Cardiff and Vale College celebrates success supporting Army reservists

24 Jun 2020

CAVC for Business is celebrating its success with its military learners and its ongoing commitment to working with the Armed Forces.

The Learning and Development team have been supporting reservist personnel from the Army across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan with a funded Essential Skills Wales (ESW) Application of Number (AON) and Communication Skills (Comms) course.   

There has been an excellent response to the pilot ESW programme with MOD Maindy Barracks which provides reservist personnel an opportunity to upskill to enable them to progress and be promoted within the ranks. 

Despite unprecedented Covid-19 times, ESW Tutor Kay Chandler has sought to totally overhaul her planned delivery, adapting quickly from group classroom sessions to 1-1 remote sessions using the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) effectively.  The pilot programme has been such a success, the Army are now reviewing how the programme can be rolled out to reservists pan Wales. 

Nick Carter, Learning and Development Business Partner said: "Learners have been impressed with the commitment and sensitivity offered by Kay during this time, working with each learner to ensure they maximise their potential and the outcomes speak for themselves". 

A group of 15 learners were enrolled on the course and so far 93% of the delegates have achieved either/both AON and Coms L2 and are waiting for ‘Quality’ verification.   

Sergeant Stephen O’Leary of 104 Reg RA 217 Bty (pictured) said: The sessions were sent to us every week as well as sessions there were also PowerPoint presentations to look over. CAVC adapted well with the Covid restrictions and all work was done from home, all in all the course was good - I enjoyed it and would recommend it to everyone. Thank you Kay and thank you CAVC.”

Karen Spencer  BA (Hons), MPhil, PGCE/PCET said: I would recommend the course to others. Despite having completed higher education, I was acutely aware the Essential Skills evidence is increasingly becoming a caveat for future employment. I am pleased I have now closed this skills gap. I am not primarily motivated by money, but the fact you get paid for learning is a bonus, and a privilege.”

CAVC has recently attained the Silver Award by the MOD through its Employer Recognition Scheme demonstrating its continued support to defence and the armed forces community, aligning our values with the Armed Forces Covenant.