Sithokozile Petersons

Sithokozile was employed as a part time care assistant at a local residential home for the elderly.

Her ambition is to eventually become a home manager and so she contacted VTS to find out what qualifications she would need to do this, and how she could go about gaining them. After meeting with a VTS representative and securing funding for a course, Sithokozile decided to start a Care level 2 NVQ.

Because of work commitments it was essential that all of Sithokozile's NVQ training was conducted at her workplace. In addition her varied shift patterns meant that her assessor would have to be flexible with her visit times, often arranging to meet early in the morning or late at night.

Another consideration that had to be taken into account was the fact that Sithokozile was Zimbabwean and English was her second language. To overcome this, her assessor spent extra time with her to ensure that she understood the specific unit requirements and felt confident about what evidence she was being asked to produce.

‘VTS gave me so much support and guidance and I secured a full-time job after my study. Now, I'm looking forward to tackling the level 3 programme!'.

14 months after starting her NVQ Sithokozile successfully completed her qualification, and as a result was employed as a full time member of staff. During her course her English and confidence improved dramatically, and she is now hoping to progress on to her level 3 NVQ in the near future.