Learners participating in higher level courses: Level 4 and above

In this section, I present the higher-level learners. Gail (24), Hope (24), Yvonne (33), Debbie (34), Polly (42), David (45), Robyn (45) and Veronica (51) have all studied courses at Level 4, and above. Much like the rest of the cohort, achieving good outcomes at 16 had been difficult. Despite the odds however, Debbie and Robyn passed the benchmark of 5 GCSEs or more. While the rest of the group failed to reach the benchmark, they did achieve a mixture of GCSEs and CSEs. Once again, family separation, divorce, and illness impacted on Gail, Hope, David, Yvonne, and Robyn’s lives. Hope, for example, lived intermittently with each parent, moving schools at least 12 times during childhood. Expelled from school by the age of 15 years, Hope was barred from sitting GCSE examinations. Polly, on the other hand, left school with no qualifications mainly because the school she attended only offered a vocational curriculum of learning. Therefore, on leaving school Polly had three options: first, to work for a local government-based organisation that offered training and work opportunities for disabled people; second, to stay at home; or third, to apply to study at a specialist boarding college. Not wanting to take either of the first two options, Polly wanted to continue her education. This was an important milestone for Polly since, for the very first time in her life, she had the opportunity to attain academic qualifications.

For the other participants, in terms of employment, David signed up to a YTS apprenticeship in car mechanics, while the rest found jobs in retail, cleaning, care and factory work respectively. Like Frances, Debbie had been forced into work by her

‘biological mother’. After spending time in and out of care during her teenage years, Debbie left home soon after leaving school to start a new life, away from the family.

Lastly, just after leaving school Yvonne fell pregnant, which meant employment was out of the question, at least for the next few years.

Like the medium level learners, this group of learners had exercised a choice to engage in self-directed learning throughout the life course; some committing to multiple and prolonged episodes of learning. At time of interview Gail, Hope, Debbie, Yvonne, and David were studying at degree level. Robyn and Polly had both achieved a Higher National Diploma, while Veronica had achieved a degree some years previously. Also, in terms of career advancement, many had transitioned from one job field to another. As David commented at interview:

[I]f I hadn’t had education along the way, I wouldn’t be able to do this now. So, that’s how much it’s changed my life. I enjoy my job now. (David, 45-year-old) David’s transition from car mechanic to Social Services support officer and trainer is described in more detail in Chapter 6, section 6.5.2. Likewise, Veronica had transitioned from factory worker to social worker over a period of 12 years while Yvonne, a former retail worker, was still in the throes of studying a nursing degree. During the interviews, I was keen to understand in what ways ACL had influenced this group and whether learning had instilled a sense of confidence and agency. Apart from Robyn, who felt that dropping out of the degree programme had undermined her confidence, most agreed that learning had been positive and worthwhile, for example, studying over the past five or six years had given Yvonne the confidence to apply for a school governor role. She explained:

I wouldn’t have said boo to a sheep before…I think it’s given me more confidence to do it… Before I would think, like I say about getting up and saying things in front of people, and I say I’m shy and things and then when you talk to my friends and things they say, ‘Look, you’re not shy at all’… As long as I know a subject, or I know what I’m talking about, I'm more than confident to get up, and I'll talk about it and I'll discuss it and I’ll argue the point… I am a lot more confident, but I do think it’s because of the course as well. Definitely, I weren’t confident before I was doing it. (Yvonne, 33-year-old)

When I asked Yvonne why she felt so differently she explained:

Because you’re meeting people and you've got to be quite… you can’t… shy away from things. You’ve got to be there, you’ve got to just get involved, and you’ve got to be chatty, and talking to people, and doing things like that. You can’t be… somebody who’s just going to cower in the corner and not be confident.

You’ve got to be confident, and you’ve got to be confident in what you’re doing…

It is interesting to note at the beginning of the extract, where Yvonne describes herself as shy e.g. ‘wouldn’t have said boo to a sheep before’ however on receiving feedback from others in her social network, her attitude changed, and it is here that Yvonne starts to believe in herself. However, later in the interview, Yvonne explained how illness had

led to a crisis in confidence to the extent that she questioned her skills and ability, and seriously contemplated whether to return to the nursing placement.

[A]fter… being ill and things, I was like, oh I don’t know if I can do this anymore.

I think I’m going to have to knock it on the head, and my husband was like, ‘Oh don’t be stupid’, but literally I was sweating going into the [hospital] ‘cause it was my first day back... I was shaking, I was like, I really don’t know if I can do this.

And then I was there. I was there for an hour and I was like, I know I’m back now, I’m back with a vengeance… I know this is for me. Definitely. So, any doubts I had were well gone.

This temporary state of worry affected Yvonne’s confidence however fear soon subsided on getting back into the routine of work. Her words, ‘I’m back with a vengeance’ signalling she was ready and willing to take on the challenges before her. Likewise, Debbie drew on her academic social capital (Bourdieu 1986) to try out new ideas related to her children’s learning in the home. When I asked Debbie what she had gained from studying a degree in education she replied:

[F]or my academic achievement, obviously, that comes from the tutor but then when we have group discussions, and they say what they do and how they do it.

I do take a lot from that at home but obviously if it wasn't for the course I wouldn't gain any of that… (Debbie, 34-year-old)

I probed further to find out what Debbie had gained from the discussions. She said:

[J]ust obviously teaching strategies. How other teachers, sort of, approach a lesson because I see how other people are dealing with certain situations with certain people… I think I'm very much a watcher, and I very much think, ooh I'll try that, or I'll take that home, and see if that'll work and if it don't, I'll try something else.

In this context, watching others gives Debbie ideas that she later trials and tests out in the home, evidence of which is captured in the parent-child relationship featured in Chapter 6. Likewise, Veronica drew on her social capital by garnering support from her social networks. On signing up to study a degree in social work she said:

I had my pal, so I could have a shoulder to lean on. I know she used me, as in, I can get a better score than her all the time. Fine that didn’t bother me really, we’d share books, we’d have a natter together, but I was determined then that I could get through this, and again I had two really good female tutors in [name]

and [name] who also could see potential there, and I didn’t want to let them down.

(Veronica, 51-year-old)

Tutor, family and peer support is a critical dimension in learning; without timely and effective support, it would have been far more difficult for participants to negotiate and navigate their way through the learning trajectory. The support dimension is an important

facet and is central to learning across the life course; a dimension that appeared time and again in the narratives.