< Info : Case Studies : Jim

Jim - Access to Humanities - Primary BEd degree - Primary School Teacher

"At school I obtained several 'O' grades. Looking back I could have worked harder, gained more qualifications and gone to college or university but at the time it was more important to have a good trade.

When I left school, I began my apprenticeship as an electrician. I served my time and stayed on in the company. I got into the rut of going to work every day, going home, receiving a wage and continued this for many years without ever enjoying it.

I did this because I felt that I was in a better position than most people I knew. Leaving this for another job would be a big step, never mind studying for five years without any money.

Returning to education wasn't something I took lightly, especially since I had been in secure, full-time employment for eleven years. Giving up a steady job and income at any stage in life is difficult and even more difficult when you are older. All in all it took me five years to be brave enough to leave work and return to education. This involved a lot of discussions with various people and voluntary work with children to find out if this was really what I wanted to do.

Given that I was leaving a full-time job to go into a career in teaching, I had to make sure that there were no obstacles in my way. I looked at a number of different options but after talking through these options with the college Guidance Adviser I decided to apply for the SWAP Access Programme. It allowed me a number of different options if after all this time I found out that I did not want to do primary education.

After being out of education for so long I was apprehensive about going onto higher education, but it turned out that the Access Programme had done a great job in preparing me for university. I think that I had the right attitude, partly because I had given up so much to be there and also because I felt that I was now of a more suitable age to give the course my all. I had a lot of work to do and found it very challenging especially the Maths.

I am now a Primary Teacher and thoroughly enjoying it. My advice to other adults is to give a lot of thought about what you want to do. Make sure that what you are doing is right for you but most of all make sure that you do something about it. For a long time I thought that the job I was in was the job I would have for the rest of my life. There are so many opportunities out there Ð and people to give you advice so that you can make the most of them."