Charting a Course: Responding to the
Industry-Related
Adult Basic Education Needs of the Texas Workforce
Handbook One: Planning and Implementation Tips
for Program Planners and Administrators
Module One: Determining Program Capacity, Services,
and Solutions
Know Your Program: Start With a SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands
for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The objective
of a SWOT analysis is to assess your program’s infrastructure and
capacity to successfully venture into workplace education.
Like any new adult education venture, a Workplace ESOL initiative
requires an honest evaluation of the program’s strengths and needs,
along with the anticipation of both opportunities and obstacles likely
to present themselves. The responses can then be used in developing marketing
and implementation plans. A blank worksheet is included in the appendices.
Strengths
- What adult learner populations are targeted by your program
and how many do you serve?
- What’s an outstanding feature of your adult education
program?
- What’s an outstanding feature of your ESL initiative?
- What are your greatest assets in terms of people, organization,
finances, support, knowledge, and reputation/visibility?
- What are some program accomplishments that business and industry
may not know about?
- How does workforce-related ESL fit into adult education’s
mission?
|
Opportunities
- What changes in the community may present windows of opportunity
for adult education?
- Are new opportunities becoming available in terms of technology,
additional funding, and new industries in your area?
- Are there new issues, needs, concerns, or demands surfacing
in the community?
- Is there a population emerging and in need of ESL services
in the communities you serve?
- How can you learn more about local businesses and promote
Workplace ESL at the same time?
- What opportunities in the community might help prepare instructors
to deliver Workplace ESL?
|
Weaknesses (Areas
Needing Improvement)
- Is workforce-related instruction an area in which your ESL
program needs further development?
- What are your weaknesses in terms of personnel, organization,
finance, knowledge, and reputation?
- Does your organization have a structure in place to charge
for services or materials*, or must you provide services and
materials from your existing budget?
- What are some sources of concern related to establishing a
workforce-related ESL program?
- What do you need to do to market your services to business
and industry?
- What do you need to know about the language and culture of
the workplace?
- What is needed to prepare instructors to deliver ESL in a workplace/workforce
context?
|
Threats (Challenges)
- Does your adult education program have any competition within
the community?
- How difficult is it for you to take your services to the workplace
vs. having learners come to you?
- What if any changes or events in the communities could have
a negative impact on a workforce-related ESL program?
- Do you know which local businesses employ non-native speakers
of English?
- What do you perceive to be the biggest obstacle to delivering
ESL in the workplace?
- Is your program known in the community for its flexibility
and responsiveness to adult learners’ needs?
- Does your organizational infrastructure allow adult education
to promote workplace literacy or does another program within
your organization address this critical need? **
|
* This can be a barrier, particularly for school districts that are
not set up to accommodate revenue producing initiatives.
** This can be a barrier for programs at community colleges that have
a separate “business” division to deliver work-related instruction.
|
Adult
Ed in Texas |
Even Start in Texas |
State Initiatives |
Texas Workforce
Partnerships