Learning Zone

The Learning Zone was a £1 million initiative of Learning Partnerships, Job Centre Plus and the East and South Leeds Worklessness groups; it brought together a range of partners from colleges, the statutory sector and Voluntary sectors.

The Learning Zone was funded by the Learning and Skills Council and European Social Fund. It targeted non-economically active people with low or no qualifications living within East and South Leeds.

The Learning Zone opened two gateways:

• East Leeds Gateway: Gipton, South Seacroft, Harehills, Burmantofts
• South Leeds Gateway: Beeston Hill, Holbeck, Belle Isle, Middleton

Development Workers were key to the success of the Gateways as they took the Learning Zone into the deprived communities with which we work. The Development Workers engaged learners and supported them in accessing training and qualifications. To ensure that the project met the needs of the hardest to reach and most disengaged learners 'Taster Sessions' and a wide range of qualification were offered which included: Entry Levels 1, 2 and 3 and Levels 1 and 2.

The Learning Zone partnership included: Learning Partnerships, Job Centre Plus, Leeds City Council, Jobs and Skills, East, North East and South District Partnerships, Joseph Priestley College, Leeds Thomas Danby, Belle Isle Foundation, Aire Valley Employment Team, GIPSIL, Hamara Healthy Living Centre, St Luke's Cares and Vera Media.

The Learning Zone was evaluated by the University of Leeds in January 08.
The report concluded:

• Despite a late start and a shortened delivery period of only nine months the Learning Zone has achieved almost 98% of its target outputs and outcomes.
• The Learning Zone made considerable impact on its learners who valued the opportunities the Project offered them.
• The Development Workers were key to the successs of the Learning Zone, developing positive and close relationships with the people living in the local communities, recruiting beneficiaries to the Project and supporting them during the learning process. The Development Workers operated very well as a team.
• It was suggested that the Learning Zone provided a good model with the voluntary sector working on the ground in the local communities to recruit and support the learners with the further education colleges responsible for most of the direct delivery of the courses. It should be considered whether this collaborative model might be used again in future projects.