Natalia Shelford left secondary school at the start of her Year 11, without obtaining any NCEA levels. But the bright 17-year-old is now progressing on a study pathway towards her chosen career. She explains, “School wasn’t really for me. I found it hard to learn in big classrooms with lots of people, which is why I moved on to Training For You, because I could get more help and there were less students. So it was easier for me to learn.”
Natalia had a goal to train as an early childhood educator, “I have always loved kids. And when my sister had her first child, I adored her.” The motivated teen found the opportunity she was looking for, “I did research. I looked up courses for early childhood on the internet, and Training For You came up.” Training For You delivers the New Zealand Certificate in Early Childhood Education, Level 3 as an online study programme, and free Level 1-2 preparation programmes on campus in Whanganui. She enrolled on the intensive literacy and numeracy programme, a part-time course of 15-20 hours per week. The programme, named ‘Level Up’ assists young people in completing NCEA Level 1 to prepare for higher learning or to gain entry-level employment.
Natalia fitted into the small city campus with ease, “On the first day, I was really nervous, but then everyone was so welcoming.” And the learning came readily, “I really loved it. I felt really welcomed by everyone in the class, which was so good. It was so much easier to learn. You could get that one-on-one time with the tutor, Mary. She was really involved, and she really cared about you and your work, and everything.”
Mary Joblin has been teaching at Training For You for nearly ten years, and has been involved with delivering the organisation’s early childhood education programmes. She was able to include ECE content in the literacy and numeracy learning for Natalia and is guided by the pace of her students. Natalia says, “When Mary would teach us new things, she would break it down so that we could understand everything. And she would make sure you understood it before she moved on to the next thing.”
Natalia developed skills and confidence with literacy and numeracy at Training For You, and completed some Level 2 unit standards in early childhood education. This allowed her to progress to Early Childhood Education, Level 3 at UCOL Palmerston North. Now, she has begun the ECE Level 4 programme, and is well on her way to achieving her ECE dream. She credits Training For You with helping her to get started on her tertiary education journey, “I think I would have (otherwise) been a bit behind with my literacy and numeracy. Obviously, I left school early, so I didn’t get to achieve. So when I worked with Mary on the literacy and numeracy course, it really helped me to gain the skills I need.”
Natalia can now share her thoughts for successful study, “I’d say just ask for help, and turn up. I remember always enjoying the course, and I was always excited to go. There was never a time when I didn’t want to go.” And she has encouraging words for anyone contemplating their learning options, “Just do it, because you never know. If you don’t try it, you won’t know if you like it or not. Just give it a go. If you like it, then you like it. If you don’t, you can always try something different.”
