The Mercia Partnership, a private training company in Knowsley, Merseyside, was set up three years ago with only three members of staff. Their aim was to provide high quality work related training to help unemployed adults improve their job prospects and today they have 20 staff working across learning centres in Huyton, Kirkby and Prescot. Most of the staff were previously unemployed themselves and were recruited from the local area. Their centres are well used by the community with more than 1,000 people signing up for a wide range of courses from basic computer skills to business management. Of these a significant number of their learners are working on improving numeracy and literacy skills using learndirect skills for life courses.

Most clients new to learning

Director Sally Taylor says: "Knowsley is a deprived area with high rates of long term unemployment and lone parent households. Most of our adult learners are new to learning and many have not reached the accepted targets for literacy and numeracy. Our job is to find inventive ways of motivating and encouraging them to learn."

One of the ways in which the Mercia Partnership does this is by having a customer focused approach and creating the right environment. They strive to create a learning experience, which replicates the world of work and have developed standards for attendance and dress codes. Sally says: "Many of our learners have not been in the workplace for some time and it is important for them to be eased back into the work environment. We help them to establish new routines and work towards specific goals, both on their own and in teams. This works particularly well with our learners who are doing skills for life courses.

"It is really important to work out what people want to do, where they want to go and how they are going to get there. Itís very unusual for someone to walk in asking for skills for life courses - at first people tend to try and hide their literacy and numeracy problems. Our tutors take great care in assessing learners and use great sensitivity and inventiveness in identifying their needs. For example, we get everyone playing darts or card games and then watch who struggles with numbers. Our methods are subtle but effective."

Recognition of achievement

Along with the project reports given to learners as they do their courses, the learners can also present local employers with special certificates as evidence of their achievements. The Mercia Partnership has secured official recognition for these certificates from local employers. As Sally explains: "Our ultimate aim is to get as many people as we can back into the job market. We do this by helping adult learners to improve their skills, increase their confidence and by getting local firms to recognise their achievements. A Mercia certificate shows that a learner has reached a specific level of attainment, and the employer has the certainty that they are interviewing someone with the literacy and numeracy skills necessary for the job, and therefore everyone benefits."