Back to School - Final Edit

Back to School

By Emma Blight

Many people view higher education as a way to better yourself and you are encouraged to pursue education and training as early as possible to get the best start in life. But not everyone has this option. Some people favour family commitments over education and some find that they cannot support this decision financially. Does this mean that all hope is lost? It certainly does not.

It is becoming increasingly popular for adults to begin studying at a later stage in their lives. These mature students may have not been pushed towards education at a younger age and live to regret that, or have decided on raising a family before looking for something to add more substance to their career or lifestyle. Others may simply be looking to re-train in a different area. Whatever is may be, there also becomes the difficult choice of where and how to study. Should single parents immerse themselves into full time study at a brick university? Should people who wish to enhance their career have to leave their job to aid their study? Not any more, thanks to the Open University.

The Open University is becoming one of the world’s most popular options for distance learning at degree level offering the opportunity of study to anybody despite circumstances or locations. There are no entry requirements and access and support is available for all, including a strong service for each of their 11,608 students with disabilities. Although it doesn’t appear in league tables as it is not a residential university, the OU received a satisfaction rating of 93% by its students last year.

The average age of an OU student is 31, with 9% of them being over 50 years of age. Older students are welcomed to study despite their current situations. One of the increasingly popular groups of students is people going into retirement who wish to keep active or pursue interests.

Students are given the option to study part-time or full-time and the courses have the flexibility to allow students to stop and start modules of their degree as it suits their individual needs or circumstances. Each student is allocated a locally based tutor to assess their work and provide support either by face to face meetings or electronic communication such as email and telephone.

Forty-six year old Linda Blight chose to begin studying her OU degree from home after her divorce. Before this, she was a qualified nurse, but chose to be a stay-at-home mum until her children were slightly older and she could work part-time to fill her days. She had no career prospects ahead of her and when her husband left her, she felt it was time to begin a career of her own.

“I was going through a very difficult time, my husband had left and I was feeling very, very low. The children aged 8, 13 & 17 were still all at school and quite dependant. I was working as a Teaching Assistant and whilst I loved the job it was a struggling to bring up 3 children and manage the household bills on a Teaching Assistants wage. My thought at that time was that I could continue with work and better myself with the degree to then go into teaching,” explained Linda.

Nine out of ten students are still able to work full or part-time whilst they study. This is exceptionally useful for people like Linda who needed the income to support her children and home.

Teaching assistant Julie Hughes, aged 39, also needed this flexibility with her study and this is one of the main reasons she chose the Open University.

“I chose the OU because I studied at a brick uni to begin with but work commitments and money matters meant this was no longer possible,” said Julie. “I didn’t want to stop it all together, so decided to study in my own time and wanted a recognised institution to do this with, rather than private providers.”

The OU has given Linda and Julie the ability to study whilst still holding onto their work commitments to support her family, although this is not the only benefit she has felt from this degree as she has admitted that “taking this degree has boosted my self-confidence levels.”

Linda is not the only person to have felt a personal benefit as well as an educational one. Pre-school teacher, Jo Clarke, aged 50, has also noticed the change in herself.

“I believe I have grown in personal confidence, skills and knowledge. Since attending the degree courses, my pre-school has moved from being a ‘good’ setting to ‘outstanding’. Maybe this has something to do with my further learning,” said Jo.

Many people undertake the OU degrees, like Linda, in order to begin a career or move from one to another, but others choose to better themselves in the profession or industry they already work in, such as Jo.

David Masterson, 43, had no prior qualifications, much like 61% of the OU’s undergraduates and admits that he “didn’t appreciate the value of education at school age.” David chose to undertake his degree with the Open University to provide him with “greater opportunity for promotion and responsibility.”

Christina Lloyd in the Open University’s Head of Teaching and Learner Support said:

"We offer students a very different experience compared with traditional universities. Students make a positive decision to come and study with us because of their personal circumstances - they may be concerned about accumulating debt or they may have a job they want to hang on to. At the Open University students can build up work experience while studying and may even use the results of their study directly at work.

"The Open University is a vibrant, friendly community that reaches out to welcome everyone within it. Our students have excellent support online and there are opportunities to meet at tutorials and residential schools. Every student has a personal tutor and receives individual support and feedback throughout their study. This explains why the Open University is scored at the top of the universities league table for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey each year."

Linda, Julie and David all agreed that they wouldn’t have been able to manage reaching this level of education if it wasn’t for the Open University.

“Working from home, and part-time were critical requirements in the time I had available to study,” said David.

If higher education has always been an ambition, but never achievable, the OU provides the option to work the degree around the individual and gives opportunity to all. To find out more, visit http://www.open.ac.uk