Practitioners’ reluctance

Practitioners too may be reluctant to redirect learners to other goals. They often see post secondary as a clearer path:

We can get them there and be sure they go on. With a job, we can get them ready, but there’s no guarantee that a job will result. With trades, it is often difficult to get an apprenticeship set up so that puts another barrier in their way.

One practitioner noted that few options are available for learners who cannot progress to post secondary but who do not want unskilled work. Even if they did, there is a lack of knowledge on the part of employers about the LBS program. Because employers do not accept LBS credits, students hang onto their post secondary goals whether they can achieve them or not. The labour market situation can push up entry level requirements too, “Most trades and employment today require post secondary training and or other certificates.”

Conditions for Success

Three important conditions are required for the Redirection Protocol to be successful in increasing learner retention. First of all the concept of redirection needs to be introduced to learners at an early stage in their program. Learners usually establish their goals in orientation or through other courses that focus on initial goal-setting. This can also be an opportunity for learners to begin reflecting on the positive and negative forces that will steer them towards or away from their goals, and why some of them may have to change their goals. The most important message for learners is that no matter what new direction they may take, they will always have options. Even if the redirection involves the learner withdrawing from the program altogether, it will be an ‘informed withdrawal’ and an informed decision to withdraw carries with it a plan for future action, and hope. (Ohio Department of Education Adult Basic and Literacy Education)

Secondly, all parties, including learners, must work together to ensure a co-ordinated, systematic process for reviewing goals. Much will depend on the program’s ability to help learners refocus their goals and provide the kind of support necessary to achieve them. This kind of support may include tailoring learning activities to the new goals of the learner and linking learners to other educational services and community agencies. While some programs are already doing this, others will need to evaluate their capacity to provide this kind of delivery and these kinds of linkages.