2nd June 2010

A 35 year old English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) student at Coleg Glan Hafren has been nominated for the VQ Learner of the Year 2010, a national award to celebrate vocational achievement and showcase the best in vocational qualifications.

The VQ Learner of the Year Awards are part of VQ Day, a national celebration of the people who gain vocational qualifications every year.  VQ Day aims to raise the stature and demonstrate the benefits of practical and vocational qualifications to future learners, employers, opinion formers and the wider public. 

The VQ Learner of the Year Awards recognise learners in each age group who are shining examples of excellent academic achievement - learners who have made considerable achievements in a vocational field.

This year's VQ Day in Wales will be held on 23^rd June, with events in the Cardiff Bay's Pierhead building in Cardiff and around the UK. As part of VQ Day, colleges were encouraged to nominate VQ Learners of the Year by a 14^th May deadline.

To be a VQ Learner of the Year, students nominated by their lecturers had to demonstrate:

• Achievement and excellence in their chosen field
• Evidence that their learning experience has influenced their progression
• Evidence that their vocational qualification had led directly to their success
• Evidence that their achievements are superior to those of their peers

There are two VQ Awards, Young Learner of the Year, for those who are aged 24 and under, and Learner of the Year, for those aged 25 and over.

35 year old Indera Hassan, of Yemen, was nominated by her tutor Liz Reed. Liz said in her nomination, "Indera was brought to this country as a teenager and then left to look after two young children alone, as an asylum seeker. She later adopted her nephew and is therefore a single mother of three children. She applied for ESOL two years before she actually started the course but her house was burgled the day of her interview, so didn't attend and missed her place (we weren't aware of the reason for her non-attendance at the time). In the second year of her ESOL studies she was assessed as having dyslexia and embarked on a learning support programme with the College's Learning Centre staff, in addition to her ESOL studies. To be able to overcome the barriers presented by her learning difficulties and associated lack of confidence, having had continuous negative learning experiences throughout her life as a result of undiagnosed dyslexia, Indera has worked as hard, if not harder, than any one of her peers.

"As a result of her hard work she has achieved Trinity Skills For Life Qualifications at Entry 3 (June 08) and Level 1 (June/Dec 09) and is now studying at Level 2. While in Level 2 she was elected as class representative and volunteered to undertake a short skills course for class reps. As the course overlapped with some ESOL classes she has worked particularly hard to finish the course and catch up with any work missed. She also regularly attends academic English support classes provided through the Study Centre. Indera had real issues with confidence but as a direct result of her achievement on the ESOL course she has gone from strength to strength, already successfully achieving Key Skills Communication at Level 2, and has applied for a mainstream childcare course for 2010/2011.

"She is not necessarily what you would describe as a 'high-flyer', yet, her consistent advancement, despite difficulties, in addition to her extracurricular contributions, are what her tutors would describe as 'achievements superior to those of their peers".