| November 2007 |
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Value of Learning – a new campaign to inspire adults to develop their skills and improve their career prospects.Most of us treat ourselves to a box of chocolates or a night out at the cinema every now and again. But why not spend money on something far more long-lasting – like the opportunity to learn valuable new skills and improve your career or to think about starting your own business? That's the message behind the LSC’s national Value of Learning campaign, which aims to encourage adults across the country to develop their skills and continue learning throughout their life. Value of Learning delivers specific messages alongside the Skills Campaign and aims to get people thinking about the importance of investing in learning and in themselves. As well as conveying the financial, personal and social benefits of learning and acquiring new skills, it also explains the need for individuals to make a financial contribution to their own learning. Full-time learners aged 19 and over and studying for a first full Level 2 or Level 3 qualification, however, may be eligible for the Adult Learning Grant of up to £30 per week. The Value of Learning campaign follows on from last year's FE White Paper: Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances, which introduced changing fee structures for learners. A number of communications have been launched to promote Value of Learning campaign. A series of four advertorials have appeared in glossy consumer magazines to highlight the fact that investing in training can boost learners' career prospects. The LSC and the government departments involved have also produced a series of research-led stories focusing on adult attitudes to fees and learning and the real return on investment that training offers. Despite the concern expressed by some colleges and learning providers that learners might be reluctant to contribute to course fees, research shows that this does not put them off at all. On the contrary, learners appreciate that training offers "a real return on investment."
Skills Campaign update
Since its launch, the Skills Campaign has achieved 121 pieces of coverage. The Skills Campaign TV advert appeared as one of the highest recalled adverts in the Ad Watch section of Marketing Magazine on 15 August. It has also been posted on YouTube and has generated more than 5,000 hits, which shows that people are actively engaging with the campaign and finding its concept both entertaining and inspiring.
Train to Gain UpdateA number of advertorials will be running in the sector press before the end of this year. They will be case study led and will be featured in The Engineer, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Contract Journal and The Grocer. More advertorials will appear in January in the same publications, however they will be in the form of advice columns with a question and answer format between a Skills Broker and potential employers. On-line adverts are running on the Times online and the Reed Business Publishing micro site until the end of the year.
Adult Learning Grant UpdateSince launching in July, communication around ALG has focussed on the rational and emotional benefits of adults going back to college, highlighting ALG as the hero, a solution to the financial barriers that people feel about going back to learning. There will be another burst of ALG communications to support the next wave of skills activity in the New Year. Partner & provider enquiries
LSC Campaign updatesThe LSC East Midlands aims to provide its providers and partners with regular bulletins, similar in style to this one, to keep them up to date on marketing and communications activities in relation to the Skills Campaign and other campaigns. If you wish to unsubscribe to this service, {UNSUBSCRIBE "please click here to unsubscribe"}. If this update has been forwarded to you from a colleague and you would like to receive your own dedicated communication in future, please subscribe by clicking here. You can register to receive regular updates to news and other items by subscribing to the LSC East Midlands web alert service. Click on this link to register for this service: http://www.lsc.gov.uk/regions/EastMidlands/News/lscwebalerts/ We’re interested to hear from you and to see how you have incorporated the skills strap line and creatives into your marketing collateral. Please email us at em.marcomms@lsc.gov.uk |
Early analysis shows that during the first 12 weeks of the campaign (9 July to 30 Sept 2007) the Skills Campaign - including Train to Gain - has generated over 160,000 responses through the helplines and websites from both individuals and employers.
