Skills share recruitment event: Lancaster & Morecambe College seeks people to share their creative expertise

Lancaster and Morecambe College (LMC) is responding to demand from adults across the district who are keen to learn new skills, by offering an expanded range of part time courses over the coming months.

So it now needs even more expert instructors to come and share their skills – but you don’t have to be a teacher, or have any formal qualifications or teaching experience to run the classes.

The college is looking for adults with a range of creative skills and expertise – it already has a waiting list of people wanting to learn digital photography, DIY skills and plastering– but also needs people who can help others learn to draw and paint, or to cook or sew, build a shed or build a website!

If you’ve got a creative or digital skill and you feel you could help others to learn it, then you could be paid for passing on your skills. The classes are part-time so it could just be a few hours a week, and the college’s community courses are based across Lancaster, Morecambe, Milnthorpe and Garstang areas – so you could be teaching a class right on your doorstep.

Adult and Community Learning Manager, Becky Davenport, has been inundated with requests for classes and is determined to meet the needs of the local community. “We are seeing a real increase in interest from adults who want to gain skills and knowledge across a wide range of subjects, including Creative and Digital Arts, Culinary Skills and DIY.”

To find out more, LMC is hosting a Skills Share Recruitment Event on February 22 between 6pm – 8pm. The event is open to anyone aged 19 and over and you can register to attend here.

“The idea is to recruit local people to share their skills and knowledge with like-minded adults” explains Engagement Manager, Victoria Carter. “We aren’t necessarily looking for people with a teaching background; we want to meet adults who have relevant skills and experience and who are passionate about sharing these with their peers. We will talk through the training and development opportunities, and all of the processes required to deliver our community courses, on the evening.”

Do you struggle with everyday sums?

If a spreadsheet makes your head spin, your household budget doesn’t balance and your kids’ maths homework doesn’t add up, then help is at hand!

Many adults would like to brush-up on their numeracy – whether that’s for themselves or to support their children – and now a range of support is available to help do just that.

Adult and Community Learning Manager, Becky, told us: “We also know that many adults would like to brush-up on their Maths skills, to help with personal and household budgeting, supporting their children with homework and to increase their employment opportunities.”

And so, alongside the creative and vocational courses already on offer, LMC is also developing a range of FREE opportunities for adults who wish to improve their number skills.

As part of the national Multiply project, the College is recruiting a team who will deliver workshops and 1-1 support for adults across the community.

“The focus of the project is to make Maths relevant to everyday life, so there will be sessions on supporting children with homework, numeracy within the workplace, and general budgeting and money management,” Becky said.

So whether you want to understand your pay slip better, be able to compare mortgages, do your own taxes or help the kids with their equations, a Multiply course could be the answer.

Find out more via the LMC website here.

Learn more about your local college online here.