Adult student achieves English and Maths to enhance career prospects

An adult student wanting to enhance her career prospects has returned to college to successfully gain her English and Maths qualifications.

Clinical Data and Admin Manager within the NHS, Maggiie Jones, 40 from Birmingham, left school without having gained her Maths and English qualifications, but this didn’t hold her back from forging an impressive career in the NHS spanning two decades.

Maggiie was ready to start on a Level 5 Diploma in Operational Management and Leadership and Ops Manager Apprenticeship with her employer and Solihull College & University Centre but needed Level 2 English and Maths qualifications to do so. She enrolled on to the Functional Skills Maths and English courses, and in under three months completed all her examinations.

Maggiie shares: “I have gained many qualifications after leaving school and throughout my career but not having Maths and English always niggled me. It got to a point where it prevented me from taking on opportunities because I let it affect my self-confidence.”

“Up until this point, I’d spent my life focussing on my career and my two boys and this was the time to put myself first. The College was so flexible, they understood that I had experience working on high level reports within my role so my needs in the class were different to some of the other students and they catered to that.”

Within two months of starting the courses, Maggiie was ready to sit her exams. She explains:

“I thought I’d struggle with English but given my role over the years, I learnt I had the skills and was now learning the terminology and techniques to supplement it. The Maths exam was challenging but I really enjoyed it. I have a head for figures and love spreadsheets. It was reassuring that I wasn’t just doing something for the sake of it, but because it was meaningful and fulfilling for me.”

Within two weeks, Maggiie had received her results and was especially thankful to her tutors:

“I’m grateful to Lucy Hammond, Simon Homer, and Dee McGhee for all the support they provided to help me achieve my goals.”

Having completed all her diploma assignments, Maggiie will now be focussing on her work-based project and end point assessment for the apprenticeship before finishing her studies in December. Speaking of her course she says:

“I’m in a cohort with 12 professionals who are from a wide range of different industries, and I find that’s where my learning is most valuable, understanding how their sectors function and the expertise they bring to the lessons.”

Maggiie is a great example of demonstrating that it is never too late to go back to college. With her Level 2 English and Maths qualifications now achieved, nothing is standing in the way of her future career development.