Learning / School
Returning to education
Take that first step back into learning, you never know where it might lead. Linda Tanner looks at some of the options for adults considering a return to education.
When 18-year-old Rose Wheeler became a first-year environmental science undergraduate at the University of Bristol last autumn, there was a familiar face among her fellow freshers – her mum Deborah.
It was a situation neither could have imagined even a couple of years earlier, when single parent Deborah was struggling to bring up her five children on benefits.
A former nurse, Deborah had been out of education for more than 30 years and was feeling anxious and depressed. She joined the Easton-based Single Parent Action Network, and took part in a number of activities and classes “to keep me busy”.
One of these was a six-week women’s history course run by university’s Faculty of Arts. In no time, Deborah was hooked and this led to her becoming one of the first students on a new Foundation Year in Arts and Humanities in September 2013. After completing that successfully, she won a place to start a history degree a year later.
“I realised I wasn’t as thick as I thought,” she said. “There was such a diverse mixture of people on the foundation year. What we had in common was that we had all missed out on education the first time round, for whatever reason.
“The tutors made us feel valued as part of the university and we all grew in confidence. We were not guinea pigs – we were pioneers.”
Josie McLellan, joint director of the programme, said the range of backgrounds and experience of the students was hugely important to the university. They are aged from 17 to over 70 and many have been actively recruited through taster sessions at community organisations such as SPAN, training provider IDEAL, Creative Youth Network and The Park.
“Our starting point was: which students is the university not reaching?” she said. “These students are fantastic – really exceptional. We and our colleagues love working with them.”
Bristol University led the way in changing its approach in order to recruit a wider spectrum of students when it launched its unique English Literature and Community Engagement degree in 2008.
This course opens up the study of literature to people who may not previously have had the opportunity. They are then encouraged to share what they are learning with others, by running a reading group or activity in the community.
Course leader Gareth Griffith said: “Part of the point of the programme is to show that education is not just for a particular type of person; it can benefit everybody.
“It is a real joy for us to see people come to terms with something they have long wanted to do
“We offer the full chronological range, from Chaucer to present day. Within that, every student will uncover things that they didn’t realise that they were going to enjoy.”
Participants study part time over six years, so last summer saw the course’s first graduates. One of them, Ellen Howard, wrote after completing her degree: “I have no illusions about being snapped up by an employer at the ripe old age of 61, but what I have gained cannot have a price put on it – empowerment, confidence and self-esteem.
“In our goal-orientated society, with its ethos of competition and profit, we’ve forgotten the idea of learning for its own sake, enhancing self and community through co-operation and achievement.”
One place that has held true to the aims of learning for pleasure over many decades in our city is Bristol Folk House, which for more than 50 years has run courses “that engage the local community and allow them to learn new skills in a safe and welcoming environment”.
For the last 20 years, since Government funding for leisure courses was withdrawn, it has been run as a co-operative, offering day, evening and weekend courses and workshops according to demand.
Programme manager Ella Charles said: “We are always adding new courses and workshops.. It’s about giving people a place to discover something new, meet new people, learn a new skill and give themselves some time to enjoy learning in a friendly, happy and relaxed atmosphere.”
While September is the traditional month for starting a new course, it’s worth thinking some time earlier about what you might like to pursue – and how you will fit the study into your life.
The Folk House’s prospectus for the autumn term comes out at the end of June. SGS and City of Bristol College and other providers will produce their prospectuses around the same time, detailing part-time courses of all sorts. All the details are available online and there are various open days and taster sessions on offer over the coming months. Libraries are another good source of information.
Community Learning West links providers in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset of informal courses and classes for adults who want to learn subjects from arts and languages to skills for work and the chance to improve English and Maths.
Adult Learners Week, an annual celebration that has been running for more than 20 years, takes place in 2015 from June 13-19 and will highlight some of the opportunities and successes across the area. The week includes annual awards for people who have turned their lives around through education.
Access to Higher Education courses are another route for those who missed out on formal qualifications earlier in life. They are on offer at both SGS and City of Bristol. But Catrin Thomas, head of Access at City of Bristol, warned that anyone applying for a place needed to have fully considered their aims and ambitions.
“The main thing is that people must have thought it through,” she said. “We expect them to have researched what they want to do as a degree, which universities they will apply to and what the entry requirements will be. If people are not ready, we will not take them on.”
Deborah Wheeler, though, has no doubt that she made the right decision in pursuing higher education.
“It has been hard at times but when I was struggling my children kept me going,” she said.
“The support from the tutors and the other students is great too. I wasn’t sure I could afford to go to university but I am better off now than when I was on benefits, which is an absolute bonus.”
Images: Bristol Folk House Co-op Ltd
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