Tanya Morrison was awarded the Adult Literacy CLAN prize at the Jewel and Esk Graduation ceremony held at Edinburgh International Conference Centre recently. Tanya, from Carberry, was unanimously selected by lecturers to receive the award which recognises achievement and improvement in adult learners.

Tanya joined an Adult Returners’ course at Jewel & Esk College in August 2008 with no formal qualifications. A single parent of a 3 year old son, Tanya had been out of work for 4 years.

When she started at college, Tanya was very unsure about her abilities and did not have a lot of self-confidence. She wanted to improve her communication skills and numeracy and she also wanted to learn about using computers.

With the support of college staff, Tanya worked really hard and achieved Intermediate level 2 qualifications in Communication, Numeracy and Local Investigations, as well as IT at Access 3. She’s now back at Jewel & Esk training as a classroom assistant. She feels very passionately about the importance of support in education. She feels that she did not get this when she was at school and wants to be able to use her own experiences to support children and young people in their learning.

Tanya speaks highly of her college experience, "What I’ve liked about these courses is working with other people, as well as improving my skills. I’ve gained confidence and I think more clearly now. I feel that I can now give my son more support and do something more positive!"