Islington ICT Strategic Partnership

What Was the Stimulus?

Sustained partnership working on lifelong learning in Islington grew out of co-operation to bid for ukonline funds for learning centres. These centres act as stepping stones to learndirect provision by providing basic ICT skills, confidence and motivation to progress to further learning. (Learndirect provides access nationally to on-line learning opportunities at home, at work or in learning centres.)

This led to the creation of the Islington ICT Strategic Partnership which seeks a strategic and co-ordinated approach to ICT learning opportunities across the borough.

Partners have come together on a voluntary basis, recognising that only through partnership can they make a real difference to lifelong learning in borough. Their common agenda has included strategic issues such as:

• making the most of ICT investments
• developing ICT and non-ICT learning centres
• ensuring broadband connectivity
• raising quality standards

The availability of competitive funds (eg, different pots for revenue and capital funds for ICT centres) has acted as a further incentive. Partners have also wanted to avoid waste and unnecessary competition.

How Was The Need Tackled?

agreeing partnership principles
The Lifelong Learning Service of the London Borough (LB) of Islington has facilitated the development of the partnership, convening local organisations to progress joint bids, originally through an ICT group formed in 1999 to develop a cross-sector strategy. This evolved into the ICT Strategic Partnership in 2001. Its membership now includes City and Islington College, City University, University of North London, Islington Training and Education Network, Arsenal FC, North Islington EAZ, TUC, schools and housing associations. The Group meets monthly.

The Lifelong Learning Service has adopted a brokerage style, promoting collaboration and capacity building. Their approach to promoting learning for partnership working has been less about one-off training interventions and more about embedding learning in partnership activities. They encouraged partners to agree criteria by which they would work together, with an emphasis on "sharing thinking at the think stage". Partners agreed that they needed to get away from past practices where they developed project proposals on their own and sought the support or input from others at too late a stage. They also recognised that getting together early reduces the likelihood of duplicated provision and improves overall chances of bidding success.

There is now a presumption that partners will bid together, though there is recognition that there may be exceptions. Partners have agreed common planning criteria (eg, geographic priorities) and the need to accept risks in supporting new community-based centres which offer great potential in reaching new learners. Each centre is led and managed by different partners, including housing associations, education providers, voluntary organisations and community groups. Co-location of public, private and voluntary sector projects has been encouraged (eg, Sure Start, family and out of school learning) to promote joined-up working.

Providers and learning centres were also encouraged to agree respective roles and responsibilities as an essential building block for service quality and success in attracting local learners and encouraging their progression. City and Islington College are playing a support role for the centres in training local people as ICT tutors and technicians and as advice and guidance professionals.

Working and learning together
Funding applications (eg, for Phase 3 of ukonline development) have involved inter-agency task groups to work on critical bid elements such as marketing and finance. Partners have made use of funding and planning workshops, reviewing opportunities that new policy developments offer and identifying how best to take advantage of these.

In October 2001, the Partnership ran an ICT Showcase at Sadlers Wells Theatre. In preparing for a the Showcase, partners participated in a visioning event, 'Happy Families', to capitalise on the potential for collaboration amongst the different "families" of the voluntary and community, school, further and higher education sectors. Stimulated by a case study of what's possible (Telford and Wrekin), mixed groups of partners imagined what their services could look like if they developed common learning content and could offer learners greater access and choice (including via digital TV). From this they developed a common vision of centres offering access to diverse on-line possibilities, integrating all the "e's" - learning, government and commerce. These could include, eg, school maths games, courses for adults, local polls, or shopping. As part of the event, participants proceeded to review what they need to do to make the vision a reality.

The partners have also sought synergy through sharing: "we've all got stuff each other doesn't know about". For example, one partner, the Film and Video Workshop is leading a sub-group on visual media and providing training for the centres in the use of graphics, photography, etc.

Developing new skills and knowledge
The Council has promoted with partners "The Quality Agenda", a self-assessment and action planning initiative to prepare voluntary sector providers to meet Common Inspection Framework (Adult Learning Inspectorate/ OFSTED) and Guidance Council standards. Currently there are 41 participants from the voluntary and community sector membership of the Islington Training and Education Network (ITEN). ITEN members are contributing towards the costs of the initiative (2% from the budget of each successful bid). They have collective ownership of the overall budget, which covers the Quality Agenda plus a common approach to project evaluation. Discussions on what constitutes "quality" and how to assure standards has been an important unifying force behind the initiative.

The Islington Lifelong Learning Service has sought to "use partners as leaders", helping to attract funds for capacity building (eg, use of the Lifelong Learning Standards Fund for the Quality Agenda) and freeing up their resources (eg, through reduction of auditing and monitoring requirements). Their philosophy is one of "letting people do what they're good at". This includes the use of learners to undertake research in local communities (such as for a recent study of needs amongst older people).

The Lifelong Learning Service is working with Opinion Leader Research to enable learning centres to develop skills in deliberative consultation (methods to ensure more informed consultee responses on choices). This will embed the 'bottom up' approach to planning introduced by the Islington Citizens' Conference in June, 2000, providing centres with a repertoire of planning tools they can use as appropriate to their circumstances.

Learning from elsewhere
Partners have also seen value in finding out more about good practice in other parts of the country, eg, seeking to learn about ICT developments pursued by the Telford & Wrekin Partnership and their academic partners at Wolverhampton University (Prof Steve Molyneux, Learning Lab). They have since set up a partnership to pursue common interests in implementing learning centres and broadband communications.

What Were the Outcomes?

Learners are benefiting from readier access to local learning opportunities and a greater ability to find the learning they want through use of the partnership's Learneasy website. Increasingly, they will influence what centres provide, as the bottom-up approach to planning becomes embedded.

Successful bids have covered the costs of a Learning Centre Co-ordinator who is developing trainer training for learning centres and provided organisational development and business planning support for individual centres. Centres now have greater internal capacity for planning, marketing, benchmarking and improving quality.

Community-based centres have been the first to benefit from investment in broadband connections. A digital TV learning pilot, led by Data Integration and the Council's Technical Solutions Group, starts on three housing estates in May.

Unanticipated outcomes have included the involvement of local organisations, including schools and community organisations, which had not been involved previously, and the extent of improved relationships between the Council and the voluntary sector.

What Was Learnt?

• providing organisational leadership which helps create a partnership culture
• focusing on the benefits of collaboration through a common vision and a shared need for external funding
• seeking to maximise opportunities for joint working (eg, through joint task groups, co-location of partner projects with learning centres)
• ensuring the benefits of partnership are evident for each partner (even if, for some of the larger partners, the gains may be less tangible and long term)
• involving all sectors, and ensuring that leadership on new learning centres and other initiatives is shared around
• actively looking to build on experience from elsewhere

The Council's Lifelong Learning Service has played a critical brokerage role in bringing the parties together, and has sought constantly to keep the partnership vital. They have recognised the need for new stimuli (such as the drive for broadband connectivity) to help maintain partnership momentum.

Contact

Chris Jude
Head of Lifelong Learning
LB Islington
Laycock Street
London
N1 1TH

tel: 020 7527 5913
chris.jude@islington.gov.uk

Partnership toolkit designed by EDuce Ltd
Web site designed and developed by Xentica