ASDAN’s qualifications give young people the best of both – interest-led topics and tangible outcomes

WN7 Outreach CIC are a new centre working with young people with complex needs who are out of education or at risk of being excluded. The centre uses ASDAN’s Certificate of Personal Effectivess and Employability qualifications to enhance young people’s employability skills and offer an essential alternative to mainstream GCSEs.  

We spoke to Curriculum Coordinator Tansy Wright about the benefits of ASDAN’s practical, portfolio-based learning approach to engage their young people in learning. 

“When we started WN7 Outreach CIC, we knew we needed flexibility and we didn’t want to be constrained by a curriculum that wasn’t relevant to our young people,” says Tansy Wright. “I had previously worked with our business owner at a school delivering ASDAN, and we really liked the format of the courses. ASDAN allows you to choose engaging modules based on the learner’s needs.” 

A portfolio-based curriculum without exams 

“A big reason for choosing to deliver ASDAN courses was the lack of exams,” says Tansy. “Having no exams means that young people’s success isn’t just reliant on that one day.”  

“We’re delivering ASDAN’s Certificate of Personal Effectivess (CoPE) Level 1 and 2 and Employability qualifications. Learners can work on projects over time and build up a portfolio,” says Tansy.  

WN7 Outreach CIC’s young people shared how the course complements their learning style: 

“ASDAN courses have allowed me to study in a way that suits me better,” says one learner. “I don't enjoy strict classroom situations, so being able to get out and feel like I am learning practical things as well as helping others to learn has been good.” 

Another learner stated: “The thing I like most about this course [CoPE] is how I get to choose the topics I can do to complete the course. The task is easier to complete because I enjoy it and it's something I am interested in.” 

Certificating practical learning through peer mentoring 

“Having worked in schools for 15 years, myself and business owner Anthony Doyle, found that a lot of the UKs standard curriculum isn’t very practical or relevant to our young people,” says Tansy. “ASDAN meets the practical needs of our learners.” 

“We can really tailor the qualification to their interests. Through CoPE’s modules in Citizenship and community, Sport and leisure and The environment, our young people worked with local primary schools, engaging in activities like gardening or delivering sports and creative arts sessions with Key Stage 2 learners who were also at risk of being excluded or struggling at home. This module gave them the chance to do something different and interesting, and the older learners gained experience in managing groups, leading sessions and teamwork.” 

“The gardening project we did as part of The Independent Living module was particularly successful. One learner started building planters at home and began trying to sell them online. They all really enjoyed using tools and developing those practical skills. As they gained confidence and a sense of their abilities, they also began to volunteer for other activities and jobs around the centre.” 

“The primary schools are seeing a huge benefit in their learners working with ours and are desperate to keep working with us” says Tansy. 

“Parents are coming to us directly from seeing our activities on social media. Parents of young people with special needs and education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are often disillusioned with what they're receiving at schools, particularly for those with ADHD and autism. Their needs aren't being met by a standard curriculum. I’d absolutely recommend CoPE, I think it’s really valuable, diverse and can be tailored to suit everyone,” says Tansy. 

Gaining work experience through CoPE 

“We've integrated work experience within CoPE through the Work-related learning and enterprise module, which has been brilliant. One learner has worked at a dog charity, another at a car mechanics and we’ve taken one of the learners on as an apprentice at WN7 Outreach CIC.” 

“CoPE has been a great at exposing our learners to the outside world. For example, we ran a charity boxing night, which for our apprentice fit perfectly into CoPE’s activity on hosting a live event. They organised and ran the event, gaining confidence in speaking to people, organising, and trying new things. It builds their self-belief as well as practical skills. They’d never get an opportunity to do something like that in school.” says Tansy. 

WN7 Outreach CIC’s apprentice says: “I have learned a lot doing CoPE. I didn't think I would be confident speaking in front of others, but I have developed this skill a number of times.” 

Nationally-recognised qualifications 

“We chose to deliver CoPE because it’s really important to us that our young people leave with an official qualification,” says Tansy. 

“We felt that ASDAN’s CoPE and Employability qualifications are relevant to real-life contexts but are also genuine qualifications. ASDAN’s qualifications offer young people the best of both worlds – interesting topics and tangible, certificated outcomes.” 

“In terms of GSCEs, our learners are moving into adulthood with just their English and Maths, so having CoPE and Employability as qualifications alongside these is a huge achievement and results in a really well-rounded set of qualifications,” says Tansy. 

“Teaching CoPE has been really rewarding because we were able to pick a really diverse range of topics. We’ve noticed a huge increase in interest and engagement. We'll be getting a 100% completion rate on Level 2 CoPE and Level 2 Employability with our young people, it’s brilliant,” says Tansy.  

Short Courses build skills and confidence for qualifications 

“Alongside ASDAN’s qualifications, WN7 Outreach CIC delivers a range of their Short Courses, such as English, Sports and Fitness, Leadership and Adventure and Residential,” says Tansy. 

“We absolutely love ASDAN’s Short Courses, especially the English Short Course, which we use to help young people prepare for GSCEs. We appreciate the course progression opportunities within ASDAN’s courses and plan to look into this further with our next cohort,” says Tansy. 

“We’d definitely recommend ASDAN courses, they work for everyone.” 

If you have been inspired and would like to work with us to share your story, please contact marketing@asdan.org.uk or find out more about ASDAN’s Certificate of Personal Effectiveness qualifications.