Survey providers of learning and skills in the third sector

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has commissioned a partnership to carry out research examining the role of the VCS in both learning and skills and in building the Big Society.

The research will seek to understand the make-up, dynamics and scale of the VCS in order to help policy makers to adapt their plans to maximise the contribution that the sector can make to achieving wider objectives including:

• Improving participation rates;
• Fostering more effective collaboration between the third sector and other types of learning and skills providers;
• Enhancing the quality of provision in the further education and skills sector;
• Engaging greater numbers of hard to reach learners;
• Securing greater diversity in the pool of learning and skills providers; and
• Enabling efficiency savings through more effective collaboration.

To complete the anonymous questionnaire, which should take no longer than 15-20 minutes, visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/Third-Sector-Learning-and-Skills-Research.

The research is being carried out by a partnership of Skills-Third Sector, the Third Sector National Learning Alliance, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, Fairtrain, HOLEX, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.