Christine Edwards leads a course on supporting apprentices with contextualised English and maths in the ETF’s Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) Programme. A passionate advocate of embedding maths and English in vocational learning, Christine loves sharing the skills and techniques she has built up from her extensive experience of helping tutors and apprentices to find their confidence with literacy and numeracy.
What inspired you to focus on apprenticeships?
Well, I left school at 16 because the education system didn’t really suit me at all, but when I started work and was sent to college on day release, I began to understand the value of learning that is targeted. I did a wide variety of jobs, from front line job centre counsellor to pub landlady, and in the process, I learnt about what it is like for people who are really struggling and are being held back by lack of skills and confidence. It made me passionate about vocational learning and every opportunity I had to gain a qualification that either consolidated what I was doing or took me to the next stage, I grabbed with both hands.
How did you get into maths and English development?
In 2003, after I was made redundant, I saw a vacancy for an assessor in a family-run training provider. I’d gained my D32 and D33 assessment certificates, so I applied and was lucky enough to be successful. That was the start really. I progressed to become a Skills for Life programme manager, built a team of subject specialists, did a lot of staff development, moved into the quality team, then became a maths and English development manager.
Was there a lightbulb moment along the way?
There was and I’ll never forget it! It was in a CPD session for hairdressing tutors. The company had brought in a specialist trainer to help improve teaching of key skills, which had been flagged at inspection. The consultant was going through the various parts of application of number and came onto ratio, then all the hairdressers in the room groaned and said, “We just don’t get ratio, we never have!”.
Well, I nearly fell off my chair because I had my hair coloured and they mix colours for hair and I looked at them and said, “What do you mean you don’t get ratio! What do you when you mix colours?” And they said, “Oh my God!” as it dawned on them. And that made me realise that people were very disconnected from maths and English.
Why is cracking this problem important for the sector and the economy?
Poor literacy and numeracy cost the country billions. Around 50% of the population are not at level 2 which has a massive impact. For example, so many people are leaving apprenticeships early because they haven’t got their functional skills and it’s because of that disconnect, that fear of maths and English. Or they sell themselves short in their end-point assessment.
I still do some end-point assessments and the portfolios that I’m presented with are very often not a true reflection of the ability of the person because they’ve not presented their information very well. Likewise, in the professional discussion, they’re not always effective in the way they communicate the knowledge, skills and behaviours which they need to be able to demonstrate to a complete stranger, and that is all down to the way that they’ve been coached and developed throughout their programme.
So, my passion is very much around making maths and English come to life, helping people to realise that we can’t get by without it, and it doesn’t need to be boring.
What does your course cover on the AWD programme?
The session that I do is about contextualising maths and English. It’s around trying to change mindsets and helping people, especially vocational tutors, understand that they’re doing maths and English all the time. The only time that you wouldn’t use maths and English is if you were to stop in bed all day and not talk to anyone!
The session is in two parts and each session is half a day. In the first part we cover all the reasons why contextualising maths and English is important and some of the things to put in place, then there’s some practical homework that includes finding a session plan that they’re going to be delivering in the future and putting some more maths and English into it.
The second session includes more tips and techniques. The aim is to build confidence and give vocational tutors some practical support.
What is your approach to teaching how to embed maths and English?
With everything that I do I always teach by experience or by example, so I get people to try out the resources or techniques I’m giving them to take away. I use Jamboards and breakout groups a lot. For example – I use ‘The Great Car Race’ puzzle for problem solving and I’ve translated it onto Jamboards.
If I’m delivering online then I’ll just put people on Jamboards in groups, get them to solve the car race problem, then they they’ve not only got the resource, but they’ve also experienced it and they know how to use it.
What do you think can make a difference?
We’re not good at celebrating what people can do. It’s not just about the maths and English, it’s about our apprentices’ self-confidence and self-esteem and dealing with this baggage that they carry around, probably from school, where they learn, “I’m no good at this or that”. There may be aspects they’re not good at but there’s probably a lot that they are good at, and we need to build on that.
So, if somebody does an initial assessment and a diagnostic, we need to celebrate the parts that are green and are strong, rather than focus excessively on the bits for improvement.
To find out more about AWD courses, visit the ETF’s learning platform at: https://learning.etfoundation.co.uk/