Well, at the Skills for Life conference in Birmingham last autumn, I was told that the New Approach was going to solve all our problems locally, but in the past week alone I have talked to two colleagues who have had community classes for women closed. BAES does not appear to be offering any more courses at E1 and E2, which is where the greatest local need is, especially among women. So where is the city putting the money it now controls? Is it going into ESOL at all? If it is, the ESOL teachers employed by the city have not been informed, are still losing teaching hours (and we are all sessional), and no one that I know is involved in any new provision. If there is any new or replacement provision, is it being taught by trained teachers and if so, who are they?
(I have nearly finished teaching a very badly organised 'Working Neighbourhood Fund' E2 class; the most serious failure from the point of view of the students, or at least those who are seriously looking for work, is that the promised work experience in local businesses has not materialised. Any work experience will have to be within the centre. The students aren't necessarily at the specified level or genuinely looking for work --one example is a young asylum seeker who wants to work but can't. I pleaded back in March to be told what kind of documentation would be required, but only last week finally got a copy of an e-mail asking for extensive documentation.)
