23 June, 2007

TWO young employees of Shetland cod farmers No Catch Ltd have recently excelled in qualifications relevant to their work.

Processing general operatives Leon Chen, aged 25, and Stuart McManus, aged 17, were this week awarded their Level II SVQ Food & Drink Manufacturing qualifications.

Mr Chen is from China and when he came to work for the company’s processing plant, in Scalloway, he could barely speak English.

Despite this, his hard work and natural intelligence won him the chance to attempt the qualification, according to SVQ assessor Michael Bates.

After initial language difficulties, his written work vastly improved with English lessons and towards the end of his units he was writing the work in English with no assistance.

Mr Bates said: “In particular Leon had to overcome his lack of English and this was a challenge for both him as a student and myself as an assessor, as I had to ensure that he fully understood what was being asked of him and that he was able to answer in such a way that met the criteria from SQA, the governing body that regulate the SVQ award.”

Meanwhile, quality systems manager for No Catch Ltd, Ann-Marie Charleson said of Mr McManus: "Stuart came to the company at a very young age and has consistently demonstrated a level of maturity and commitment beyond his years. He has become a very capable and valuable employee."

Mr Bates added: “The award gives them both confidence in their ability to learn new skills and apply them in a work context and also shows that they understand what lies behind the process within their company.

“What the award means for their company is recognition of investment in staff training and development, encouraging others to learn from the experiences of Stuart and Leon and how they have benefited from the training programme.”