The Wigan mum whose ‘life was changed’ after seeing opportunity on Facebook post

Kirsty Dawber was scrolling through Facebook when she saw an opportunity to train in pastoral management.

The 32-year-old Wiganer had always wanted to pursue a career in special education needs but never found the time as a full-time working mum.

“This has changed my life,” Kirsty said, when reflecting on her decision to take a leap of faith and upskill at night school.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority offers free level three qualifications to help people access jobs or progress their careers – which Kirsty took with both hands.

Now working as a pastoral manager at a school in Wigan, all it took was for her to access a support teaching and learning level three course.

“I was going from one job to another so I could get by and pay the bills,” the former retail worker explained. “Now my daughter is a bit older, I decided I wanted to do something for myself.

“I got into this after I saw a Facebook post from the GMCA. It is a lot easier than people think it would be (to sign up and get started).

“It has changed my life, and it was not as difficult to do as I thought it would be.”

Kirsty scheduled her course around her day-to-day life and work. The route provided by the GMCA allowed her to access the courses she needed close to her, at a convenient time and with peers with similar backgrounds.

Kirsty is one of 200,000 people across Greater Manchester who have accessed skills and training programmes since local control of the adult education budget was devolved from central government in August 2019.

She said: “I had always wanted to be a special education needs teaching assistant but didn’t have the confidence to go into a college environment due to my anxieties.

“When I saw the advert for community learning, I decided that this might work for me as it was a more suited environment.

“When I initially spoke to the team I was recommended to attend a Butterflies course to build some confidence in myself, before moving forward onto actual qualifications. From there, they encouraged me to set a life goal of my own choosing, which was the level three support teaching and learning qualification.

“I love my job and have a massive sense of pride that I am doing so much good and making a difference to vulnerable children’s lives in my school as head of pastoral, which also includes elements of safeguarding when required. I have worked hard with the help and support of some lovely people around me who have been nothing but encouraging.”

The new level three courses have been made possible due to Greater Manchester’s “single pot” funding approach, which was introduced in August.

The city-region is the first and only devolved area in the country to have adopted this simplified approach, which works by amalgamating different funding streams and eligibility criteria into one.