Adrian is an adult apprentice electrician who admits he has struggled with his off-job course work. Now with one-to-one assistance from Literacy Waitakere there’s nothing stopping him.
Adrian’s early primary school years were interrupted by extensive surgery to one of his legs, added to this was a dyslexia and ADHD diagnosis.
“By the time I started going to school regularly, I had pretty much missed the basics. I was always so far behind all the other kids with basic reading, writing and maths that I could never catch up.”
Adrian left school at 16 and started work on a farm, learning to build and fix things. “I really enjoy working with tools. I like pulling things to pieces, working out how they work, and then fitting all the pieces back together again.
“I knew that I would enjoy the practical side of being an electrician but I wasn’t sure about the course work. I told them (my provider) when I started my apprenticeship that I couldn’t read and write very well but I don’t think they understood that I meant what I said.”
Adrian did struggle with the course materials and even taking advantage of extra tuition from his training provider didn’t help. However he persevered and after talking with his provider and with staff at The Skills Organisation (the ITO for electricians) Adrian was referred to Literacy Waitakere for individual tuition.
By this time Adrian had also completed an online Literacy and Numeracy assessment with The Skills Organisation and an in-depth interview to identify what types of literacy support would benefit him.
With a learning plan that has specific learning goals and includes what Adrian is doing at work, his learning experience is now very different.
“My tutor Neil doesn’t make me feel stupid. He takes the time and will try different ways of doing things, something I didn’t get at school. Once he had taken me through the basics, I began to see that maths was like a big puzzle, you just need to work out how it all fits together. Because Neil is able to link the maths to stuff I do on the job, it’s all starting to fall into place. I’ve learned more in the last few months at Literacy Aotearoa with my tutor Neil than I ever did at school.”
