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First success for Train to Gain in South East
An impromptu presentation was staged at the Dover site of Migrant Helpline recently when team member Sami Mohammed Sahlah became the first learner in the South East to achieve a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) through the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) new Train to Gain service.
The new service, which is designed to help businesses succeed, forms a cornerstone of the LSC’s strategy to make the country better skilled and more competitive. Tony Allen, director of skills at the LSC Kent and Medway, said: “Our congratulations to Mr Sahlah, who gained an NVQ level 2 in Customer Service in record time. Over the next two years we expect to see around 54,000 learners in the South East follow in his footsteps and achieve new skills and qualifications through the Train to Gain service”.
Mr Sahlah, who lives in Folkstone, studied with adult learning provider KITA (Kent Industrial Training Association) Limited. The NVQ is his first recognised qualification in customer service, a field he’s been working in for more than six years, and it offered a learning experience that he thoroughly recommends to anyone working in a customer facing role: “It was a very good course that really broadened my thinking on customer service. Sometimes we take things fore granted. This was like waking up to new ways of doing things. It made me focus on my clients’ feelings and work at seeing things through the other person’s eyes.”
Close to 20 of Mr Sahlah’s colleagues at the Helpline are also working toward new qualifications through the Train to Gain scheme. Philip Scargill, who manages the team in Dover, said: “We are encouraging all our client facing staff to do an NVQ in Customer Service and our support staff to do one in Business Administration. We have a committed team here but their jobs can be repetitive. Studying for an NVQ brings a new dimension to their routine and expands their horizons.
“In KITA the service has introduced us to a first-class learning provider. Our KITA training co-ordinator Diane Nathan is doing an excellent job. Staff find her approachable and encouraging and look forward to her visits.”
The Train to Gain service works by putting organisations in touch with an impartial skills broker. In this area the broker is Skills South East, a partnership between Business Link and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). The broker’s role is to analyse the level of skills within the organisation, identify where there is a shortfall and develop a training plan that is right for the business and its staff. The service is provided free of charge – and in most cases recommendations comprise both free or subsidised training solutions and training the employer will need to pay for.
Martin Logan, the skills relationship manager who advised the Migrant Helpline, explains his role as being to help organisations acquire the skills they need to prosper: “The service is all about improving efficiency and, where appropriate, competitiveness by ensuring that all the members of an organisation’s workforce have the right skills to do the best job they can. Because we’re impartial, our clients can be confident that we’ll direct them toward approved and appropriate learning providers, such as KITA, who offer value for money and meet the high standards demanded by the Learning and Skills Council”.
