The Latest Bulletin

Are you involved in student supervision or other ways of helping people learn? If so, Neil Thompson's The Learning from Practice Manual is for you. Neil has been involved in supporting practice learning for over four decades. This hands-on manual of practice guidance encapsulates his experience and expertise in a way that readers will find very helpful. Available for purchase along with many other books by Neil here or from the Avenue Learning Centre here.

When two or more people come into contact with one another there is already a set of expectations, social rules about how to relate to other people. These are part of culture. In addition, there are sets of expectations that apply to specific situations – consider, for example, the rules that govern buying something in a shop, ordering a drink in a café or a bar, and so on. Breaking these rules (jumping the queue, for example) can cause a lot of bad feeling and displeasure. But there is more to it than this. When you form a relationship of any kind with someone, a set of expectations specific to that relationship will quickly develop. Having these expectations is generally…

Thinking about the future is an important aspect of person-centred planning, which should aim to build on the person’s strengths and skills, and help them consider what they want most in life as they get older. This quick guide will help practitioners to support older people with learning disabilities when they are planning for the future. Click here to read more

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has launched new guidance on age discrimination and employer obligations. Treating someone unfairly because of their age is against the law (apart from in very limited circumstances). Age is one of nine features known as protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010, but in many cases, employers unintentionally discriminate because they are unfamiliar with the law. Whether intended or not, age discrimination can often lead to poor decision-making when recruiting, demotivate existing staff, lead to reduced job performance, and lessen trust between colleagues. Also, assumptions and uninformed decisions about job applicants or employees could lead to discrimination claims. Click here to read more

The Choir with No Name runs choirs for homeless and marginalised people. We’re a diverse bunch of folks; all genders, all colours, all ages - everyone is welcome. We sing pop, rock, soul, gospel, reggae, musicals... you name it, we’ll give it a go... although we’ve yet to try any thrash metal or grime. We have four choirs: in Birmingham, Liverpool, our recently merged London 'superchoir' (run in partnership with Look Ahead) and Brighton (run in partnership with Brighton Housing Trust). We have plans to launch a new choir in Brighton later in the year. Each choir gets together to rehearse every week (with a decent dinner at the end of rehearsal!) and we perform regularly. Click here to read more

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