Elham Akhchine
Study Type: Adult and Community
Study Location: The Roundhouse
Subject Studied: Teacher Training, Coaching and Mentoring
Adult Skills Fund allows Elham to resume a career as a teaching assistant
When Moroccan-born Elham Akhchine came to Derby in 2023 she was keen to carry on in a career working with young children.
Having previously completed the Level 1 teaching assistant course at college in Lancashire, she wanted to progress to the next stage, possibly as a TA apprentice.
But, as mum to an eight year old girl and a five year old boy, she worried that she wouldn’t be able to afford to continue her education.
Fortunately, though, Elham qualified for the Adult Skills Fund – an initiative run by East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) to help adults gain skills and training to equip them for an apprenticeship or further learning.
Elham, who is 45, said: “I’m so pleased my course is free. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the funding – not when I have two children to bring up and with the cost of living.”
After completing her functional skills and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) course at the Roundhouse, she is now volunteering at a Derby primary school as she starts her Level 2 TA course with DCG.
She added: “I’m with the year 1 children, which I’m very happy about. Years ago, I worked as a hotel receptionist in Agadir.
“I like young children and always wanted to be a mum but never ever thought I’d work in teaching.
“Back then I could see myself working in a nursery or as admin in a school, but not as a teacher.”
While working as a hotel receptionist in Morocco, Elham – who speaks Arabic and French – started a hospitality apprenticeship, which she loved.
Her job involved supervising the accommodation team and dealing with guests including hotel visitors from England and Germany who returned every year.
She said: “I’d love to get an apprenticeship now, as I know how they work.
“I think spending a day in class at college and the rest active in my job at school would be so interesting. I’m hard working and my college teachers have been supportive.
“I’m brushing up skills I already have but might have forgotten, and I’ve learned new things like ICT, which is all good for my CV.”
I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the funding