Blossoming skills
A woman from Leicester is helping her floristry business, her children and her students - thanks to learndirect.
Hazra Mansur started brushing up on her English and maths skills three years ago, learning at the EETAC learndirect centre, part of Leicester college. As well as being a learner, Hazra is also a floristry tutor with EETAC, and teaches flower arranging and floristry classes in the community.
She says: “My family moved to Leicester from Africa when I was a teenager. I spent so much time translating things in my head from Swahili to Gujarati to English and back, a lot of my lessons just didn’t go in!
“After I left school I got married, started a family and set up a floristry business with my husband. While I found the time to go back to learning and get my floristry qualifications, things like numbers and English just didn’t seem that important.
“Suddenly though, I had two reasons for learning – my sons and my students. The kids were asking me for help with their homework, and I wanted to know and understand what they’re doing at school. I also wanted to be able to better support the women in my floristry classes. I am a very busy person, and learndirect was ideal for me because I could fit it around my family, my business and my tutoring.”
Hazra completed several learndirect courses and achieved her Level 2 National Certificates in Adult Literacy and Numeracy, equivalent to GCSE level. Over the last three years her new English, maths and computer skills have been put to good use.
She explains: “Since doing my learndirect courses I just have so much more confidence with my English and maths. Now if my children ask for help with a maths homework question, I don’t panic. If I can’t answer it immediately, I say ‘I don’t know, but we can work it out’ - and I sit down and help them work it through. It’s good to know that I can help them get the most out of their education, and give them the best possible start in life.
“I can also stand up in front of my floristry classes and tell them that if I can go back and learn these things, so can they. The groups I teach consist mostly of Asian women, and many of them do not speak English as their first language. While we start off teaching flower arranging as a hobby, we begin to introduce elements of English and maths, often through learndirect.
“After their first course, my students can go on to get a Level 1 flower arranging qualification which includes literacy and numeracy skills. Maths in particular is very important in floristry. You need to be able to budget for flowers, calculate VAT, add-up orders from suppliers and price arrangements. For the English element, we ask people to describe a flower arrangement, and critique their own and others’ work in written reports. The fact is that if you work as a florist you need to be able to do things like write letters to your customers and take down messages accurately.
“By introducing English and maths gently as part of a subject they’re interested in, I can help ensure these women don’t slip through the net as I did at school. That’s a really good feeling.
“At work in my floristry shop, learndirect has just made my life much easier. As people are going around choosing flowers I can add the price up in my head so I can tell them how much they are spending on their bouquet – I definitely couldn’t have done that without improving my maths!
“My confidence with the books and paperwork has grown so much I’ve even taken on the management of a second florist. I deal with staff wages and have learnt how to work out national insurance contributions and tax on the computer. It’s an Interflora shop so I’m using the computer all the time taking orders by email, and making arrangements for weddings, funerals and other events.
“It’s a lot to take on and I’m as busy at ever, but I’ve got the confidence and the skills to make the most out of all the different parts of my life. That’s down to learndirect.”