Over the last 13 years Fashion-Enter Ltd (FEL) with their Fashion Technology Academy (FTA) has grown year-on-year providing skills in stitching, patterns, tailoring and other vocational areas of garment making. One of the reasons for this successful growth is really listening to the leaner and making sure that they really are having the best learning experience that they can have. This is why each academic term we undertake two types of surveys to capture comments directly from the learners.
- Face to face learners voice
- Anonymous survey (this is for all learners on the course)
Last week (9th October) the FTA conducted their latest learner voice and some of the comments expressed were:
- The tutors are amazing – and love their industry expertise
- Being the only man on the course, the inclusion was excellent – felt completely at ease from the moment I walked in and met Hawi
- Love the level it starts at for a complete beginner – the focus on how to clean and thread a machine – you don’t have to have prior knowledge
- The flexibility and ability to learn at your own pace is welcomed – I wanted to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible as I only have limited time to do the course due to work and family commitments
Of course any Academy can always improve and here are some of the areas for improvement highlighted below:
- Can a list of equipment be provided before the course starts to prepare learners?
- It would be great to get an overview of the syllabus at the beginning or even before the start day so prepared and know what to expect each week – this would stop learners from falling behind.
- Would be good to have course timings given ahead of course start
After each survey the FTA team will then produce an action plan and go back to the same learner group.
Already actioned after just one week are the following points:
- Progression routes on the website and a handout
- Comms on next steps would be good – a sheet of paper to take away re: courses; newsletter, upcoming masterclasses, machine rental (shop?), tailoring (what paid courses are there V’s funded?) What pop ups or short courses are coming up?
- Link in with Job Centre on careers
FEL CEO Jenny Holloway commented: “We must always strive for excellence and ensure that the FTA is the best vocational academy in the UK today. We have ambitious aims and that includes networking with industry more and bringing to the academy more software and hardware such as Style3D – this is the way we ensure our learners and the designers we serve really do have information, skills and data at their fingertips. Thanks to all the learners that took part in the survey.”