Essential Skills are free courses to improve your communication skills, mathematic skills and technology skills. This involves improving listening, reading and writing skills, working with numbers and using computers. Essential skills course are available to anyone over the age of sixteen to complete at a college, through work or community organisations. Classes are generally small and informal to ensure everyone is at ease within a new learning environment.
Essential skills enable you to learn at your own pace, gain qualifications employers will recognize and use the new skills in everyday situations. Essential skills are an excellent refresher for everyday life even if you have GSCE English and Maths.
An outstanding student, Michelle Cowan, won the Fermanagh and Overall N.I Essential Skills Award in 2014, despite leaving school at 15 without any qualifications due to a severe illness, myalgic encephalomyelitis. Michelle was bed bound for twelve years, her mother taught her to spell and count again, as her memory from before her illness completely disappeared. Michelle wanted to gain qualifications and with help through the CEDAR Foundation she went back to study at South West College when she was thirty; she completed her essential skills course and went on to achieve a distinction in Social Science Access Diploma and is now studying towards a Foundation Degree.
After completing the essential skills Michelle commented “I have re-established goals, boosted my confidence and broadened my horizons; now with the help I have received and the opportunities I have discovered, I know that I can do even more.”
Essential skills can be really life changing as it has helped people read the newspaper for the first time, fill in job applications and enabled parents to help their children with their homework. Essential Skills is recognised by all businesses, having this qualification will make you more employable.
Information Evening 6th September 2016, 6.30pm-8.30pm at all South West College Campuses