ESOL PROJECT TRANSFORMS LIVES AND WINS NATIONAL AWARD

The Faith Regen Foundation: Work Focused ESOL Project in Tower Hamlets, has transformed the lives of some of the most disadvantaged people living in London and helped them get jobs. Their dedication and commitment to learning is being recognised with an Inspiring Projects Award - sponsored by the Open University - as part of the 20th Adult Learners’ Week 14 - 20 May 2011.

The Faith Regen Foundation is a Muslim-inspired, multi-faith national charity which works in the employment sector to secure sustainable jobs for the most disadvantaged individuals, including ethnic minorities and women. It has a strong track record of achieving targets and outcomes to ensure positive change. The organisation’s ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) project is based in Tower Hamlets, one of the UK’s poorest boroughs, which has a large South Asian population. Many of its members have gone through their lives without speaking English.

The project’s aim is to break down social barriers, isolation and poverty. It has improved social mobility, enhanced social cohesion and helped people to lead fully assimilated lives. One of its most striking achievements is in the numbers of Bengali women - an often overlooked section of society - who attend courses. Originally the project’s target was to engage 56 people, but this has doubled. Staff also work hard with local businesses to gain work experience and routes into full-time work for learners.

Alan Tuckett, NIACE Chief Executive, said, “The stories of our award winners once again this year, the 20th Adult Learners’ Week, illustrate the overwhelmingly positive impact that learning has on people’s lives. The transformation that those taking part in the Faith Regen Foundation: Work Focused ESOL Project have experienced is due to their dedication, persistence and ambition. I hope that adults across the country will be inspired by their story to take up learning and discover for themselves a whole new life.”

For more information about the Faith Regen Foundation: Work Focused ESOL Project contact: Mujahidul Islam on 0208 211 9430 or miriyaj@faithregenuk.org 

For further information on Adult Learners’ Week please contact:

Ed Melia, NIACE Head of Media, on 0116 204 4248 or 07795 358 870.

Marie Koupparis, NIACE Press Officer on 0116 204 4279 or 07824 481 499 or email: marie.koupparis@niace.org.uk

Please see the Press Release from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, England and Wales (NIACE) here