We use the word client to refer to a person who directly benefits from our education and training services. Information about the services we provide to clients can be found on the sub-menu to the left. Examples of projects that we are able to offer and that we have run in the past can be found in the contractor section of this website.

Please note the company only engages with clients through contractors that we are working in partnership with. If you are a potential client, and you would like to be involved in one of our programmes, then please ask your services or support manager to contact us. If you are currently unattached to a support or services organisation, then please call us for advice.

While all of our OCN courses can be delivered in stand-alone form, they can also form elements within a progression qualification (see left) or a non-accredited programme. We can also provide taster sessions designed to assess the course that would be most appropriate to a particular client group.

Our OCN qualifications are aimed at learners from a wide range of sectors including:

• Adult returners
• 16-19 learners who would benefit from an alternative curriculum and approach to learning
• Learners who want to test out vocational areas
• Learners who have been failed by their formal educational experience
• The harder to reach adult who has been and remains economically inactive

The qualifications are particularly suitable for learners who need to:

• Develop their literacy and/or numeracy skills
• Explore/investigate career opportunities
• Experience a range of vocationally related areas to identify personal preferences / abilities
• Test out preferred vocationally related area before pursuing sector specific qualifications
• Understand how to develop effective relationship building or interpersonal skills
• Learn how to work effectively as part of a team
• Identify their preferred learning styles and/or develop learning skills that equip them to become more effective learners
• Develop life skills such as independent living or specific personal health management skills before undertaking, or taking alongside, more vocationally related learning.

Our primary aim is to assist clients in the development of key skills, such as literacy and numeracy, and the social skills that can aid a client in the process of becoming a self supporting and active citizen. We use the the arts as a tool to facilitate the learning process. The arts are at the core of programme delivery and various mediums are used to achieve learning outcomes. Drama and music are strong elements in most courses but other art forms such as video and creative writing are also employed depending on the interests of the participants.

The Bridge - Our Model of Practice

Teaching methods are dynamic and encourage direct participation from the learners through practical exercises and hands on experience. Traditional classroom tutorials are kept to a minimum and the evidence required for the purposes of accrediting our courses can be gathered through a variety of means that ensure everybody benefits from the programmes we provide.

A strong focus is given to preparing and enabling learners to approach employment, and/or further training, with confidence and a realistic understanding of their own skills and abilities and how they might fit within specific learning and employment contexts.

Each of our OCN courses (containing 1 or 2 course units) is usually delivered within a minimum of 30 hours of learning spread over a minimum of six sessions.

Click on a link for more detailed course information. Please note that most of the courses can be adapted for delivery at a different level. For clients who have progressed to Level 3, we can also provide units from our Practitioner Training course.  

Although our courses can be delivered in stand-alone form, we like to work with contractors on the provision of progression qualifications for the clients that we are involved with.

Progression Qualifications help:

• Increase participation at all levels and widen participation amongst groups currently under-represented
• Provide opportunities for tentative returning learners to experience different curriculum areas with a view to making informed choices about their own learning needs or directions
• Build confidence in the reluctant learner to go on to further learning opportunities in an informed way
• Provide the tools to motivate learners and enable them to gain confidence by providing a supportive learning framework in which they can achieve real progress and acquire new skills or develop existing skills
• Equip learners with some of the skills needed to move on to the next stage of their learning career
• Provide progression onto sector specific qualifications in the National Qualification Framework.

Progression Qualifications

• To achieve the Level 2 Award for Progression, the learner must achieve 12 unit credits. At least 3 unit credits must be taken from the core units.
• To achieve the Level 2 Certificate for Progression, the learner must achieve 18 unit credits. At least 3 unit credits must be taken from the core units.
• To achieve the Level 2 Diploma for Progression, the learner must achieve 33 unit credits. At least 6 unit credits must be taken from the core units.

Escape Artists has created a number of Progression Qualifications, from Level 2 through to Level 3, that provide participants with the opportunity to gain nationally recognised accreditation through a structured learning programme that is designed to work across sectors.

Within our own organisation we offer a Preparation for Work programme for clients who have successfully achieved a Level 2 progression qualification. The Preparation for Work programme is based on our Level 3, Practitioner Training Course and our Level 3, Management Training Course. The Preparation for Work programme can be accessed in three ways:

• Through the courses that we run from our London base
• Through our internship programme
• Through delivery at a contractor's chosen site

Please note that clients can only access the Preparation for Work programme if he or she is within the care of a contractor or other support organisation.

Through our professional arts events we provide clients with opportunities to develop and showcase their skills within a variety of settings. The work that takes place as part of these arts events also provide clients with further opportunities for gaining credits towards their OCN Progression Qualification.

Arts events that are staged by us are useful means through which, in partnership with a contractor, we can raise awareness of issues of social concern.

Examples of arts events produced/co-produced by us include:

• The City Wakes: A Tribute to Syd Barrett in support of arts in mental health. 2008
• The Edge Festivals - Cambridge and Rome 2000, 2002, 2005
• Arts at the Edge - New European Approaches to Arts and Social Inclusion, Cambridge 2005
• Blagger - The first non-lyric drama to be performed at the Royal Opera House. 2000
• Love and Marriage - Community theatre project with the Royal Shakespeare Company. 2003
• Put it Down - Rap Against Guns and Knives, Jacksons Lane Theatre. 2006
• Cambridge Cantata - With Sue Ryder Care at Kings College Chapel. 2005
• Monster - A short film about homelessness that won the Audience Choice Award at the Big Issue Film Festival. 2004

Information about current and future events can be found on the Escape Artists/Syd Barret Trust website.

The Passport is a booklet, produced by Escape Artists, in which clients' educational achievements are recorded. The information in the booklet is backed up in an online database that is accessible to contractors. Through using the passport clients can easily keep track of the number of course units and credits that they have gained. The passport has been designed to assist clients in their progression from the margins to the mainstream and is an integral part of The Bridge, the company's model of socially inclusive arts practice.

Our OCN courses are designed so that course credits can be gained in almost any environment. For clients who often find themselves moving quite rapidly from one environment to another (one contractor to another), the passport is a simple but effective way of providing a sense of continuity and purpose.