1. Background:
We have joined a 3-year project which is EU-funded, under the INTERREG IIIA programme.
It is a cross-border project run by New Horizons Partnership. They have selected 30 organisations to work with.
New Horizons developed training materials for people with learning disabilities in the area of employment skills.
They trained us up in how to use the resources and follow the programme and now we’re going to train you in how to use these materials with our clients.
These materials focus on work skills. They are designed to be used in a classroom situation. Assessment is built into the programme and where possible, skills are assessed in the student’s work setting.
This is one of the things that New Horizons insist upon. The candidates we train in this programme must have access to a work opportunity. This means that they are beginning the process of getting a job or they have a job/placement. The definition of job is not strict: it may be work sampling, it may take place in a real work setting or a sheltered employment setting, it may be for one hour a week, one day a week or more.
Likewise, students can be trained in any number of ways. They can be taught in a classroom setting, within a group of other students, or they could be taught on a one-to-one basis. Although the resources are CD-ROM based, students will never be left to self-study. These materials are trainer-led.

2. Project Participants 31 Organisations
The organisations on this project are from all over Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland. They include:
Special Education schools
Supported employment agencies
Statutory bodies (north & south)
Social enterprises
Adult training services
What all of these organisations have in common is that they provide a service to adults with learning disabilities (an adult is anyone who can work). They provide training to these adults and they support them in getting/maintaining work.

3. Key Points About this Programme
The Workability programme focuses on “work skills”. The materials/disks we have got to date (phase 1) focus on general work skills. Later this year we will get more materials/disks focusing on skills required for specific jobs. This is phase 2, vocational skills
This is an accredited programme. Our students’ work must be assessed and submitted to the awarding body for accreditation.
Students on the Workability programme must have access to work. If they don’t ever intend to work or don’t have a work placement, then significant skills cannot be taught in a meaningful way nor assessed in their work setting.
General work skills: For example, appropriate work behaviour or personal hygiene, in other words skills that can be applied to any job and that are required in all jobs, regardless of type or setting.
Phase two materials to be supplied in Sept 2006 are vocational skills, ie, those skills required for specific jobs:
Projected units are currently
- Catering & Hospitality
- Horticulture and Grounds Maintenance
- Customer Service
- Administration/Office Work.
The Open College Network (Northern Ireland) is the awarding body that accredits this programme for Northern Ireland students.
FETAC is the relevant awarding body in the Republic of Ireland. It is currently changing its award structure so New Horizons will submit the Workability programme for consideration as a Level 1 programme when the standards for awards at this level are established.

4. Copyright Information
Disks/manuals may not be copied
The materials for in-house use only
We must be an approved training centre with appropriate awarding body
We have signed a licence agreement and are committed to using the materials/applying the programme per its terms in our organisation.
We have signed one licence agreement per site.

5. Assessment tasks and guidelines are also provided on the disk.
Materials Design
The Workability programme is designed to be trainer-led and students who are on the programme must be in the process of getting a job or already in employment.
Students get their own workbook, which contains text (as far as possible supported by pictures and sketches) and tasks to reinforce retention of content.
Workbook content is supported by multimedia elements including videos and interactive exercises, which the trainer plays with students.
Extra resources are provided for trainers, including a trainers’ manual with detailed guidelines on how to use the programme, ideas for discussions and role plays, and additional supporting materials.
Assessment tasks and guidelines are also provided on the disk.

6. Workability Resources Overview
Core skills – 8 Units
1. Work, Jobs & Skills
2. Getting a Job & Preparing for work
3. Being a Good Worker
4. Communication
8. Personal Hygiene & Self-Presentation
5. Appropriate Work Behaviour
6. Assertiveness, Respect & Rights
7. Health & Safety at Work
Vocational skills – 4 Units (select 1)
Vocational (eg, Horticulture)
Vocational (eg, Catering)
Vocational (eg, Administration)
This slide demonstrates that the programme is modular and students can choose to take anything from one unit to all eight units (core skills).
Demonstrate that this student A – has the option to choose from any of the 8 core units. He decides with his tutor that he needs to take all eight units. Later, from the vocational units on offer, he will take just one unit – the unit that is closest to the job area that he is interested in/job that he does.
So in total, this student gets credit for having studied 9 units in total during the life span of the programme.
Vocational (Customer Services)

7. Workability Resources Overview
Core skills – 8 Units
1. Work, Jobs & Skills
2. Getting a Job & Preparing for work
3. Being a Good Worker
4. Communication
8. Personal Hygiene & Self-Presentation
5. Appropriate Work Behaviour
6. Assertiveness, Respect & Rights
7. Health & Safety at Work
Vocational skills – 4 Units (select 1)
Vocational (eg, Horticulture)
Vocational (eg, Catering)
Vocational (eg, Administration)
Demonstrate that this student B, as before, has the option to choose from any of the 8 core units.
She decides with her tutor that she will take just three out of the eight units, being sufficiently competent/knowledgable in the content of the other five units. Later, from the vocational units on offer, she will take just one unit – the unit that is closest to the job area that he is interested in/job that he does, ie, catering.
So in total, this student gets credit for having studied 4 units in total during the life span of the programme.
Vocational (Customer Service)

8. Workability Resources Overview
Your pack consists of:
8 CD-ROMs (a disk for each unit of content)
A file (with unit one of the trainers’ manual printed for you)
A mousemat and pens
A resource bag
You will need to print the trainers’ manual for the remaining 7 units of the programme to complete your trainers’ resources.

9. Workability Resources Overview: Units
1. Work, Jobs & Skills
What is work?
Payment
When people work
Is your job paid or unpaid, full or part-time?
Why do people work?
Work changes your life
Has work changed your day?
People in work
Who are the people you meet in work?
Jobs that people do
Horticulture
Hospitality
Catering
Retail
Services
Caretaking and grounds maintenance
Farm work
Care work
Building/construction work
Factory work
Car/garage/forecourt work
Office/administration work
Sports and leisure industry
The working environment
The place
The people
Clothes/uniform
Tools
Skills and qualities
What type of person are you?
What do you need to be good at in your job?

10. Workability Resources Overview: Units
2. Getting a Job and Preparing for Work
How do people find work?
Steps in getting a job
Application
Interview
What happens once you get the job?
Contract
Preparing for your new job
It’s the night before you go to work!
It’s the morning before you go to work!
How do I know what to wear for work?
The where, who, what and when of the job
Where
Who
What (tasks)
What (tools) and when
Work rota

11. Workability Resources Overview: Units
3. Being a Good Worker
What does it mean to be a good worker?
Time keeping
When you take a break
When you can’t go to work
Rules at work
Taking responsibility for your work
Team work
People on your team
The team’s job
Your role on the team
Arguments at work
Working Independently
Using tools/equipment/ resources
Following instructions
Problem solving
Asking for help
Who should you ask?
When should you ask?
Ways to ask for help
Decision-making
Flexibility, perseverance and change
Distractions
Concentration
Staying focused between breaks
Dealing with fair and unfair requests
Saying no

12. Workability Resources Overview: Units
4. Communication
What is communication?
Process of speaking
Process of listening
Body language
Hand gestures
Whole body
Writing and reading
Everyday signs and symbols

13. Workability Resources Overview: Units 5. Appropriate Work Behaviour
People in work
Co-workers
The boss
Relationships
Physical closeness
Communicating feelings at work
Appropriate behaviour
Be polite and show good manners
Consider the feelings of others
Smile and be happy
Inappropriate behaviour
Inappropriate comments
Huffing
Telling tales
Staring at people
Other things you should know
Compliments
Getting compliments
Using mobile phones
Some final rules!
Telling lies
Stealing things
Drinking alcohol
Taking drugs
Behaving dangerously
Being violent or hitting people

14. Workability Resources Overview: Units
6. Assertiveness, Respect & Rights
Standing up for yourself
Passive
Assertive
Aggressive
Bullying
If you are being bullied
Respect
Respect for other people
Respect for property
Respect for yourself
Your rights at work

15. Workability Resources Overview: Units 7. Health and Safety at Work
What is health and safety at work?
Employer responsibilities
Health & safety officer
Your responsibilities
Protective clothing
Signs and symbols
Risks, hazards and dangers
Workplace stress
If you feel stressed at work

16. Workability Resources Overview: Units
8. Personal Hygiene & Self-Presentation
What is personal hygiene?
Why should you have good personal hygiene?
Bad habits and personal hygiene
Keeping your body clean
What parts of the body do you need to keep clean?
How can you keep yourself clean?
Personal hygiene products
Keeping your clothes clean
Personal appearance

17. You can use this page to demonstrate how easy it is to navigate the CD-ROMs. Each unit has the same layout/look and feel.

18. Workability Resources Overview
Trainers’ Manual: icons used to refer to other parts of the resource
Student has a task to complete
There is a video to support this content
There is an interactive exercise based on this content
There are supporting materials you can use to pre-assess or reinforce learning
It is important that you spend some time becoming familiar with these icons – find these icons in the printed manual.
Suggestions for discussion / further questions

19. Workability Resources Overview
Difference between trainers’ manual and student workbook
Instructions to trainers are in italics in the trainers’ manuals. These instructions have been removed from the student workbook.
Transcripts of the videos and copies of supporting materials are included in the trainers’ manual. They do not appear in the student workbook.
Only the pencil icon presented in the previous slide appears in the student workbook.
Point out here that each student gets his or her own workbook. The trainer prints the required number of copies or the pages that he or she intends to teach in each session. This is preferable to printing out the entire unit since it keeps students involved and they can see their portfolio build as time goes on.
Also, stress that the student’s workbook is never assessed. There is no need for students to have good literacy skills. There are sections where they are asked to fill in some information, answer a question etc. The teacher should read out the text for their students and if any of the students cannot write they can tell their teacher what their answer is and the teacher fills this in for the student.
Literacy skills are not assessed on this programme. You can however use the programme to reinforce or build literacy as required by each student.
The table of contents page numbering differs between the two documents although there is no difference in the flow of content.

20. Materials Showcase (8 Units)
- Trainers Manual 653 pages
- Student Workbook 503 pages
- Photographs 1200
- Sketches 200
- Multimedia Elements 72 Videos + 19 Interactive Exercises
Ask the trainer why there are fewer pages in the student workbook than there are in the trainers’ manual. Hint: this is because the trainers manual contains lots of extra teaching notes and suggestions that do not appear in the version that students get.

21. Approaching Training
Read and understand the trainers notes for that piece of learning/content from the Trainers Manual
Load up the appropriate disc onto the computer and review any videos/interactive exercises that are featured in the session you will teach.
Print the appropriate pages from the Student’s Workbooks and print enough copies for the number of students you will be teaching.
This page suggests how trainers should prepare to teach a session from the workability programme.
Trainers will only ever need to use the computer with students for two things:
Play a video
Play an interactive exercise
If there is a video/interactive exercise in the session they will teach, they should have the disk loaded onto the computer and ready to play the appropriate video/interactive exercise. They should do this before the teaching session as it takes some time to load the disks and students will become distracted if the teacher does this during the class.
They will NEVER use the computer to review the student workbook (PDF version) with their students.

22. Practical - Using Materials
Loading your disc (Auto play / Manually)
Navigation and Functionality of Disc
Downloadable Documents
- Student Workbook
- Trainers Materials
- Supporting Documents
- Assessment Documents
- Transcripts
Videos
Interactive Exercises
Use this page to teach your staff member how to use the disks, about the functionality of the disks, the layout, what materials they can access from each of the links. Get the staff member to practice and then ask you questions.
Quitting the Programme

23. Assessment with Students
This programme is structured into learning outcomes. These provide the basis for assessment and allow you to measure what a student can do after learning. A learning outcome is a statement of learning about what a candidate can do after a period of learning.
In order for a student’s work to be ready for accreditation, they must complete the relevant assessment tasks. These tasks are described in assessment sheets which you can download and complete with your students. Keep the assessment sheets that you have completed with each student in that student’s folder. These sheets are required as evidence for accreditation.
Students can be assessed for the same tasks on more than one occasion. If they do not successfully complete a task on a particular day, revise the relevant content and re-assess.
Participant organisations from Northern Ireland received an from the New Horizons team (January 5th 2006). This contains important information about the changes that the awarding body OCN (NI) has made to the grouping of the learning outcomes being taught across the entire programme. Rather than confuse your new staff member, please mention this briefly. When he/she is conducting assessment and is familiar with the programme, then explain what these changes are and how the 8 disks and assessment task sheets for each learning outcome relate to the new OCN structure. Visit for this information.

24. Assessment with Students
Open assessment section from main menu

25. Assessment with Students
Then read the guidelines document for the assessment sheet(s) in this unit
First open and print one assessment sheet per student. There is one assessment sheet per learning outcome.

26. Frequently Asked Questions
What sort of students should I enrol on the programme?
Do students need to take the whole programme?
How long will it take students to do the programme?
What if my students haven’t got a job lined up/access to a job opportunity?
What sort of computer facilities do we need?
How do I become a registered training centre with the awarding body?
What support do we get from New Horizons?
What costs are involved?
Any other questions?
What sort of students should I enrol on the programme? This should not be an issue for the staff you are training. Your organisation should by now have identified students who are suitable to enrol on the workability programme
Do students need to take the whole programme? Please review slides with students A and B to explain the modular nature of the programme
How long will it take students to do the programme? There are no time limits, pace delivery according to your students’ abilities. Best to group students of a similar ability so that no students feel that the materials are being taught too slowly or too fast.
What if my students haven’t got a job lined up/access to a job opportunity? This too is an issue that you should by now have addressed. If a student has no possibility of access to a job or job opportunity or indeed if they have no interest in working, then this is perhaps not a suitable training programme for them.
What sort of computer facilities do we need? You need access to one computer that has speakers. You students will not use the CD-ROM disks unsupervised, though you may allow them to control the mouse if they have mouse/computer skills.
How do I become a registered training centre with the awarding body? Your organisation has been advised of the need to register as an approved centre with the appropriate awarding body. Procedures differ from North to South. If you are based in the North, then make contact with NIOCN. If you are in the South, then await further information.
What support do we get from New Horizons? We are available to you at all times to support you in the delivery of the programme at your organisation. See the final slide for our contact details.
What costs are involved? The resources are provided for free, according to the terms of your licence agreement. You must bear any costs associated with accreditation.

27. Contact Details for New Horizons
Finola Keogh & Lisa O’Hagan are the developers of the programme
Contact them by
Visit the New Horizons website regularly for updates on the programme
Visit the Workability pages by clicking on the link to “learning resources”
Call Finola or Lisa with any queries that can’t be cleared up by staff in-house
Tel: (from Northern Ireland) or (from ROI)
What sort of students should I enrol on the programme? This should not be an issue for you’re the staff you are training. Your organisation should by now have identified students who are suitable to enrol on the workability programme
Do students need to take the whole programme? Please review slides with students A and B to explain the modular nature of the programme
How long will it take students to do the programme? There are no time limits, pace delivery according to your students’ abilities. Best to group students of a similar ability so that no students feel that the materials are being taught too slowly or too fast.
What if my students haven’t got a job lined up/access to a job opportunity? This too is an issue that you should by now have addressed. If a student has no possibility of access to a job or job opportunity or indeed if they have no interest in working, then this is perhaps not a suitable training programme for them.
What sort of computer facilities do we need? You need access to one computer that has speakers. You students will not use the CD-ROM disks unsupervised, though you may allow them to control the mouse if they have mouse/computer skills.
How do I become a registered training centre with the awarding body? Your organisation has been advised of the need to register as an approved centre with the appropriate awarding body. Procedures differ from North to South. If you are based in the North, then make contact with NIOCN. If you are in the South, then await further information.
What support do we get from New Horizons? We are available to you at all times to support you in the delivery of the programme at your organisation. See the final slide for our contact details.
What costs are involved? The resources are provided for free, according to the terms of your licence agreement. You must bear any costs associated with accreditation.