A BETT-award winning range of interactive toolkits for managers to help learning and skills providers raise standards is to be made available free of charge by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS). Earlier versions cost more than £500 per organisation.

LSIS Chief Executive David Collins revealed, at the Learning Providers annual conference in Telford on 27 October 2009, that all relevant organisations will be able to use them free of charge from 1 November 2009.

The Leadership Toolkits comprise a suite of bespoke online, interactive resources tailored to meet the needs of managers and leaders within three key sectors:

• adult and community learning 
• work-based learning 
• independent specialist colleges.

They help leaders to address a range of issues, such as preparing for inspection, keeping up to date with policy and funding issues, strategic planning and focusing staff development for organisational improvement. The new reflective log and notepad functions allow for team members to record evidence of their learning, which can contribute towards their 30 hours of continuing professional development.

"The feedback we have received from providers has been overwhelmingly positive. At LSIS we believe anything which helps drive up standards in teaching and learning across further education should be made available to all."
Dr David Collins, LSIS Chief Executive

The success of the LSIS toolkits was recognised with the 2009 Leadership and Management Solutions BETT Award from Becta, the government agency for encouraging the use of technology in lifelong and specialist learning.

"Having the WBL toolkit is like having a consultant available 24 hours a day. The toolkit has enabled me personally to back up ideas formally."
Duncan Hembury, Access Training Ltd

There are currently over 1,600 hits per month to the toolkit site by paid subscribers and LSIS is hoping free access to these resources will encourage more managers to take advantage of the tools available to them for personal as well as organisational development.

These resources are available to registered users on the LSIS Leadership Learning Environment (LLE). To sign up for your free access please go to www.lsis.org.uk/leadershiplearning and click on “create new account”. Self registration will be available from 1 November 2009.