Learner Support

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Prostart is committed to anticipating the individual needs of learners, providing reasonable adjustments and promoting non-discriminatory practice across all functions of the organisation.

This includes ensuring the availability of a range of services and support aids to meet the needs of learners, and potential learners, who have a learning difficulty and/or a disability that may affect their ability to access provision.

Prostart is committed to developing inclusive learning approaches and to providing additional learning support to secure learning success for all.

Prostart aims to provide an inclusive learning environment that recognises learning needs/ disability and its impact on the way people learn. Inclusive learning is based on providing the best match or fit between a learner's needs and the learning opportunities provided.

Learner Entitlement

All learners are entitled to study and progress in an environment where they:

• are fully respected
• feel welcomed
• are treated fairly
• have equality of opportunity for learning and training
• are in a safe, non threatening environment

Staff Responsibilities

Monitor the flexibility of programmes to ensure that disabled persons are not excluded unnecessarily

Review teaching styles and practices to ensure that provision is accessible and that reasonable adjustments are built in to anticipate likely support needs

Ensure that recruitment, assessment and examination arrangements are flexible to the needs of all learners and anticipate the need for likely adjustments

Encourage learners to disclose a disability where it would enable additional adjustments, exam/assessment arrangements or support aids to be put in place, whilst maintaining confidentiality to the level requested by the learner, wherever possible

Ensure that English and Maths support needs are identified and that support arrangements are in place to meet the identified need

Maintain effective working links with referral organisations staff to maximise inclusive practice and to meet the additional support needs of learners

Monitor the accessibility, and take anticipatory action, relating to services, including: Advice, Support and Careers resource centre and facilities.

Management Responsibilities

All staff receive training on their responsibilities under the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 annually.

Sufficient resources are available to fund the anticipated reasonable adjustments to meet needs of learners who have a disability and to respond to individual cases

All staff are fully conversant with this policy and the demands it places upon them

Effective systems and procedures are in place for the promotion, referral, identification and provision of additional learning support, including learning agreements, review of need and effectiveness and efficiency of the service

As part of Equal Opportunities monitoring, student data is analysed and evaluated monthly, 6 monthly and annually.

Monitoring

As part of Equal Opportunities monitoring, learner data - Equality & Diversity Impact Measures (EDIMs) is analysed and evaluated monthly, 6 monthly and annually to ensure that groups of learners are not being disadvantaged and all learners have the same opportunities to achieve.

Responsibility for implementing this policy

Responsibility resides at all levels; the Managing Director, Quality Assurance Manager and Equal Opportunities Officer have overall joint responsibility for the implementation of this policy. All staff have an individual duty and responsibility to promote and implement this policy

Arrangements For Additional Learning Support

Learners are supported through the following means:

•  Recruitment Team - The Recruitment Team carry out initial assessment and identify if learners require additional learning support. The results of the initial assessment are recorded on the learners ILP and the Recruitment team discuss with the Assessor whether they want to refer the learner to a partner organisation for specialist support. At this stage if any specialist equipment is needed the Team liaise with the Equal Opportunities Officer to arrange the purchase

 

•  Assessors - Learners are supported by their Assessor for vocational training/learning and key skills knowledge through ongoing assessment, action planning and progress review sessions. This is recorded on their monthly Assessment record and their quarterly progress review report. Learners that require additional support receive more frequent visits / visit of a longer duration or both depending on the individual learner's request. Assessors identify if any specialist equipment is needed and refer any requests to the Equal Opportunities Officer who arranges the purchase.

 

• Tutors - Maths and English sessions are carried out weekly in house at Prostart by qualified Tutors. Learners that require additional support with English and/or Maths are referred by their Assessor or can self refer to these sessions.

 

• Dyslexia/Dyscalculia Support/ Specialist Support -Learners with additional learning needs are given extra support through arrangements with The Dyslexia Association who have a team of specialist support workers that give one to one support sessions. Reports are received following visits which are kept in the learners visit file.

 

• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) - Learners requiring ESOL support are referred to their local College.

 

• Quality Review - Learners are given personal support which consists of telephone calls and visits carried out every 12 weeks. It gives them the opportunity to discuss any concerns and acts as a check on the service good or bad that Prostart provides. This is a valuable tool and provides an opportunity to the Learner to talk impartially with another member of staff. All information is recorded on a review form and availability is made for the learner to have a confidential discussion with the reviewer during these sessions. The information gathered during the 'blue' quality review is analysed monthly and findings and comments are fed back during the monthly progress meetings.

Learner Support is reviewed on an ongoing basis through the Quality Improvement Cycle.