General

The Switched On Project is a supported learning and skills development programme working in areas of Cardiff and Newport.  We use a partnership approach to help people in the community in an individual, innovative and flexible way.  We aim to work with people who face many different barriers to mainstream jobs and learning, and who need extra support and informal learning to build on their strengths, achieve their personal goals, and improve their skills, confidence and general life skills.

We aim to help participants build on what they can do, rather than tell them what they can’t do.

The approach involves providing flexible learning and support programmes which progress through different steps to help people move forward, overcome their barriers, and perhaps move on to future learning which may be more outside of their comfort zone.

All the courses are free and participants are adults (aged 16+) who are drawn from communities of the partner organisations we work with.  There are no formal restrictions on who we can take part in the Project, but participants must be encountering barriers to mainstream learning opportunities and require extra support.

Each learning programme is planned and delivered according to the needs and skills of the participants, and take place through the help of partner organisations that are based in our target communities.  Our pool of Tutors, Support Workers and Volunteers deliver the courses and ensure the aims of the Project are met.  We keep the numbers of participants on each course small so that a high level of support can be given to each participant.

We aim to have our programmes individually-designed.  This is done through ensuring that every participant has an informal Individual Development Plan (IDP) which helps us understand their goals and the barriers they may have faced in their lives.  These help us give participants support to plan for their long-term goals and means we are able to design each step to be tailor-made and relevant to individual needs.

Key features of the Switched On Project:

• Individual support and mentoring is given to participants through ensuring groups are small and Support Workers are on-hand alongside the Tutors to give additional support.
• Our approach is long-term and aims to stick with participants to assist them to progress through different learning programmes.
• Each programme is designed to be tailormade and the learning is individual to each participant’s skills and needs.
• Each programme is flexible and is designed around the individuals, instead of in a ‘top-down’ approach.  Constant monitoring and evaluation ensures that the courses remain appropriate. 
• The programmes are local and informal as we seek to bring learning to the learners.  We work in local communities but aim to gradually progress with people to move them outside of their comfort zone and back into mainstream learning.
• The approach of the Project is innovative and flexible and aims to provide learning support to people who are often not best served by more mainstream training providers. 
• The approach is holistic as it looks to address people’s life issues which may be stopping them progressing into mainstream learning.
• Working in partnership with a huge range of community groups and other voluntary sector organisations in Cardiff and Newport is central to the Project and helps us access the people in the communities that most need our support.