Skills for Life

"Poor literacy and numeracy skills cost you money" - If you are a company employing 51-100 employees, poor literacy and numeracy skills could be costing you £86,000 per year.

Department for Education and Science

In line with the government initiative to introduce basic skills in the workplace, Macclesfield College has delivered Skills for Life provision to employees in a number of local companies including Cheshire East Council, Macclesfield Hospital (East Cheshire NHS Trust), Airbags International, Rossendale Trust, Kat UK, Shrigley Hall and F. Swaines Ltd.

"Many businesses do not realise that some of their employees may have problems with literacy and numeracy. People often hide it. But poor basic skills matter. They can lead to resistance to change, poor communication within the company or with customers or high rate of wastage"
Digby Jones, Director General, CBI

Macclesfield College is working in partnership with businesses to address their employees' skills gaps. The emphasis is placed on learning using ICT, as computing is a popular subject.

Cheshire East Council has a target that all employees will have access to a PC in their workplace. In response to this, the college has devised 9-week introductory courses called "Literacy Through IT". These courses are delivered in-house and detailed job and task analyses conducted to ensure that course content is tailored to meet the needs of the company. The length of courses may vary according to employer and employees' needs and circumstances. 

Feedback from the participants was extremely positive:

"I would recommend this course because it will help me in my work."

"I have learned some really good skills."

Managers have also seen the benefits to the business:

"Technology is constantly changing along the way in which information is delivered within the workplace. Having good literacy skills through the use of IT software applications is key to this...With the introduction of this training programme, I am confident that this will give the right opportunity to develop these skills".
Gary Beard , Building Works Manager at MBC

‘One of our employees has to send a lot of e-mails to clients and although she got a C at GCSE English, her grammar was not up to the standard we would like. She took an English class at the College last year, the tutor explained the grammar very clearly and she found it really useful. We are really impressed with her progress. She would now like to take Maths....’
Beryl Barton, Manager at QDP

Wherever possible, courses are held on-site at the employers' premises at a time convenient to the majority of employees. This may mean that a course starts early in the morning or late in the evening to accommodate shift patterns.

By presenting employees with the opportunity to access Skills for Life training in the work environment, this encourages wider participation and social inclusion.

Employers have seen results in terms of productivity, staff turnover and absenteeism as well as improved employee morale and confidence.

You can get FREE training for literacy and numeracy for your employees. If you would like further information about Skills for Life Courses, please call 01625 410000 ext 535