In June 2005 the Larkin Centre, with the support
of the Equality for Women Measure, began work on a new
learning initiative aimed at building a core group of
peer mentors within the community. This initiative called
PALS, Practical Access to Learning Support, draws on
the expertise and knowledge of local women who have
completed a range of accredited courses to support new
learners within their communities. Learners who participate
in community education and training come to these settings
from a variety of backgrounds and with a range of needs.
Attitudes towards learning can vary among new learners
as school memories for some, can serve to undermine
confidence and highlight fears. In this context having
local people who have already "walked in these
shoes" to support and act as mentors to new learners
can help overcome many of the practical and dispositional
barriers that can arise. The concept of mentoring is
one that is gaining increasing recognition within the
field of adult education though usually mentors are
attached to an educational institution. This project
seeks to nurture and develop this resource within the
targeted communities, thereby enabling these communities
in turn to have an active part in supporting learning
programmes within their areas.
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Key Objective of the programme are as follows:
To develop a core of local women equipped with the requisite
skills and expertise to act as learner supports in their
local community
To design and implement a programme that combines a
theoretical and practical knowledge of the discipline
of mentoring
To ensure the currency of this programme for the professional
development of local participants through seeking a
recognised accreditation for the learning support programme To
embed the concept of learning support within the community
and also as part of the practice and policy in adult
education
To extend the provision of learning programmes for local
people and devise ways of engaging non-traditional learners
through the creation of new contexts for learning To
establish appropriate evaluation mechanisms. To
nurture the confidence of local communities and develop
their potential To
recognise the value of learning through exchange of
knowledge and skills outside of the classroom by enabling
communities to play a more active role in tackling the
problem of educational disadvantage To
enhance not only levels of uptake on programme but also
increase levels of interest and motivation among new
learners
To build skills that are transferable to other areas
During 2005 the project focused on designing and
securing accreditation for the course. FETAC accreditation
was secured in October and this achievement has paved
the way for delivery of the peer mentoring course which
began in March 2006. There are fifteen participants
on programme, drawn from six community groups.
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