by Gillian Graham
30 November 2004
When I joined RVA last November I was given the task of increasing the training provision for community and voluntary groups in Reading. RVA has a history of running occasional training courses but with a limited budget of my own I realised the job was not simply buying in more ‘off the peg’ courses. What courses were needed? Who had the expertise to run them? What could groups afford to pay?
My first task was to find out what training was already available. The local colleges, Reading Adult and Community College (RACC) and Reading College (now part of Thames University), were obvious places to start: as well as offering a variety of courses at different levels that might be relevant to groups they also proved to be interested in designing and running new courses if there is sufficient interest.
In April 2004 Reading College ran a one day course on ‘Health & Safety Risk Assessment for Community Events’ and RACC are currently running a series of 5 ‘Computing for Community Group’s workshops. There are also organisations such as TEACH, Community Advice Training , Southcote Information Technology Experience, Reading Community Enterprise Agency, Reading Lifelong Learning Partnership running training in Reading and many national organisations offering excellent training for those prepared to travel. I hold information on all the above and am happy to help individuals find appropriate courses.
I was also interested to learn of the training offered by groups which is available to other groups in Reading. Berkshire Disability Information Network, (BDIN), Reading CAB, InPACT, Resource, Reading Council for Racial Equality, Buckle, Berkshire Association of Clubs for Young People, and others have all run courses / workshops in Reading over the past year. Often if groups want information or training on a particular topic, it is possible for me to approach another group to see if they can help. This is one aspect of the work that I would like to develop over the coming year.
Thirdly I have been greatly encouraged by the willingness other training providers to offer places on their courses to individuals from community and voluntary groups. Reading Borough Council, the University of Reading, Reading IAG and Wokingham PCT have all made places available in this way. Examples of courses coming up are ‘Managing Diversity’, ‘Vulnerable Adult Training’ and ‘Fire Awareness Training’.
Finally it was agreed that, as this was a cross Berkshire project, training in other parts of Berkshire should be publicised and made available. There are 6 Training Coordinators in post in the 6 different unitary authorities and we each promote courses run in the other areas. Whilst local groups always have priority Reading groups now have the opportunity to attend ‘Information Management’ in Slough or ‘Data Protection’ in Wokingham if they wish. Details of these courses and others are on the RVA website at
www.r-v-a.org.
So with all this training available what is there left for me to do? Well the most important thing is to find out what groups actually want. Are qualifications important? Are bite-size sessions enough? Do people want training during the working week or at evenings and weekends? What topics are wanted which are not available elsewhere? How much can community groups pay? At all the training courses organised by RVA we ask what other training would be useful. I keep a record of what training I am asked about, I send a training questionnaire to all RVA members and I find out what topics are in demand in other areas. I attend community events such as the Community Development Forum and Reading Lifelong Learning Partnership meetings and whenever possible I visit groups to discuss what training they would like to see offered in Reading. I then try and arrange for this training to be available.
In the past year I have been involved in organising 10 different events, attended by over 130 people. In the next few months RVA is running the following courses:
What It Says On the Tin (looking at requirements and
limitations of constitutions)
Introduction to Employment Law
Introductory Certificate in Team Leading
Marketing for Small Groups
Good Governance – Committees Working Together
I am currently planning the training programme for March 2005 onwards. If you have any ideas about what you would like to be included please let me know!
