Embedded teaching and learning

The NRDC has recently completed a series of case studies of embedded teaching and learning of literacy, language and numeracy. Tom Jupp and Celia Roberts highlight the key messages that emerge from these studies.

The national Skills Strategy aims to increase substantially the number of people who have a Level 2 vocational qualification. One obstacle to this is that many people who might want to aim for such qualifications have poor literacy, language and numeracy (LLN) skills, which will stand in the way of their success. The Skills for Life strategy recognises that many such people with LLN needs do not want to attend LLN classes. But it is also widely accepted that such people's willingness to work on their LLN skills is enhanced when they can improve them in the context of the vocational programme which is their primary motivation.

There are two models for providing LLN within the framework of a wider vocational programme:

• discrete literacy, language and/or numeracy support classes; or
• embedded literacy, language and/or numeracy.

The distinction between discrete LLN learning support and embedded LLN learning support is not clearcut.

As the NRDC research shows, there can be areas of overlap, but the organisation of the teaching and the learning experience are distinctly different. A defining characteristic of embedded provision is that the processes and organisation of LLN learning have been redesigned so as to fit the vocational objectives and learning styles of the students on a particular programme. The approach is learner-centred.

Key findings

The case studies illuminate how embedded LLN can work successfully as an integral part of vocational courses and they identify some of the characteristics critical to this success. Many of the teachers - both vocational and LLN - appear to be both expert and strongly committed to this approach and we can learn more from their practice as a result. But we must still be cautious about the generalisations which follow from this small and diverse range of courses.

Motivation and vocational courses

The case studies describe how well-resourced and well-taught vocational courses offer learners the opportunity to acquire both practical skills and a new professional identity or, as some of the case studies describe, offer learners membership of a new 'community of practice' (Lave and Wenger 1991) (1) . This is what motivates such learners, often in contrast to their former experience as 'school pupils'. Tutors are both teachers and mentors. Learners are both 'doing things' and understanding the culture of their chosen jobs - the behaviour, values and ways of communicating - for example, as joiners, as child care workers, or as Indian head massage practitioners. This new identity, in turn, changes their attitude towards working on 'theory' and on literacy, language and numeracy if they see it as an integral part of the learning for the job they are aspiring to. Once learners value LLN in this way, they will accept focusing on improving their LLN skills.

The organisation of LLN learning

The case studies describe how LLN learning often takes place when the speaking, listening, reading, writing or calculating are directly linked to a practical task. This is very obvious in the observation of numeracy learning. There are many practical tasks in the construction and engineering courses observed which cannot be undertaken without calculation, measurement and estimation as integral parts of the process. It is easy to understand that extra help with these processes feels a lot more useful to a mathematical learner when he or she is 'on task' vocationally rather than in a separate classroom and at a different time. In any case, the gap between carrying out the particular task and the learner's existing knowledge may only become apparent to the learner and the teacher as the task is carried out.

These activities involve learners working on their own or together, with the LLN tutor supporting them as part of the practical task. As well as providing learning through doing, this approach allows young people, in particular, to escape from the peer pressure of appearing weak in LLN. At the same time, to be successful, the relationships between learners and teachers have to be based on empathy and respect, particularly for LLN learning. The LLN tutor's role was less effective if most of the vocational teacher's time was spent in whole class 'up front' teaching.

The vocational subject and the LLN curricula

The case studies describe how 'embedding' is not just about interlinking different curricula; it is deeper and more complex than that. Mapping literacy, language and numeracy skills onto the vocational curriculum can only provide a starting point and give a general idea of what has to be learned. The LLN tutor has to learn, by participating in the vocational classroom, how literacy, language and numeracy are used both for the particular job and in this type of vocational classroom. The case studies describe how learners need and learn the 'situated' LLN skills of their chosen job (Chaiklin and Lave 1996) (2) . But they also need the more general or transportable' LLN skills of classroom learning and reflection: for example, they need a range of adjectives to write aromatherapy instructions or to describe and compare plants in horticulture. These transportable skills provide an analytic language for talking about LLN that allows skills to be reconstructed in a new context.

The teaching team

Teaching skills and relationships between vocational and LLN tutors which led to shared purpose and planning were more important than general models of embedded provision. Shared purpose and planning were not just matters of agreed common purpose but involved finding shared values and a shared language to talk about this purpose. On all the courses described, the teachers planned and worked closely together. They shared, in their respective roles, the same vocational objective for their learners. They were strongly learner-centred.

Vocational teachers have a natural legitimacy on their programmes. They represent the role to which the learner aspires. The LLN teachers lack this immediate legitimacy because their role is one of support and enabling. Learners have to come to recognise the contribution of the LLN teachers to their vocational aspirations. The case studies suggest that this is more immediately recognised by learners who need help to develop their English language than by learners with literacy or numeracy needs.

This distinctive role for the LLN teacher in embedded teaching may not appeal to all LLN teachers; they have less control of the curriculum and of how it is taught than they experience as a subject teacher in their own right.

The characteristic of the successful teaching teams was that they were motivated to provide some embedded provision. They had the time to work and plan together, and both sorts of teachers were willing to learn. The vocational teachers were willing to try to understand the importance of LLN for their learners and to modify their classroom organisation and practice to reflect this. The LLN teachers had to learn a lot about the vocational area and how to provide effective LLN support for these learners in terms of both teaching approaches and content.

The teaching team has to share fully including, at times, sharing the same classroom, but the case studies show that the actual literacy, language and numeracy can be provided, and learners can be supported, in a variety of ways. Initial LLN diagnostic assessment is necessary, but much can also be learned by observing and supporting learners in their vocational settings. There is also a place for discrete LLN classroom work on such programmes, providing it is integral to the delivery of the vocational curriculum.

Participation and success

Although all the learners accepted the fact that there was an LLN input on their course, the great majority of learners in the case studies would not be prepared to attend stand-alone literacy, language or numeracy classes.

For young people, there is a range of vocational programmes which include key skills and additional learning support. The question is whether these young people are more likely to succeed with an embedded approach to LLN or with discrete key skills and learning support arrangements. Does embedded LLN raise vocational achievement for young people?

For the four adult part-time programmes described in the case studies, the position is different. These courses were specially designed to provide literacy and language integrated with preparation in the chosen vocational area. Such programmes, if successful, can be a powerful strategy to widen participation and start learners on a route which can lead to a Level 2 vocational qualification or to accredited LLN programmes. But the case studies show that there can be a tension between the vocational preparation and the stand-alone literacy or English language qualification learners are being prepared for. An example of this was in the childcare and nursing courses, where learners were also studying for separate ESOL qualifications.

On the other hand, success in these qualifications may significantly boost the learners' confidence in pursuing their vocational aspirations.

Conclusion

These case studies show that, while embedding LLN and ESOL in vocational courses helps to improve learners' motivation and successful completion of programmes, it does much more than this. It helps learners to develop new identities and practices, to learn how to be and act in new ways, to become someone in the building trade, or a nurse in the NHS, or a childcare worker, or to have expertise that is valued by family and friends and could lead to employment, such as massage skills. These new roles and identities would not be developed in discrete basic skills sessions, nor would learners appreciate the value of LLN in achieving vocational and recreational goals if their course paid little or no attention to LLN.

References

 (1) Lave, J.and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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 (2) Chaiklin, S. and Lave, J. (1996) Understanding Practice: Perspectives on Activity and Context Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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