Pauline Graham
Travelling from Cumbernauld to Paisley became part of everyday life for Pauline Graham and her new daily journey has seen her take a change of career and studying to become a Primary School teacher. At 27 years of age, Pauline decided to move on from a career within the insurance sector and concentrate on her ambition to become a qualified teacher.
She said, “Returning to full-time education was a tricky decision to make. My current employer offered flexible working hours and I was able to enrol for the Access to Primary Education course at Reid Kerr College. This programme has been an ideal platform to not only get back into education at this stage in my life, but also an ideal and well paced course incorporating core subjects and a well rounded qualification providing access onto a university degree.
It has been a packed year at Reid Kerr and although there were a number of subjects that were completely new to me, the course opened my eyes to a lot of new knowledge and various new skills throughout the year making it a challenging but achievable experience. I made good use of the College facilities while I was here and there was always plenty of resources on hand when you needed them. The unlimited supply of computers meant that you could drop in and study in a variety of areas around the College when it suited you and in particular the College library, which is well equipped and a useful place to get on with your work.
A guaranteed place at university was certainly a draw to the course at Reid Kerr and motivation alone to work hard and achieve the ultimate end result. I have been accepted for a 1st Year place at Strathclyde University to study a ‘BEd Honours Primary Education’ and the training so far has confirmed that I have definitely made the right decision to follow a career in Primary Education.”
Gordon Murray, Head of Science & Social Sciences at Reid Kerr added, “Any student that may be apprehensive about returning to education, can be assured that other students have very similar concerns and are all very supportive of one another on this programme. The Access to Primary Education aims to build confidence and skills that candidates may not have used since leaving education themselves several years ago - it is about developing individual’s ability so that they are fully equipped to deal with 1st year of a degree at university.”
Successful candidates can progress onto a degree course in Primary Education following a successful interview for a university place and providing they complete all units in the designated programme. Students can also be given a guaranteed place on other university programmes. Applications for university are made through SWAP who co-ordinate college and university progression routes and provide information and support for successful learners.
Reid Kerr College also deliver an Access to Humanities with both Access programmes offering excellent progression routes to other guaranteed places on a wide range of degree programmes at university. For more information about studying Access to Humanities or Access to Primary Education at Reid Kerr College you can speak to a Student Services Advisor on 0800 052 7343 or log on to www.reidkerr.ac.uk. You can now follow Reid Kerr College on Facebook and Twitter.
