The Centre for Youth and Community Education (CYCD) offers a range of projects aimed at developing essential skills among adults. These projects include literacy, particularly English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), computer proficiency, and employability skills such as crafting CVs, cover letters, and navigating job applications or further educational opportunities.

Our courses are designed to allow learners to progress at their own pace, with personalized support from teaching assistants on a one-to-one basis.  One of our ongoing initiatives is the ‘Stepping Stones’ program, which is supported by the Community Learning Fund provided by the Luton Adult Learning Centre. This course spans 18 sessions covering English and IT basics. 

Stepping Stones

The aim of the Stepping Stones course is to enhance individuals’ life opportunities by providing foundational learning in literacy, numeracy, and IT. These skills contribute to employability, overall health and well-being, volunteering, and facilitate everyday learning tasks. Our objective is to empower participants by boosting their confidence, improving their life skills, and enhancing their basic English proficiency. We strive to remove barriers to further education, ensuring learners feel ready and confident to continue their educational journey. The program focuses on practical decision-making strategies relevant to everyday life, emphasizing communication skills in speaking and listening, as well as building numeracy and IT competencies. Additionally, we integrate employability skills and British core values into the curriculum, enabling participants to engage independently with institutions such as schools, GP offices, councils, and other social contexts. 

The outcomes of the course include: 

1. Developing English speaking and listening skills to enable participants to engage in basic conversations and respond to simple questions independently.
2. Building confidence in basic IT and digital skills, allowing participants to use computers to create various documents and search for images.
3. Improving basic numeracy skills to understand concepts such as time and calculate discounts or savings while shopping.
4. Instilling confidence in participating in further learning opportunities with the Luton Adult Learning Centre or seeking employment opportunities.

The sessions are interactive, incorporating tutor-led activities, small group discussions, pair work, individual tasks, role-playing, and sharing of learning experiences. Participants will have Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) outlining their specific aims, learning objectives, and targets, which will be regularly reviewed and adjusted by both the tutor and the learner throughout the course.

We successfully completed our first cohort in January 2024 and working in the process on starting our second cohort in April 2024.