NCFE is delighted to announce Leicester College as June’s College of the Month. The centre is being recognised for its commitment to bettering the lives of learners with varying learning disabilities and difficulties. In particular, the award highlights the college’s excellent delivery of NCFE qualifications as part of their Continuing Studies, “Learning for Work” programme which aims to help learners overcome barriers to employment.

The programme is made up of 3 stages, each a yearlong course designed to ready learners for the next step in their journey towards employment. Before enrolling on a course each learner is invited for an initial interview from which an individual learning programme is arranged.

The first stage on the Learning for Work curriculum acts as a transition for learners coming to the college from school. College staff tailor the delivery of NCFE Entry Level Award in Personal and Social Development (Entry 2) to help learners manage this transition, whilst equipping them with a foundation for future learning.

The second stage focuses on learner employability and personal development. As part of this stage the college delivers NCFE Entry Level Award in Exploring Employability Skills (Entry 3) through which learners build skills which will enable them to get into work, including budgeting, CV writing and work experience.

The final stage is the work experienced based “Leicester Works” programme which provides learners with platforms to cement and apply the skills they have developed throughout their learning journey. The ultimate goal for each learner within “Learning for Work” is to gain meaningful employment.

As testament to the programme’s success, in its first year 9 students with varying learning disabilities and difficulties were able to secure paid employment – this is a significant achievement when considering the complex barriers each of these learners have had to overcome. Determined to build on their success, this year, prior to the courses completion staff at the college have already successfully placed 3 learners from the current cohort into paid employment.

Some of the positions these learners have since secured include a hospital porter, council worker and work with the elderly with one of the programme’s success stories now responsible for the training of other Leicester Work Learners along with managing the new computerised machinery in a hospital post room.

Programme Area Manager, Judy Larder’ said “The flexibility of NCFE’s qualifications has enabled us to adapt their delivery to the needs of each individual learner. It feels as though NCFE’s qualifications jump through hoops for the learner rather than the other way around. It is for these reasons that NCFE qualifications are now the cornerstone of our Learning for Work programme. I would like to thank the external moderators and assessors along with the whole NCFE team who made the process of running the qualifications easy and enjoyable”.

Click here to see how NCFE’s suite of preperation for life and work qualifications can ready your learners for employment.