Aaron Anderson - North East

When Aaron Anderson called into his local library in West Denton to find out more about learndirect courses little did he know that it would change his life.

Aaron, 37, from Newcastle, had no formal qualifications and had spent some time in prison. But after gaining qualifications in maths, English and IT with learndirect Aaron is now a volunteer youth worker with Northumbria County Council and looking forward to beginning a foundation degree in social care at Newcastle College in September.

"I used to play truant from school and I wasn’t really interested in education when I was younger," Aaron, a former alcoholic, explained. "It wasn’t until I got out of prison that I had my eyes opened and decided to get an education. When I made the appointment at the learndirect centre at Outer West Library I was really apprehensive. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it because I hadn’t had any formal education or sat any exams. But on my first day there I sat down with the manager who was really friendly and explained the process."

Aaron hasn’t looked back: "Every time I started a new course with learndirect I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it but when I succeeded that gave me the boost to go on to do other things.

"I have dyslexia and it was the staff at learndirect that first identified it. They gave me the tools to deal with it and now I don’t see it as a problem.

"The thing I value most about what learndirect has given me is the knowledge that I have gained. I had always been told that I was ‘stupid’ because I had never had any formal qualifications but I have now proved to myself that that was not the case and that in fact I was quite brainy. I can take on new skills and I can learn and produce really good quality work. It’s given me self-confidence and the key skills that have enabled me to go on to do an NVQ level 2 and it has definitely been the keystone to me enrolling in the social care foundation degree."

Aaron won a NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) Adult Leaner Award – North East Regional Outstanding Individual – in 2011 and has been appointed a Digital Champion to inspire people to learn more through the internet. He has already helped around 30 people gain access to the internet and through his voluntary youth work he is hoping to get funding to establish an internet café at his local YMCA.

"We would be able to assess people in different key skills and give them extra support in any areas they might need it, for example allowing them to use social networks in a safe environment," Aaron explained. "Being a digital champion is really exciting. Seeing someone using a computer when they otherwise might never have done that is a real buzz."