Courses teach reading, writing….and truck driving
A FREE PROGRAMME TEACHING LITERACY SKILLS alongside truck driver training – changing lives by giving people the chance to achieve their dreams – is aiming to expand this year.
The Government-funded Solomon Group – a Maori private training establishment (PTE) – had 40 Maori and Pacific Island truck driving students graduate from its free 14-week truck driving night class in November. This year it hopes to have 90 graduates.
The programme gives students an introduction to the trucking industry and teaches truck driving theory, literacy skills, health and safety and employability. Students graduate with their Class 2 licence and “significant job placement support.”
Last year’s graduates, says Solomon Group’s director community partnerships Ruanna Tagaloasa-Letalu, left “ready to launch their careers in an industry that’s crying out for skilled workers.
“For many of the graduates, the opportunity to upskill, grow their careers, and significantly lift their earnings is a dream come true.
“These are people who have been working 20 or 25 years in an entry-level role and have never imagined they could do anything more than what they were doing.This is life-changing stuff.”
Tagaloasa-Letalu was instrumental in setting up the programme, which was officially launched at Solomon Group in Wiri, South Auckland, at the start of 2019 – with lessons offered in English and Samoan.
“This course is breaking down barriers for Maori and Pacific Islanders keen to pursue careers as truck drivers. When you have people who have English as their second language, and in many cases didn’t do their schooling in New Zealand, they have really entry-level literacy and they give up on pursuing their dreams.
“After much research we developed this programme to help bridge the gap by giving students the literacy support they need to achieve their goals – specifically to gain their Class 2 learners licence….the first step on the journey to becoming a truck driver. Class 2 learners is very theory based, so it is a huge obstacle for many people.”
It was an immediate hit: “When we trialled it in 2018 we thought we’d just get a few people – but 60 turned up!” So this year Solomon is planning to add Tongan classes to the Auckland lineup and will also extend the course into Tauranga, with night classes in Samoan and Kiribati.
Tagaloasa-Letalu says: “If you develop a programme that is right for where people are at, they will see the value in it. These are people who already work eight to 10 hours each day and then they come in to study at Solomon Group two nights a week. But they stick with it because they’re getting the support they need, at the level they need.”
T&D