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

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Module Two: Marketing Adult Education Services as Workforce Solutions

Check This Out: www.work-basedlearning.org

This website was originally designed to assist business and industry in understanding the direct and indirect benefits of workplace education. In addition to providing employers with tips on how to identify suitable providers, the website offers free tools and advice on starting workplace initiatives. It is also a valuable resource for adult education providers. Included in this module are three adaptations of tools offered on the website.

Whether you choose to use one or more of these tools will be determined by a) local need, b) time constraints, and c) the extent to which you are involved in the language task analysis/workplace literacy audit.

How Can Work-Related Instruction Benefit Your Company? This quick survey (How Can Work-Related Instruction Benefit Your Company?) can be used in a number of ways by the adult education provider:

• as a mail out to local employers who may be interested in learning more about adult education services for their employees
• during an initial visit with an employer (to have the employer complete and return by fax; or as talking points to guide discussion)
• to guide a phone call from an employer inquiring for the first time about educational services for employees’ needs
• as bullets in a brochure or fact sheet marketing work-related adult education services

Workplace Audit Interview Questions. Originally developed by the Adult Training and Development Network of the Capital Region Education Council (Connecticut), this matrix (Workplace Audit Interview Questions) may also be utilized in a number of ways:

• to interview targeted learners; if interviews can be conducted in the individual’s native language, this is an excellent tool to use with the very limited English proficient;
• to gather information from managerial and supervisory staff; and
• to gather information from English-speaking co-workers who are proficient at doing the same job as their limited English proficient counterparts (a native speaker can often identify work-related language skills a non-native speaker needs to do the job).

Gap Analysis of Workplace Needs. The organizing principal of this particular template (Gap Analysis of Workplace Needs) is Pennsylvania’s Workplace Foundation Skills Framework Wheel. It can be used to

• gather information about workforce related language and literacy needs
• plan curriculum and instruction

Important: Involve instructional staff in these activities whenever possible. They will play a critical role in delivering instruction responsive to identified needs and must understand the connections between assessed needs, instruction, and desired outcomes. Together, you can review the information gathered and plan/propose an instructional solution (Module Four, p 58).