‘I left college with no GCSEs and cleaned pubs

Thousands of scholars in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will likely be getting their examination outcomes on Thursday. It generally is a tense time, however one college lecturer tells Daily News News it is by no means too late to return into schooling, it doesn’t matter what outcomes you get.

Anna Champneys admits there was “no grand plan” when she left college at 16 with none GCSEs.

She left earlier than sitting any exams, after years of scuffling with the “regimented” classroom construction and lacking a number of deadlines.

But, fast-forward 20 years, Anna now has a PhD and teaches greater than 100 college college students.

“If I could speak to young Anna, I would just be reassuring and say, ‘don’t worry’,” she says.

Anna was in the minority when she studied later in life but the number of older students enrolling at universities across the UK has risen in recent years.

According to the latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), those aged 25 to 29 made up 14% of the student population in 2022/23, up from 11% four years previously.

There was a similar increase for students aged 30 and over – from 20% in 2018/19 to 23% in 2022/23.

Anna says her job as course leader in wildlife conservation at Nottingham Trent University has given her some “amazing” experiences.

She leads field trips to watch deer rutting in the autumn and tracks seals on the Lincolnshire coast with groups of students.

But it was not a straightforward route into lecturing for Anna, 45, who follows the mantra that “there are no rules” if you want to go back into education.

“I spent all my years at school hating it and couldn’t wait to get away from education, but now I’ve spent half my life in academia,” she says.

“It’s ridiculous really, but it wasn’t the learning that I didn’t like, it was the system of school.

“I love learning. I still do.”

After leaving school at 16 with no qualifications, Anna says she spent the next two years doing all manner of jobs “just to earn some money”.

She labored as a library assistant, a waitress in a roadside cafe and a cleaner in a pub.

“I was just so glad to be out of school,” she says.

Anna came upon she was pregnant quickly after turning 18. After turning into a mum, she says she started serious about how she might get again into schooling with out having to return to the standard classroom setting.

When she was 20, Anna handed her GCSE exams in English and maths.

She then enrolled on an Access to Higher Education course and “really enjoyed” the extra hands-on studying that school supplied in contrast with college.

It ignited a spark in Anna and he or she started an undergraduate diploma in wildlife conservation on the similar time her daughter began main college.

She says the fervour she felt within the labs and lecture halls at college have been a world away from the “authoritarian” nature of faculty.

“It’s about doing what you enjoy and if it’s something you enjoy, you’ll do well.”

Anna’s schooling didn’t finish there.

She spent the subsequent 5 years finding out for a PhD and at last graduated in 2012, nearly 20 years after leaving college with no {qualifications} in any respect.

Since then, she has grow to be a senior lecturer and not too long ago received the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award.

Anna’s uncommon route into schooling meant she might go on recommendation to her daughter when she sat her GCSEs 10 years in the past.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do [after school] either,” says 26-year-old Star, who works in an opticians.

Speaking alongside her mum from the household house in Leicestershire, Star says: “But you [Anna] said that I don’t need to worry about that – and I didn’t go to university after.”

“And that’s high quality as a result of college will not be for everyone,” says Anna.

She still remembers the “disappointment”, says Anna, that she felt walking out of school without any qualifications but says whatever the outcome for students getting their results this summer, there is no need to worry.

“It’s not the end of the world if you have not done as well as you would have liked.”

Anna knows first-hand how some of the best students are those who start learning again much later in life.

“There are no rules to say that you have to do everything in those traditional education years,” she says.

“I’ve had a student on my course who was 65 years old and completed the degree.

“It really is never too late.”

Anyone who does not have a GCSE grade four or higher in maths or English can resit exams for free.

You can study for GCSEs, Functional Skills and other relevant qualifications from entry level to level two.

Contact your local authority or a further education college for more information.

For other subjects, it depends where you live.

In some parts of the country, older learners can sit GCSE exams for free if they earn less than £25,000 or are unemployed.

However, if you live in a region governed by a Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA), such as London or Greater Manchester, funding options vary.

The same funding restrictions apply to A-levels.

Visit your local MCA website for more information.

Most university courses require applicants to have some qualifications, such as GCSE maths and English, but entry requirements vary for each course.

Contact particular person universities or examine the Ucas web site to search out out extra.