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Promoting Professionalism through Work Based Learning

21.11.2011

This month, the work based learning team of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David launched the Swansea element of a regional initiative designed to promote professionalism through work based learning. This followed on from successful launches in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire earlier in the year.

Representatives from local businesses and organisations came together at the Village Hotel, Swansea to hear about how staff can gain credits for the work they routinely undertake and how the University can provide modular training, such as an innovative mentoring scheme, designed to raise standards of management in the workplace.

Andy Edwards, Professor of Professional Practice at the University says:

“'The project has been supported by the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government, and is targeted at small and medium sized enterprises, charities and agency workers.

Following the launch, a range of public and private sector organisations have been contacting the unit as word of the success of the scheme spreads.

“During the current economic downturn, helping to develop the skills of employees and employers is vital.

“These are innovative and exciting new programmes and are part of the vision of the Professional Practice framework and provides student-centred learning opportunities that are accessible, flexible, inclusive, lifelong and of the highest quality”, concludes Professor Edwards.

Note to Editor

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David is working with Swansea Metropolitan University and the University of Wales to create a transformed university under the oldest Royal Charter of any university in Wales and England outside the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The transformed University will serve the needs of Wales. It will be nationally rooted but will clearly have a strong international dimension. The aim is to create a strong University that will play a full role in the higher education sector in Wales and will provide scholarship and education of the highest standard for students.
LATERAL and Mentoring our Workforce, funded by ESF, are programmes within the Professional Practice Framework at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Employees can claim credits for the skills they already possess and which they have developed in the workplace and for mentoring their colleagues. These are available at no cost to those employed in small or medium sized businesses, charities and social enterprises.
LATERAL was created to support employees in identifying and gaining formal accreditation for the skills, capabilities and higher-level learning in the workplace. The credits gained can lead to awards and qualifications which include certificate, diploma, degree or postgraduate qualifications.
The purpose of ‘Mentoring our Workforce’ is to offer accredited training to members of staff acting as mentors – the training is based on the needs of the workplace. Each learner will receive support from module tutors or workforce development fellows and the projects’ teams.
As students at the University, learners will also be offered the support of the Student Services Department and the Learning Resources Centre. LATERAL staff also collaborate with a number of Sector Skills Councils in order to ensure that the sector’s needs are met while planning and organising credits.
The Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) is part of the Welsh Assembly Government's Department for Economy and Transport and is responsible for administering the European Structural Funds in Wales. For the period 2007-2013, Wales has been allocated some £1.9 billion by the European Union which will be channelled through the Convergence programmes for West Wales and the Valleys and the Regional Competitiveness and Employment programmes for East Wales. These funds will generate an investment of over £3 billion and will be used to improve economic growth and employment in line with the Welsh Assembly Government’s strategies and the EU’s Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas. WEFO’s aim is to ensure the European Structural Funds programmes 2007–2013 work efficiently and effectively for Wales, as well as overseeing the conclusion of the 2000-2006 programmes.
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