Bernadette Ryder
Mother-of-two Bernadette Ryder is looking to use her degree within the education sector after graduating.
She achieved First Class Honours in her Professional Practice (Education) degree.
“I was truly amazed that I had achieved such a high standard,” she said. “It was hard work, but with the help of my tutors and fellow students, I managed to complete the degree and was over the moon when the final results were announced. I do wish I had not waited so long to attain a degree, but now that I have done it, I feel very proud of myself.”
Bernadette, who is looking to use her degree within the education sector, potentially in 2023, had never studied at university before. “It was always something I hankered after, even after doing very well following my marketing career,” she said. “I then moved into the education sector and have worked in this sector for over 20 years. I had my own business and really enjoyed working with the children in a different way, and that was when the opportunity arose for me to concentrate on studying for a degree.”
She studied at the University of Worcester via The Learning Institute, which has a satellite site in west London.
Bernadette was in her second year when the pandemic hit. She said: “Studying through the pandemic was hard and frustrating and a potentially lonely journey, but the support from my fellow students and my personal tutor at the University was really good. We had built up a rapport in the first 18 months of studying and were a strong group together, which really helped, particularly with blended learning for the last 18 months.”
Bernadette chose to study through The Learning Institute as this provided her with the flexibility to study, it was offering a foundation degree without pushing her to do a full degree and were locally situated. “I initially signed up because it was face to face teaching, but I think the University provided a good solution to what was a very difficult situation through the pandemic. I had a lot of support from my school in order to complete my projects. The projects I researched were interesting and certainly provided a very good in-depth study for me.”