Mature student advice please

linsford

Hi,
I'm 3/4 of the way through a level 2 TA course and am also doing a Uni course called Fast Forward which, if I complete, will guarantee me a place on an English degree course. The Uni course is an intensive version of an Access course, I'm not sure whether there are other Uni's offering anything similar but may be worth a look.

I am a mum of two and I left school through ill health without taking any exams, hence no qualifications. However with regards to GCSE Maths and English there are free courses run through Learn Direct and Move On which can equip you with your Level 2 (GCSE equivalent). This is a government initiative and therefore readily available. This is fine for Further Education and initially at Higher however most Uni's offer further tuition and testing.

My advice echoes that of others, speak to the Uni. I saw someone in the role of pre-entry advice and guidance and I was amazed by how many options were open to mature students!!

Good Luck!;)

Oldernotwiser

linsford wrote: »

Hi,


I am a mum of two and I left school through ill health without taking any exams, hence no qualifications. However with regards to GCSE Maths and English there are free courses run through Learn Direct and Move On which can equip you with your Level 2 (GCSE equivalent). This is a government initiative and therefore readily available. This is fine for Further Education and initially at Higher however most Uni's offer further tuition and testing.



!;)

Not all universities will accept the Adult Literacy/ Numeracy qualifications, although it's always worth asking.

Squiggly_Diddly

Well done on getting the job!

I'm about to qualify (10 weeks to go, woo-hoo!) and one other thing you may want to look into is funding? For each year of the degree the GSCC (actually it's through the NHS now) pay a bursary of just over £4500. I don't know what you would get on the p/t course.

However, the p/t course may be easier to manage as a starting point, give you a much better idea of what is to come later on and if you do decide to progress, then you would (I imagine) be supported to apply/transfer onto the degree. And if you don't want to carry on then you have a free-standing qualification in its own right.

I retook my maths a few years ago as I didn't have the necessary grade, then a year later did an OU foundation course in Health & Social Care. This, combined with working as a teaching assistant (and a subsequent false start on a teaching degree) so a clear idea of why I now wanted to do social work - were enough to get me into my course. I also contacted the Admissions Tutor at the Uni prior to applying to see if it was enough, or what else I should do.

As others have said, it is hard going once you get to placements - I did 80 days last academic year & am now coming to the last quarter of my 120 day final placement. Juggling this with being single parent to 3 girls (12, 15, 16), plus still needing to write essays & compile a portfolio, run the house & also work parttime typing at home is exhausting. It is most definitely a rollercoaster - but I am convinced is all worth it!

So if you feel it's absolutely what you want & right for you - then go for it!! Good luck.

leebee11_2

Im doing the access to social work course at the moment, and have just got into my Uni's to do the degree in September. I think you might get away with experience in some uni's but nearly all will ask for a recent qualification as it is so competitive now. All the uni's I applied to had just 45/50 undegraduate places, each with at least 1100 applicants, so you can chance it, but you really need to do everything you can just to get on the course.
And the Access course isn't too bad! Just 9 months and I'm only in 2 evenings a week, though obviously it is a lot more intensive than the normal day time one.
Hope this helps