'Learn as you earn' at your desk

By Melissa Jackson
Education reporter, BBC News

Andy Birch runs the course and stays on site at the AA

Imagine a world where education came to you without you having to leave the office or factory where you work.

At the end of the course you gain a qualification which gives you not only a career boost but also valuable points towards a degree qualification.

A project being pioneered by the AA in partnership with Coventry University does just that, aiming to identify and reward in-house talent.

In June this year, 28 students at an AA call centre near Birmingham embarked on the Capability Improvement Programme as it is known.

This was set up with the support and backing of Coventry University who supplied the AA with consultant Andy Birch. He is based at the call centre four days a week.

He has tailored the programme specifically to meet the needs of the staff.

Students say they are now being better recognised for what they do Andy Birch, tutor

He holds tutorials on a one-to-one basis with students and sets them tasks in the form of case studies based around the type of issues they have to deal with.

Mr Birch said: "This is cutting edge.

"The students work on these case studies while they're at work which differs from traditional university courses where you go there to learn and then go back to the workplace and then delay or maybe not apply it.

"Here we are taking work as the learning vehicle so it is the other way round."

The students - who are all managers of small teams - work on 10 or 12 case studies during the 12-month course and complete four formal assignments of up to 500 words in length.

At the end of the course they will receive a "certificate in lifelong learning" accredited by the university.

This equates to 60 CAT credits at level 1 (a degree is 360 CAT credits) which is the equivalent of half of the first year at a university.

Career development

Mr Birch said feedback from the students, who are also all completing an NVQ Level 3 in management, has been very positive.

He said: "Students say they are now being better recognised for what they do.

"The course is all about decision-making, business relationships, taking responsibility and disseminating knowledge."

One of his students is customer team manager Mo Tierney, 50, who has been at the AA for 12 years.

She said: "Doing the course in the workplace was a challenge.

"It was difficult at first, but I have learned from it."

This was not just about building expertise, but building confidence and a nice way of rewarding members of staff Janet Craig, AA management development manager

She wants to develop her career within the AA and is also considering a part-time distance learning degree course.

The scheme was set up with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) in response to the Leitch report which highlighted the need to combat skills shortage in the UK.

The AA management development manager for road, sales and marketing, Janet Craig, said: "We decided to get involved in this scheme because we had identified a skill set shortage and it was quite clear that if we were going to keep pace with changes and make sure we gave our customers a high quality service we had to move forward.

"It was about progressing to have an internal talent management process.

"This was not just about building expertise, but building confidence and a nice way of rewarding members of staff and motivating them.

"We found that growing our own is infinitely better for the organisation - promoting internally and rewarding the people we know.

"The idea that people can learn in the workplace is hugely attractive to us - there is no lost time and their learning is parallel with doing their job."

The project has funding for two years but everyone hopes it will continue beyond this and perhaps become a model for other companies to emulate.