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Tailored learning

Attend Academy's aim is to address the problem volunteer organisations face of impoverished nationally accredited training and development opportunities available to them.

The project aspires to make a positive impact on the recruitment and retention of well-qualified staff and improve the quality of volunteer management in the UK.

To date Attend Academy has developed a number of initiatives commissioned by the Cabinet Office, Department of Health, V4All, and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Recruiting volunteers from 'hard to reach' groups

The Cabinet Office commissioned Attend Academy to design and deliver four, one-day workshops on recruiting volunteers from hard to reach groups.

These workshops were delivered at different venues around the country, and involved 80 delegates. Attend Academy was responsible for marketing the workshops and recruiting these delegates.

The workshops gave the delegates not only the opportunity to explore barriers and solutions on the topic of hard to reach recruitment, but it also gave them the opportunity to hear the experiences of both expert guest-speakers and volunteers from a range of these groups, including asylum-seekers, refugees, and young people.

The supporting resources featured a range of best practice guidance and up-to-date research.

V4All training workshops

V4All also commissioned Attend Academy to design and deliver workshops to support volunteer managers who are seeking to diversify their volunteering base to reflect the nature of the communities they serve.

The structure of these workshops was also based on the CIPD certificate programme, but the content was tailored to explore the issue of diversifying volunteering in more depth.

Six one-day workshops have been designed and each one will be delivered in three venues around the country in 2008. Each workshop will be attended by 25-30 delegates.

Topics to be covered include:

Again, Attend Academy will be responsible for promoting these workshops and recruiting delegates for them.

'Action Space' coaching programme for those with learning disabilities

Action Space is a London-based organisation provides visual arts projects for people with mild to profound learning difficulties. Participants exhibit and sell their work in high profile arts venues.

Attend Academy is designing and delivering a coaching programme to enable participants to coach and support their peers.

This course is designed and delivered by Attend Academy staff, with specialists experienced in learning disabilities. Delegates attend 12 half-day sessions and eventually gain a qualification accredited by the Open College Network.

Volunteer management training in Wales

The Welsh Assembly Government approached Attend Academy to design and deliver two volunteer management workshops in North and South Wales.

The workshops were based on modules of the CIPD certificate programme and delivered to a total of 40 volunteer service managers working in a hospital setting. Attend Academy promoted the course and recruited delegates.

The sessions were interactive and the discussion notes from the two workshops were combined into a summary document and forwarded to all delegates, including those who were unable to make it.

Mental health learning networks

The regional mental health learning networks, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health England (NIMHE) and the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP), requested a selection of sessions to be facilitated by Attend Academy.

Each region determined their own agenda, and meetings typically included professional updating and opportunities for learning about topical issues. Attend Academy have been requested to deliver a range of these sessions around the country.

Each of these sessions tend to be one to two hours in duration, and past topics have included:

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