Classroom to Community: Leng's Journey Through the SEE Program
Max Solutions delivers the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Program — an Australian Government-funded training initiative that provides accredited language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills instruction to adult learners aged 15 and over who are no longer in school.
For learners who arrived in Australia with limited English, these skills are what make daily life navigable. Reading a letter from a doctor, filling in a form, asking a question at a service counter, applying for a travel concession — each of these depends on a level of literacy and spoken confidence that is easy to overlook until it's missing. The SEE Program exists to close that gap, and in doing so it often changes how independently a person can move through their own lives.
Leng's story is one example of that.
Setting a Goal: Independence Through Language
Leng migrated to Australia from Cambodia in 1989, part of a broader wave of Cambodian arrivals to Australia following decades of conflict and displacement in the region.
In September 2024, Leng joined the SEE Program with a clear and practical goal: to improve her English communication and literacy skills so she could become more independent in her daily life. Her motivation was the everyday tasks that literacy subtly governs: appointments, paperwork, applications and conversations with services.
What Changed: Everyday Independence
Since starting the program, Leng has achieved a series of concrete milestones that reflect real functional literacy gains:
Attending medical appointments independently, without needing a family member or interpreter present
Completing forms confidently and unassisted — a task that touches everything from healthcare to housing to transport
Successfully applying for and obtaining a concession public transport card, improving her mobility and reducing travel costs
These are the practical markers of what the training sector calls functional literacy — the point at which language and reading skills become usable tools for navigating institutions and services.
From Independence to Participation
That independence has opened doors Leng wasn't aiming for at the outset. She has since secured a part-time job while continuing her studies, combining paid work with ongoing skill development.
She has also formed friendships with other SEE Program participants, building the kind of peer network that supports learning retention and social connection long after a course ends.
"The kind, welcoming, and relaxed classroom environment boosted my confidence," she shares.
That environment isn't incidental. A low-anxiety classroom — where learners feel safe making mistakes — is one of the strongest predictors of progress in adult language and literacy learning, and it's central to how our trainers approach delivery.
Program Details and Funding
The SEE Program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and delivered by Max Solutions, RTO 0667.