Castlemilk Youth Complex provides a tailored engagement programme for young local adults to improve levels of Adult Literacy and Numeracy (ALN) through the use of traditional training and arts-based methods helping them recognise, raise and achieve their aspirations. The project delivers one to one and group adult literacies learning programmes that support the development of reading, writing and number skills in context relevant to the young adults accessing the service. Employability training including job search skills, CV writing, information on recruitment processes and interview skills is provided in conjunction with work to increase digital literacy and knowledge of work based Information and Communications Technology.

For example, a service user came to ALN learning as she was seeking a college placement for September 2012 and has four children. She particularly wanted to get help from the Youth Complex to produce a CV. She was referred by the Castlemilk Family Learning Centre and found the Youth Complex course easy to access and liked the “informal nature of the course”. She attended once a week on a Friday afternoon, at times that allowed her to collect her children from school. She liked that the programme had been “tailored to her individual needs, particularly job readiness”.

She says of her learning experience:

“The CV was useful because I needed to do it. I didn’t have access to a printer and I learned a bit about presenting my CV well and professionally. I also learned about tables on ‘Word’. I would never have thought about doing that or known how to do it myself. I am now speaking to people that I didn’t know before. I feel a bit more prepared towards looking for work now.”