievements of vocational and work-based learners.
• More flexible ways of learning, for example part-time, work-based, bite-size or distance learning modules or courses meaning it is not always necessary to lose valuable time away from work. 
• Improving their vocational skills, helping to boost their career prospects, realise their aspirations and increase their chance of promotion and earning potential.