learndirect helps mum, mum helps son
Clare Preston is 40 years old and lives in Leicester with her husband and 11 year old son.
Clare has always worked in administration, and for the past six years has worked as an administration assistant at the EETAC learndirect centre at Leicester College. Since leaving school, Clare had not done any learning. However, she felt she needed evidence of the knowledge and skills that she had, she wanted to gain some recognised qualifications so she undertook a learndirect course.
Clare enrolled on Level 2 Maths and English courses. She fitted her learning around her work and family, doing small chunks of learning in lunch hour or during evenings at the centre. Clare enjoyed the fact that the learning was computer based – it seemed to suit her better.
She was nervous to start with, but she soon realised that she could really do it and with friendly staff around to support her when she needed it, she quickly became one of the first learndirect learners in the country to undertake and pass the Adult Literacy and Numeracy online.
With these qualifications behind her, Clare has been bitten by the learning bug and has undertaken an NVQ in Business Administration and is currently undergoing training to allow her to assist with the qualifications process in the EETAC centre. In her spare time she has also done soft furnishing courses and is currently doing a sugar craft course.
Clare said:
"learndirect allowed me to get the qualifications I wanted. The courses were really enjoyable and so flexible that I was able to fit my learning around my work and home life. Gaining my Certificates in Adult Literacy and Numeracy has given me a real sense of achievement and the confidence in my own abilities. Now if my son asks for help with his homework, we sit down and work it out together."