Golden Thread

The Golden Thread Project was a regional project focused on helping more people in the South West to obtain functional levels of literacy, language and numeracy by supporting the practitioners in the wider workforce who were working with learners with Skills for Life needs.  This included assessors, verifiers, vocational trainers, and information, advice and guidance (IAG) advisors, as well as specialist teachers.


The project was funded through European Social Fund (ESF) funding and ran from 2008-2011.  It was designed to work through strong and effective networks and to complement the delivery of mainstream support.


The Golden Thread Project Team included a group of experienced Professional Development Co-ordinators (PDCs) who worked across the South West sub-regions of Plymouth and Devon, Wiltshire and Swindon, West of England and Gloucestershire, and Dorset and Somerset.


The team worked closely with local Training Provider Networks to identify the development needs of organisations and practitioners across the South West and to develop ways to address these.  They ran a range of events and other development activities and also contributed to events being run by other organisations.


The project aimed to:

establish what continuing professional development (CPD) was already available in local areas and identify what gaps in provision there were

give providers individual advice and work with them to produce action plans to develop their capacity to work with learners with language. Literacy and  numeracy needs

collate intelligence gained to give a regional assessment of the CPD needs of the workforce

find creative ways to offer opportunities to take part in training and access support which could address needs identified