Case Studies

AT

AT was born in Delph, Saddleworth and moved to the Dewsbury Area in 1953.

She has been Married for 37 years. She was Educated at Earlsheaton High School and Dewsbury Technical College. She has attended Church in Ravensthorpe since 1977.

In her spare time she also volunteers for the Scouts beavers and cubs and has been doing this for 48 years, though she is promising to retire next year.

AT trained as a Comptometer Operator and has worked as an Office Manager in the Civil Service she also worked for Huddersfield Corporation in the wages department as an Account/Finance officer and as a New Deal Adviser.

She retired on health grounds after contracting Meningitis which limited her ability to learn. She had to reassess her skills and abilities and found that work of a more repetitive nature suited her better.

Though retired AT wanted to challenge herself and learn new things. In the beginning she attended (we think) the ‘Know It All’ organisation held in Dewsbury Town Hall. This was a very basic computer course but it was the stepping stone that helped her make her way to the DP-EVH via Worklink.

After taking various Computer courses and putting time in as a classroom volunteer AT is now the DP-EVH Housekeeper and is a member of the Committee volunteering 6 hours a week of her time.

AT has been a Volunteer at The DP-EVH for the past 9 years.

She also volunteers in a class outside the DP-EVH at present helping tutor Don Radbone at Pinderfields Hospital on a Wednesday, where together they run a ‘Second Chance’ group of approximately 7 people who have had a brain injury and now need to learn new skills.

This class is studying New ClAiT. Anne says “the only snag is we need more computers for the many people needing this lifeline”. The Second Chance programme is being funded by the DP-EVH’s lottery fund monies.

AT enjoys the atmosphere at The DP-EVH and is incredibly proud of her certificates. As AT says “we don’t look for disabilities here”. She has also been greatly involved with researching Family History since joining The DP-EVH but says she still can’t find her Great Grandmother.

Finally AT says she will continue as long as she can at The DP-EVH, it gives her confidence to do things and she is helping other people to realise their potential.

Mr P

Mr P lives on Dewsbury Moor. He first came to The DP-EVH in 2007. He was unemployed and looking for work. His work history included Database/general clerk. This has been Mr P’s situation since April 2009.

Mr P attends Worklink where they help him to find employment via job clubs. However it was at Worklink where Mr P realised his knowledge of IT was limited. He was unable to attach and send a covering letter with his C.V. or a covering letter with a completed application form. Even with the help of Worklink staff he was still unable to resolve the issue.

It was not only Mr P’s need to improve his IT skills that had become a barrier, he felt he was being denied full access to work opportunities through this very lack of IT skills. When the opportunity came for Mr P to attend an A2E Employability Skills Course run by The DP-EVH, Mr P jumped straight in.

The DP-EVH tutor had devised C.V. templates related to learners past work experience, knowledge and interests. The C.V. had key words manipulated to combine professionalism with the learner’s profile. This gave the learner ownership of their C.V. and not a copy book finished version.

Mr P mentions several times how he has improved and revamped his C.V. having chosen to write his own chronologically. He has built a cohesive whole out of his work/education history not a fragmented compartmentalised version. Mr P says it’s exactly what I needed to do, revamp my C.V and sharpen my skills.

Mr P is currently taking a level 2 Book Keeping class and a Clait Plus unit at the DP-EVH and hopes to take Sage computerised accounts.