Empowering Individuals with Recognised Qualifications
The world changed back in March, but our teams have been focussed on ensuring that the situation doesn’t have a detrimental impact on the progress made by the people who rely on them.
At our support services across south and west Wales, as part of the package of support each individual receives, they also get the opportunity to complete Agored Cymru qualifications.
Here at Pobl, we are a recognised Agored Cymru Learning Centre, which means we’re able to offer a wide variety of courses to the individuals we support.
This is done at their own pace and the qualifications generally comprise of credit-based individual units of learning.
They cover a huge range of subjects, designed to help individuals on their journey to independence. They include subjects such as applying for a job and creating a tailored CV, as well as budgeting and planning finances, confidence building and maintaining a housing tenancy.
"A lot of the individuals we support have had little or negative experiences of education. These qualifications enable us to introduce bite-size learning opportunities, which are delivered by their own keyworkers.” Claire Briggs, Learning & Skills Project Worker at Pobl Group
GB, one of the individuals at a Pobl temporary accommodation service has been supported by us since 2018. GB has dyslexia, which wasn’t diagnosed until later life and as a result, he has struggled in education, moving from school to school on a number of occasions. He came to us with no qualifications and experienced difficulty with reading and writing.
Understandably, when GB arrived, he was reluctant to engage in learning opportunities, having had negative experiences in the past, but as all of the other individuals around him were working on their qualifications, he became interested in gaining some of his own.
GB has gone on to complete eleven accredited Agored Cymru qualifications.
Seemingly bitten by the learning bug, GB has also sought out and completed additional online courses and his confidence has grown tremendously – as has the standard of his key skills in reading and writing.
GB is now preparing to move out of our temporary accommodation service and is focussing on his recovery, whilst seeking voluntary work. His long-term aim is to become a support worker himself.
GB may be leaving the service, but he will keep his well-deserved qualifications forever, along with the key skills he has learned during his time with us.
“Ultimately, we hope that these qualifications will empower individuals with the skills for independent living, act as a stepping stone to further learning and support steps into employment when they move on from scheme.” Claire Briggs
Over the past 3 academic years, a total of 994 qualifications have been awarded via the Pobl Learning Centre. This year alone, 295 qualifications have been awarded via 60 different tutors across 23 different Pobl support services.
