CILIP | Working together: meeting basic skills needs in Croydon

Working together: meeting basic skills needs in Croydon

Date: Tuesday 10 May 2005
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: The Sekforde Arms, Sekforde Street, London EC1
Speakers: Fiona Tarn & Jana Cameron

Fiona Tarn and Jana Cameron will discuss the 'Get On' project, which developed after six Croydon libraries staff attended basic skills awareness training from January to March 2003 at Orpington College. After the awareness training staff wanted to apply what they had learned on the course. Funding from the LSC (Learning and Skills Council) was applied for and a total of £28,000 was received. This funding enabled staff to purchase stock for 11 of the 13 Croydon Libraries and promote this stock to Basic Skills classes and community groups. A Community Information pack was also created to help the target audience participate in the community.

Fiona attended the a pre-launch event for Inspiring Learning for All in 2004 and after this event thought about how ILFA could be used to develop the Get On project further. The 'Getting to Know Croydon' course developed as a result. This course was devised by Museum, Local Studies and Library staff and was delivered as a pilot to a New Deal ESOL class from January to March 2005. Library and Museum staff are now writing a bid to develop this exciting work further.

Fiona Tarn is a part-time librarian in the Croydon Central Library. Her duties include general enquiry work, stock management and responsibility for basic skills work. She attended Basic Skills Awareness Level 2 training for frontline staff from January to March 2003 at Orpington College. This led to the 'Get On' project. Prior to Croydon Libraries, Fiona was Library Manager at Westminster Kingsway College and before that worked at East Surrey College and Croydon Central Library.

Jana Cameron is Assistant Education Officer at Croydon Museum Service. Lifetimes Museum is currently closed for redevelopment. In the meantime, Jana is evaluating and improving the services and resources available to Basic Skills students and tutors in the Museum for its reopening in May 2006. She is involved in the Getting to Know Croydon course in delivering sessions and supporting the project generally. Working with Basic Skills students and tutors is a key Croydon Museum objective for the future. Previously Jana was Assistant Interpretation Officer at the Museum of London. She has also worked as a freelance session leader, delivering archaeological and historical object handling sessions at a range of museums and sites from January 1998.

CILIP in London evening meetings are free and open to all with a professional interest in the topic. Refreshments will be available afterwards. As space is limited, please let us know if you are coming. Contact Phillip Powell at ppowell@iwm.org.uk or on 020 7416 5345.

Updated: 18 July 2005