A fascinating series of videos is providing a fresh angle on the impact of LSIS Leadership Toolkits. 

Available for viewing now, the films demonstrate the many innovative ways in which providers are using these resources as a catalyst for transforming the culture of their organisations.

As well as a showcase video giving an overview of how providers have drawn maximum value from the toolkits, there are five case study films offering a close-up look at individual projects.  They cover everything from improving the employability skills of offenders to enhancing equality and diversity awareness.

The films will help spread the word about the substantial benefits of the LSIS Leadership Toolkits, which have been developed and improved to an award-winning standard since 2006.

Today thousands of registered users countrywide take advantage of these free online resources – a comprehensive suite of interactive learning materials which can be downloaded and saved. 

With content driven and determined by the sector, the toolkits are aimed at members of leadership teams, middle managers and staff development managers keen to ensure that their organisations are outstanding.

Tailored toolkits have been devised to focus on different elements of the sector including Adult and Community Learning, Independent Specialist Colleges and Work Based Learning.  The most recent toolkit is dedicated to Offender Learning.

While the resources have long been regarded as invaluable for personal CPD, LSIS has recently placed greater emphasis on how they can best be used for organisational development. 

As part of its commitment to encouraging input from the sector, it provided 25 project grants of up to £5,000 to help providers explore this question themselves. The results offered an impressive demonstration of how LSIS resources can be harnessed in innovative ways. 

Some of the most imaginative projects are featured in the case study videos:

•  Pro VQ improves its Equality and Diversity awareness in Work Based Learning -  examining how this provider of apprenticeships in the motor industry created a shared organisational vision and sustainable strategy to embed E&D across its provision.

•  Strode College helps offender learners enhance employability skills –exploring how a successful carousel approach to learning was developed for students engaged in construction courses with the overall aim of preparing them for work.  The video is partly filmed at HMP Erlestoke.

•  Workers’ Educational Association (North East Region) improves learning through creative thinking – demonstrating how the toolkits helped to unite a management team dispersed across a wide region and enabled course organisers to enhance their personal and professional development.

•  Otley College builds management capacity – showcasing how the toolkits were used to support a new team of curriculum quality managers following a realignment of the college staffing structure.
 
•  David Lewis Centre coaching and mentoring project - examining how middle managers were coached to use two aspects of the Independent Specialist Colleges toolkit to improve the quality of the learner journey.

The showcase video, meanwhile, highlights success stories from the sector – giving practical examples and interviews with practitioners, one of whom describes the resources as “my new best friend”.