Lynne Adamson is taking a break after finishing her foundation degree in Integrated Working with Families and Children.
She did it part time alongside her full-time job as a childminder and is about to come back to Worcester for another two years of part time study for her full degree.
She has also become the face of a national campaign aimed at encouraging more people into her profession.
We’ve been speaking to Lynne about balancing work and study, making friends and being empowered through education.
“I’d been a childminder since I had my daughter, and she’s 13 now,” says Lynne. “I was really quite passionate about early years education, so I thought, if I get the qualification as well as my two outstanding Ofsted inspections then I’ll be doing pretty well.”
After more than a decade of looking after children, Lynne knew a lot about how children think, how they behave, and how to give them the best start in life, but she wanted to get the formal qualification to back up that she knew the theory and the practice.
“Whenever I’d looked at formal courses, the classes would be in the week when I was working, so I couldn’t do them, or the course was too expensive so I didn’t think I could do it.”
Lynne first heard about the Foundation Degree course she did at a networking event. Michelle Malomo, who’s a senior lecturer in early years studies at the University of Worcester was giving a talk about course options.
“I sat there listening to Michelle’s words and I was just thinking ‘this is meant to be!’ says Lynne.
“After she gave her talk I almost rugby tackled her! I said: ‘I need to speak to you!”
“I had just missed out on that intake, so I had to wait for ten months to begin which felt like a long time but everything about the course fitted in with what I needed to do. I had lectures on some Saturdays so I could work in the week, and I was able to use my job as my placement working hours so my income wasn’t affected by my studies.”
But for someone who has lived and breathed childcare for the last 13 years, what did the foundation degree do for Lynne? And how did it inspire her into even more education?
“It gave me confidence. It empowered me to say, ‘I’m really good at my job’. Getting the depth of theory behind the practice I was doing every day, it felt phenomenal.
“I’m coming back to Worcester in September to do my BA, a full degree in Integrated Working with Families and Children, and it just had to be Worcester, I wouldn’t go anywhere else.”
Lynne will be doing her studies at the same pace as her foundation degree, part time, but this time over two years instead of three.
“Me and my daughter will be studying together again! It’s nice, we sit at the dining room table with some snacks, and we just crack on together!”
It sounds idyllic, modelling to her child that learning is a lifelong endeavour, not just something you do when you’re young, and that it certainly doesn’t stop just because you’re older.
“My dad was the first in our family to go to university, and he went when he was 50! I thought, well, dad could do it, so I can do it. If you’re thinking about going to university later on in life, then just go for it. It’s never going to do you any harm, but it’s going to enhance you as a person.
“Whether it’s helping with your confidence, or your knowledge and your networking, it all makes a difference.”
As Lynne prepares for a return to study, she has featured in a government campaign, aimed at encouraging more people into her profession.
“It feels surreal! I just thought, if I could give somebody else the confidence to just go for it, especially as a mature student, I just wanted to say, ‘don’t let things get in your way’.
“Whatever sector it is you want to be part of, when it comes to study, just do it.”
The University of Worcester has many mature students who are represented across the board, from foundation degrees to PHDs.
For information on courses at University of Worcester visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries telephone 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk