‘I left school with no GCSEs and cleaned pubs

1000’s of scholars in England, Wales and Northern Eire are receiving their examination outcomes. It may be a traumatic time, however one college lecturer tells BBC Information it is by no means too late to return into schooling, it doesn’t matter what your outcomes are.

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.

However, fast-forward virtually 30 years, Anna now has a PhD and teaches greater than 100 college college students.

“If I may converse to younger Anna, I’d simply be reassuring and say, ‘don’t fret’,” she says.

Anna was within the minority when she studied later in life however the variety of older college students enrolling at universities throughout the UK has risen lately.

In keeping with the newest figures from the Increased Schooling Statistics Company (HESA), these aged 25 to 29 made up 14% of the scholar inhabitants in 2022/23, up from 11% 4 years beforehand.

There was the same enhance for college students aged 30 and over – from 20% in 2018/19 to 23% in 2022/23.

Anna says her job as course chief in wildlife conservation at Nottingham Trent College has given her some “wonderful” experiences.

She leads area journeys to look at deer rutting within the autumn and tracks seals on the Lincolnshire coast with teams of scholars.

But it surely was not an easy route into lecturing for Anna, 45, who follows the mantra that “there are not any guidelines” if you wish to return into schooling.

“I spent all my years at college hating it and could not wait to get away from schooling, however now I’ve spent half my life in academia,” she says.

“It’s ridiculous actually, but it surely wasn’t the training that I did not like, it was the system of college.

“I like studying. I nonetheless do.”

After leaving college at 16 with no {qualifications}, Anna says she spent the following two years doing all method of jobs “simply to earn some cash”.

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

“I used to be simply so glad to be out of college,” she says.

Anna discovered she was pregnant quickly after turning 18. After turning into a mum, she says she started excited about how she may get again into schooling with out having to return to the normal classroom setting.

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

She then enrolled on an Entry to Increased Schooling course and “actually loved” the extra hands-on studying that faculty provided in contrast with college.

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

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

“It is about doing what you take pleasure in and if it is one thing you take pleasure in, you will do effectively.”

Anna’s schooling didn’t finish there.

She spent the following 5 years learning for a PhD and eventually graduated in 2012, virtually 20 years after leaving college with no {qualifications} in any respect.

Since then, she has develop into a senior lecturer and not too long ago received the Vice-Chancellor’s Instructing Excellence Award.

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

“I did not know what I wished to do [after school] both,” says 26-year-old Star, who works in an opticians.

Talking alongside her mum from the household residence in Leicestershire, Star says: “However you [Anna] stated that I need not fear about that – and I did not go to school after.”

“And that’s wonderful as a result of college isn’t for everyone,” says Anna.

She nonetheless remembers the “disappointment”, says Anna, that she felt strolling out of college with none {qualifications} however says regardless of the end result for college students getting their outcomes this summer time, there is no such thing as a want to fret.

“It’s not the top of the world when you’ve got not finished in addition to you’ll have preferred.”

Anna is aware of first-hand how among the finest college students are those that begin studying once more a lot later in life.

“There are not any guidelines to say that it’s important to do every part in these conventional schooling years,” she says.

“I’ve had a pupil on my course who was 65 years previous and accomplished the diploma.

“It actually isn’t too late.”

Anybody who doesn’t have a GCSE grade 4 or increased in maths or English can resit exams without spending a dime.

You may examine for GCSEs, Useful Expertise and different related {qualifications} from entry degree to degree two.

Contact your native authority or an extra schooling faculty for extra info.

For different topics, it relies upon the place you reside.

In some elements of the nation, older learners can sit GCSE exams without spending a dime in the event that they earn lower than £25,000 or are unemployed.

Nonetheless, if you happen to reside in a area ruled by a Mayoral Mixed Authority (MCA), resembling London or Larger Manchester, funding choices range.

The identical funding restrictions apply to A-levels.

Go to your native MCA web site for extra info.

Most college programs require candidates to have some {qualifications}, resembling GCSE maths and English, however entry necessities range for every course.

Contact particular person universities or verify the Ucas web site to seek out out extra.