Disability Access News

By Saiqa Chaudhari

BOLTON Community College is one of the nation's best when it comes to helping disabled people into work.

It has a 93 per cent success rate in finding jobs for people with disabilities or learning difficulties. And it is in the top five establishments in the country for providing courses for people in these groups, according to the National Institute of Adults Continuing Education (NIACE).

Now the NIACE has invited the college to help it to lead a national project on how to improve employment opportunities for people with special needs.

The Manchester Road campus is one of only a handful of colleges across the country to be involved in the project.

The courses are provided by the college's Skills for Independent Learning team and employment placement officer Linda Hossaini develops links with local employers to provide students with work experience.

Former students have gone on to work with, or gain work experience with, major employers, including Asda and fast food chain Subway.

Skills for Independent Living's curriculum leader Suzanne Watson said: "Over a third of the students that finished in September have gone on to paid work which is credit to the hard work and dedication put in by our team.

"This fantastic success rate is why NIACE has turned to us for best practice, to enable other colleges to benefit from our success. Some of our students aspire to be a plumber or a hairdresser but lack the necessary literacy or numeracy skills.

"This course enables them to gain relevant experience so they can have a career in their favoured industry."

The department currently has 240 students studying part and full-time courses. The highest level of qualification is an NVQ Level 1 which is available in either retail or catering, but the syllabus also caters for people who cannot read or write and offers them the chance to gain the equivalent of a low-level GCSE pass in English and Maths.

Peter Little, adviser for the Learning Skills Council which funds further education colleges, said: "At the NIACE conference one of the major highlights was the "Learner voice", led by Sami Berdi and Gurpal Singh, who described their positive experiences within the Skills for Independent Living department, and their successful transition to employment. This was a great inspiration to the audience. I was particularly thrilled to hear of the college's success with these and other disabled learners."