Phil Hope Minister for Skills, DfES:
We've got a legacy of the people in the adult workforce that dont have the
skills they need to succeed in their personal lives or to succeed at work. And
that legacy is something we're doing a lot about.
Ed Melia, NIACE Press Officer:
That's Phil Hope, Minister for Skills at the Department for Education and
Skills.
Phil Hope Minister for Skills, DfES:
The actual personal impact on their lives, the first time someone gets a
qualification, it transforms their lives. These are people who
probably thought they weren't very clever; couldn't get on; had difficulty
perhaps reading to their children - all of those things, and suddenly they are
liberated. That's what education is....it's liberation.
Carl Newman:
I was always under the impression that I was thick.
Ed Melia:
Carl Newman is a bus driver in Orpington. He left school with little
in the way of qualifications, but a visit to the newly opened learning centre at
the bus depot changed his life.
Carl Newman:
I'd always had a problem with maths. I couldn't figure out why.
No-one could put their finger on it through school. when the learning
centre opened up I though well I'll see what I can find and they sent me for a
dyslexia test and they found out I was what they call dyscalculaic, which is
basically number dyslexia.
Ed Melia:
Carl went on to take several skills for Life qualifications with excellent
results.
Carl Newman:
I'd got 100% in entry level 2, entry level 1, and I got about 90% at level 1
and about 80% in level 2.
Ed Melia:
Danny Curtin is the union learning rep at First Attempts in Orpington. He's
delighted with the number of qualifications that Carl and his colleagues now
have, and the obvious impact the learning centre's had on moral at the depot.
Danny Curtin:
60% of this garage, so far has got some sort of Skills for Life
qualification. At one stage, about four years ago, turnover of staff was on for
over 40%. At it's best last summer, the turnover of staff was at 4 and 6 %.
That is absolutely huge - that's massive. Sickness was down from an average of
8% down to about 3 or 4 %. Public complaints are down and everybody seems very,
very happy.
Ed Melia:
Skills for Life courses are not always the first ones people head for. Eve
Huggins, now a catering manager in Norfolk, was encouraged back into learning
when she was a dinner lady.
Eve Huggins:
It started off fairly light, just doing the hygiene training, and I
progressed on to do intermediate food hygiene. Then I did a management
course.
Ed Melia:
One course often leads to another, and then another. Here's Phil Hope again.
Phil Hope:
It's also about progression. So once someone starts learning and gets
their first qualification (having left school probably with no qualifications
and just accepted their life as it were) then suddenly it's like a light bulb
goes off and you can see the difference it makes and people wll then say "Right
what can I do next."
Eve Huggins:
I've done fourteen other courses, just in the last two years.
Ed Melia:
And some of those fourteen courses have been Skills for Life
Eve Huggins:
I was always better at English than I was at maths. I haven't got
enough fingers and toes to count on, and when somebody said do the maths I
thought "Oh noI can't do that". It was in such a friendly environment, other
managers, higher than myself, directors of the company, doing their level 1
national skills, and it just gave you the incentive - well if they can do it, I
can do this. So I did it and then I progressed and id my level 2 in English and
in maths and passed both of those .
Ed Melia:
The incentive to learn isn't always about progression at work, but the
impact is almost always positive.
Danny Curtin:
Some come in having trouble with the homework of their son or their
daughter. We had one guy who was literally a week ahead of his twelve year
old son, and he's saying "he's got this next week, or this chapter next week ,
and he was really working hard and he did success and it all came back to him.
He can now help his son with his homework.
Diets change - there's healthy food in the canteen. I cannot believe they've gone away from sausages and bacon and burgers. There's a lot of people that actually eat salads and jacket potatoes. Drivers actually sit on the bus during their breaks now and actually read believe it or not, instead of getting up to mischief. If drivers are happier, get on better. for some it's totally changed them in so far as they are now ambitious for a start.
Carl Newman:
It's made me more positive, it's made me a hell of a lot more enthusiastic
about things. It's just turned my life around. I've gone from being basically
uneducated, right the way through to thinking about managerial courses and
managerial jobs. And that's within the space of 3 or 4 years.
Eve Huggins:
I am just so eager to keep going because it's just such a lovely feeling to
boost your motivation and your moral. That sense of feeling of you can do
what you want to do when you've got that qualification, its the same as if you
had money. It's like wining the lottery