Glossary

Training Needs Analysis & Individual Learning Needs

The objective of a Training Need Analysis (TNA) is to help you identify the skills gaps (or the extent to which employers feel their employees' existing skills are not enough to meet current business aims) you may have or help you identify suitable training that will fill those gaps and develop your skills further. It will facilitate in identifying the critical key skills you will need in the workplace or to help you get the job you want.

The aim of a training needs analysis is to guide you (or an employer) in the design of an appropriate training programme that meets identified training & learning needs or enables you to exploit the opportunities that are available to you appropriate to your specific individual goals.

Action Planning

An on-line individual Action Plan is available to you on the website that allows you to identify your own training needs and action plans. Only you can provide the detail that will help us appropriately assess your specific needs, interests and your preferred methods of learning and support.

Many people make a number of learning and life changing decisions during their lives. Writing and developing your own action plan means that here you can start to take responsibility for your own future. Action planning involves setting targets for yourself and deciding how you will best achieve them. The information you give on your action plan will help you have a better understanding of your own development needs and how to address them. Remember to be realistic about what you can achieve and how much time you have to do things. The Action Plan will help you:

• Take a step by step approach to clarifying your needs.
• Make decisions in planning your future options.
• Think about yourself and your aims and explore a range of different choices.
• Search for new information related to your needs and circumstances.
• Set targets that will enable you to complete your goals successfully.

The action plan will ask you to respond in these three fields:

1. The Current situation. Where am I now?
2. What do I want to do? What are my short-term and long-term plans?
3. My plan of Action! What do I need to do next?

All your data is strictly confidential and will only be accessible by yourself and your Training Advisory Group (TAG) personal Adviser.

Brokerage

The Training Advice Shop is in the business of providing a quality information, advice and guidance (IAG) service to our clients, so they can make better informed decisions. The Training Adviser remains committed to providing a personalised service. Our Advisers work with you to make sure that you receive the information you need quickly and that it is up-to-date. At the Training Advice Shop we take the frustration out of trying to source the training that you need and we will also try to find you the funding to support it.

The Training Advice Shop can help you explore and search for training that meets your exact needs in one convenient location. We will provide you with access to an experienced professional training and development Adviser to assist you with all your training problems and enquiries. Here's how it works:

1. The client communicates to The Training Advice Shop their details and individual training requirements via our web-based Request Form, e-mail, fax or a telephone call. A Training Advisor does an initial search of the training provider networks and then communicates back to client the choices available and what they can expect from the search. Usually the Adviser will present 2 to 3 qualified choices.
2. The Adviser and the client agree the analysis of need, the goals and the way forward.
3. The client and the Adviser jointly clarify and agree the priorities based on the needs analysis and on the scope and depth of the search project.
4. The Adviser then prepares and submits a brief report of their findings and a detailed action plan for the client including the choices that are available to them with any supporting details.
5. From the information provided the client is then able to make informed decisions.
6. The Adviser provides continuous support, as necessary, until agreed outcomes are reached.

The Training Advice Shop will also explore strategies for building a network of contributors that will meet the current and future training requirements of your organisation. We will also identify the best and most cost-effective use of learning technologies for both your large and small scale training programmes.

Mentoring & Coaching

Mentoring and Coaching is about supporting you in your learning and, if you are an employer, supporting and developing learning in your company.

Supporting individuals and employees in their learning

• identify and negotiating learning programmes with each client
• negotiating with their line managers if appropriate
• ensuring that each client understands what their learning programme involves
• listening carefully to find our how learners are progressing and whether they are facing any problems
• keeping in touch with learners, managers and learning providers
• advocating for learners, e.g. arguing for them to have the time they need to complete coursework, etc
• seeking and/ or providing further advice and guidance as necessary

Supporting learning in the company

• Helping the company to become a learning organisation
• Finding out how learning takes place throughout the company
• Identifying the learning needs in the company and linking these to the company’s objectives
• Developing a company training plan and individual learning plans to support learners
• Liaising with learning providers (local college or training company)

Funding & Grants

The availability of funding and grants for individual, employee and business development can be a very complicated area and can change on an almost daily basis. Fact sheets are available on our website and their aim is to provide basic information and updates on the most common schemes currently available. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all the funding and grants available to clients in the SW but merely a list of the most useful ones available.

Most funding and grant schemes are also entirely discretionary. Applications from businesses may require formal business plans or proposals to support them, and be aware that the decision making process may take sometime.

The Advice Session & Action Planning

As a nextstep provider we provide a confidential information and advice service about learning and work for adults, whether you are in work or unemployed. If you are aged 20 and over and have not yet achieved a recognised Level 2 qualification (If you do not have a level 2 qualification - that's 5 GCSEs or O level passes at grades A - C or an NVQ level 2 qualification) then we can offer FREE advice sessions with a trained adviser. If you are unemployed, returning to work, would like to get a better job or want to realise your true potential in your existing job we can also help you.

Nextstep is a national service available in all areas and is delivered through a network of quality assured organisations. In the South West Training Advisory Group deliver our FREE face-to-face IAG services across Devon, Cornwall & Somerset.

An advice session is a one-to-one discussion with an Adviser who is qualified in giving advice about learning and work. It normally lasts a minimum of 30 minutes. An advice session can cover any of the following areas which are important to the client:

• interpreting any information and taking into account personal circumstances
• helping to link personal interests and skills to the desired job/career requirements
• helping the client to use decision making tools
• advice on completion of application forms, CV preparation and interview skills
• identifying Skills for Life needs and making referrals to appropriate sources of help for literacy and numeracy assessments
• interpretation of Labour Market Information and Intelligence
• advice on financial and other support available
• advice on entry to Further and Higher Education
• advice relating to redundancy including how to access the appropriate information, who to contact and where to go
• considering possible progression paths, personalising options
• what is and is not available and discussion of alternatives
• helping the client to construct an Action Plan including realistic goals and objectives, identifying barriers and timescales for action.

Every advice session is different because it is unique to the client. At the end of the session, the adviser will produce an individual Action Plan and nextstep will contact the client at a later stage to monitor how they are progressing towards learning or work and offer them further help if needed.

Feedback

We know that there is always room for improvement! Unless you tell us what you think and what we are getting wrong then we will not be able to put it right! We want to know what you think about our services and our website and would welcome any comments you would like to make on how we can improve it.

Please help us to improve our services by giving us your feedback. We would like to hear from you:

• If you have received a good service.
• If you are not satisfied with the service you have received.
• If you would like to suggest ways in which we can improve our service for you.
• If you would like to suggest ways in which we can improve our website.