"I didn't enjoy school so didn’t want to return to a classroom but learndirect is different"
When 43 year old Sue Coe saw her colleagues gaining qualifications she felt left behind. Desperate to improve her prospects Sue contacted learndirect through Sunrise Academy in Hackney.
Sue tells her story:
"I’m a support worker for people with mental health issues. It’s a tough job at times. The people I support are like the swan: I’m the legs working furiously underneath trying to keep them afloat. I’ve being doing this for about seven years but a few years ago the government brought in legislation which means 80% of care workers have to have an NVQ, basically if you haven’t got one you’ll get left behind.
"The company I worked for didn’t want to invest in training, so I contacted Sunrise Academy in Hackney and enrolled myself.
"It was a big step: I didn’t enjoy school so didn’t want to return to a classroom but learndirect is different. If you make a mistake only the computer knows and it helps you to realise where you went wrong.
learndirect lets me work at my own pace, if this was a classroom it would be difficult for me to keep up; this is what makes it work for me. I was shy at school and didn’t ever put my hand up so if I misunderstood something no one would know which meant it couldn’t be addressed. If I make a mistake on my learndirect course, the course makes me to tackle the question another way and shows me where I went wrong or I can ask the staff at Sunrise.
The staff are great, they make everything easy to understand. Now I’m a bit older I have the confidence to ask and they are really helpful. I keep sending people to them to enrol on a course.
I’m about to start a degree in mental health nursing at University and if it hadn’t been for learndirect and Sunrise I would still be where I started. I just can’t say how grateful I am. Last year I had no hope, now I’ve got a future. I’m walking out of my old life with my head held high.