From Dogsbody to Doctorate - One girl's tale of the quest for an education

My first day of school

2011-10-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

I sat huddled in the corner of the lecture theatre trying to pretend I was invisible as scores of third year undergraduates poured into the pews pushing me further and further into my seat of ageing oblivion. I don't belong here do I? What am I doing in a lecture theatre surrounded by twenty year old students? I must stick out like a sore thumb, sat there with my bought-not-borrowed course book and the keys to my mortgaged house and bought-outright car in my bag right next to the keys that let me into the building I've worked in full time for the past eight years.

What am I doing here? I feel like such a fraud. Any minute now someone is going to turn around and ask what the hell I'm doing here, then they're gonna call security and have me escorted out like a charver caught shoplifting in JD Sport.

But then the Professor walks in and launches rather excitingly into an 'Introduction to the Social Policy and Society module' and my fears quell as everyone's attention is thankfully shifted to him. He's quite a lively fella and I immediately get the impression that I'm going to enjoy his classes. He's the Professor of Social Policy at Durham University and introduces the module with an eager infectious vibrancy; just what I need to get me right into the thick of this course.

I know there aren't many postgrads on this module compared to undergrads but I only recognise one other person, Rachael who I met at induction on Tuesday but my corner-huddling worked against me as she'd managed to come in and sit down without having seen me so I'm transported back to my first day of school where no one knows me and no one wants to speak to me because I'm the weird looking kid who doesn't belong.

Professor Greener is still introducing the module and announces that he has a module guidebook to hand out but that there are different ones for undergrads and postgrads. I already have one, I printed it out at work thanks to my continuing paranoia that I've forgotten something drastically important so when I saw it on DUO (Durham Online, Durham Uni's version of Blackboard) I printed it off along with every other minor snippet of information available for my course at that time for the fear that I'd be castigated and given a dunces hat if I didn't. As it turns out I was far better prepared than many having already read through the introduction lecture and module guide and having already bought the set module book which Prof G has just told everyone they need to get hold of before next weeks lecture.

He hands out piles of the undergrad module guide and asks the students to pass them round and then announces that the best way to hand out the postgrad ones is for the postgrads to make themselves known so he can give them individually.

I put my hand up along with the five other postgrads in the eighty-strong room. A mixture of embarrassment, pride and hubris wash over me all at once as for the first time the magnitude of my situation hits me. I'm a postgrad.

I really am. And I made it into my first choice university without any question of my abilities. I think that justifies my brief moment of self-importance, don't you.

Freshers

2011-10-05T05:55:00.000-07:00

Today is the day after yesterday, and yesterday was my inaugural trip to Durham University.

I had to take a day off work (unpaid) to attend the postgraduate induction day during which I was introduced to the department staff, got the chance to meet some of my fellow students and collected my campus card which gains me that all important access to the library. However yesterday was also the first day of the Freshers Fair and never having been to any freshers events (with never having actually been a fresher) I felt almost obliged to pop my head in and see what all the fuss was about.

Firstly let me just reiterate that I'm 31 years old. Now despite not feeling it, I probably look it so being surrounded by 'real' freshers was a daunting prospect for my ageing neurons to cope with. But nevertheless I persevered and set off on the surprisingly short pilgrimage from the SASS (School of Applied Social Sciences) building to the students union building. On the way I passed numerous young-uns handing out flyers and free stuff to the hoards of excited teenagers roaming the streets like the already owned the place, but no one was handing flyers to me. I'm old. I can't be a fresher, surely. I wanted to have a name badge on saying "don't ignore me, I'm a fresher too!" but alas I fear I would've looked like even more of a plonker and so carried on my merry way until it happened. Someone stuck their bounty filled hand out in front of me and said... wait for it... "free condom?".

*sigh*

Oh well. I'm never one to turn anything down so I sniggered, took it graciously and then sniggered again at the Durham University sticker on the packet before sealing it away in my handbag.

On my entry into the murky depths of the students union building I was hit by a wall of warm dampness oozing from the hundreds of students trying to cram their way through the various halls and rooms to sign up for everything they could and blag as many freebies as they could. I imagine if you spent enough time wandering round and talking to all of the stalls you could probably blag enough free stuff to keep you going for a while, certainly in pens, notepads and sweets at the very least.

I must admit though, I didn't bother grappling with the kids to get freebies. Despite my usual 'owt for nowt' attitude I didn't fancy my chances so all I bothered with was a Durham University Library pen and a free slice of Dominos pizza (I hadn't had breakfast so it came at just the right time). I did however sign up for a couple of societies and have my eye on a couple of others so I'll see what happens with those and report back with any exciting news.

I suppose I had always thought that the whole freshers experience had passed me by so I'm glad I got to go to the fair, if for no other reason than to see how utterly mental it was! And here's me thinking that Durham Uni students would be all civilised and sensible. How wrong I suspect I am.

A little perspective

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

A colleague of mine from the board of governors has just tweeted today to say she's been offered a place at Newcastle University to do a Masters in British History. I'm thrilled for her, naturally, but this will be her THIRD masters degree. She already has an MA from Newcastle University in European History and an MRes from Northumbria University in History. Brainiac or what?! Love it.

Makes me feel a bit pathetic for all the hype I've given to my own masters degree and puts it into perspective a little. I haven't even started my Masters yet and here's Helen about to start her third, I've gotta rein in the excitement a bit...

She's hoping this next masters will bolster her chances of getting accepted to do a PhD. She certainly deserves it; you have to admire someone with such determination and eagerness to learn.

Helen, I tip my hat to you, you're an inspiration.

T-minus 10 days

2011-09-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

10 days. That's all that's left.

In 10 days time I'll be getting ready to drive down to Durham for my first lecture as a postgraduate student. How am I feeling? Am I nervous? Am I scared? Am I excited? Am I anxious? Honestly, I don't know. I sort of feel like it's just another day as a student. That it's going to be just the same as a new Open University module starting, but I don't think that will be the case.

Next Tuesday I have to go for a postgrad induction day where I get my identity verified by the department, meet my fellow pg'ers, get introduced to the faculty members and sit through a talk about what's expected from us and what it's like to be a pg student and THAT's the bit I think I'm most nervous about.

I've never been good at going in blind to things like this, I always find it very uncomfortable being in a room full of people I don't know for the fear that no one will want to talk to me. It's rarely the case and I've no doubt I'll have plenty of opportunity to get chatting to people but it's still causing a bit of a flutter in the pit of my guts.

So the countdown begins. I have loads to do in the meantime; EMA to study for and write, next months articles for BDT to research and write, Platform to write, S154 to start... Plenty to keep me going but in the back of my mind the countdown clock ticks by.

Sponsorship of a different kind

2011-09-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

I recently did the Great North Bike Ride. A 57 mile bike ride down the North East coastline for which I managed to raise a respectable £250 in sponsorship. I've also managed to coerce a couple of the BDT girls into doing a 17 mile hike through the Peak District in November for which we're seeking sponsorship too.

But yesterday someone agreed to sponsor me in a completely different way. I went through to Morpeth to buy some stationery in preparation for my multiple studies starting any day now and knew before I even got to the shop that I was going to buy an Oxford A5 notebook. I had bought one last year and was really impressed with it. I know that's a strange thing to say about paper, but this particular notebook is excellent. It's spiral bound, perforated AND pre-punched, quite a rarity for an A5 pad, and to top it all off they do this special Optik paper which is super-white and has a satin finish which makes it perfect for writing on both sides (something I've always done and get annoyed when I see other people wasting half their paper). I love A5 pads too as they're easier to carry around and I often find that because my handwriting is quite small a whole A4 page of notes is just too much for my feeble little brain to cope with so A5 is easier for me to take in.

After admiring my new notebook I decided to email the company and plead my studies and so I am now very proudly sponsored (in stationery) by Oxford. Some products are on their way for me to try out so keep eyes peeled for reviews.

In the mean time though, W H Smiths and Tesco currently have offers on the range so if you're in need of any stationery for studies or the office I highly recommend them.

It's really happening!

2011-09-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

I've just had confirmation from the admissions office at Durham University that all conditions of offer have been met and I am definitely going to Durham to study for a masters!!

I start in less than a month which is quite frightening, but exciting at the same time and I can't wait to get stuck in to it.

I'm promising myself that since my blogging for Platform is relating to my continuing studies with the OU and I'll not be bleating on about my masters on there I'll rekindle my blogging on here and keep up to date on this blog. After all, it's why I started this blog in the first place!!

Watch this space for further developments, oh and while you're at it check my new website www.workstudyplay.co.uk

Something non-Platform related for once

2011-07-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

So earlier in the month I blogged about getting offered a writing position with Brew Drinking Thinkings. I'm looking forward to having my first articles published in the August issue but it's also looking like I might get some help from the health & fitness expert to lose some weight for my graduation.

So watch this space as I might be doing a diet & fitness diary for BDT to keep track of my progress... It'd be nice to wear something other than a potato sack for my graduation (especially since I might be going to our glorious capital for it!).

MA here I come!

2011-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

I did it! I got an offer from Durham Uni and I'm so ridiculously excited about it you wouldn't believe I was capable of such excitement!!

I hope it doesn't make me lose interest in the OU though...

An ode to my Ma

2011-07-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

My mother is so clever and creative, she wrote me a poem

An ode to my Ma

Well I've finally finished it!

2011-07-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Almost 8 years after first starting my degree I've finally finished it. I won't get the results until August but all the work is done.

Yey! Although it did leave me feeling at a bit of a loss...

A degree of sadness

Fancy a Brew?

2011-06-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm terrible for wanting a piece of all the action, so when I saw that a fellow OU student had begun writing for a new website and that they had vacancies for other writing positions I applied without hesitation or forethought.

That was almost a month ago and I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that I received an email this morning offering me a position! So... I soon begin writing for Brew Drinking Thinkings as their travel/culture writer. I'll be writing about cities, their history and their culture so I'll be trying as hard as I can to make it as interesting and compulsive-reading as I can.

Watch this space!

Tell me what's your flava.

2011-06-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

In a bid to avoid being lazy, here's the links to all the blog posts I've written since the last one I linked to on here, there's a few:

What University means to me

My EMA is due next week and I haven't even started it, eek!

Celebration and worry

What volunteering means to me

What's the difference between studying and riding a bike?

When I was 21...

OUSA Conference and a serious case of the wobblies

Been there, got the t-shirt

My 'March for the Alternative'

More student monitoring? Are tutor babysitters now?

If at first you don't succeed...

Filling the gap with study

Introducing Carrie Anne Walton BSc Open

... on having one of THOSE days

Who inspires me? Well I've known her forever

Here's what's on my bookshelf

OUSA - One big happy family

Phew, told you there was a lot!

My very own blog, with a title and everyfink!

2011-06-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Platform recently relaunched with a brand new image and I was fortunate enough to have my blog transferred over to the new-look site too.

As part of the 'new look' my blog was given it's own title "Carrie On Being A Student". Clever innit, I was right chuffed when Rob came up with that, it made me feel a bit special.

So anyway, the reason I haven't posted on here in such a long time is because everything's on the Platform blog now, scoot over and have a look.

http://www8.open.ac.uk/platform/blogs

I didn't think I needed a plan B

2011-01-28T02:42:00.000-08:00

My "7 year plan" has been smashed to smithereens. The OU have announced the withdrawal of their Social Science Postgraduate programmes which has put a serious spanner in my works.

Here's what I think about it.

Resolutions schmesolutions

2011-01-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

I hate New Years Resolutions. Here's why

Resolutions Schmesolutions

Our American Cousins

2011-01-06T02:38:00.000-08:00

Over the Crimbo holidays I was delightfully alerted to a tiny snippet of information in a mass email received by my dad. He’s very supportive of my studies and when I told him I was going to be writing for Platform he promised to keep his eyes peeled for relevant things I could write about.

Now, this tiny snippet said:

“Monday on Fox news they learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans.”

Shocked? Read on about Our American Cousins

Carrie on Christmas

2010-12-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

In an effort to prevent my blog just being a weekly ramble on about all and sundry I decided to write a Christmas poem. Here's my effort:

Carrie on Christmas

HOLY POTATO!!

2010-12-18T01:31:00.000-08:00

Despite having blogged for Platform since August and despite some of my posts having attracted a few comments I've never really thought that very many people actually read it. I just always thought that plenty of people would click through to it, far more than would comment, but then they'd get bored after a couple of sentences and go elsewhere.

Well it seems I may be wrong... A post I did recently on the weighting of TMAs to exams has, to date, attracted a whopping and pretty mind bloggling 92 comments!! Granted a couple of them are from me but still, that's phenomenal!!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read the blog, and even bigger thanks to those who took the extra time to comment.

Left is clearly right

2010-12-15T05:26:00.000-08:00

I'm a leftie. A southpaw. A sinistra. Call me what you want, I'm proud to be in the minority of people who are left-hand dominant.

I happened to notice in my recent O U exam that there were a lot of other lefties there too so I wrote a blog about it:

Left is clearly right

In which I play Devil's Advocate

2010-12-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

I never intend to cause controversy, but I often think people don't fully understand the concept of playing devil's advocate and try to argue with me on topics saying they disagree with me... Well if I'm playing devil's advocate then you can't disagree with me because it's not my opinion I'm giving.

My newest blog post is about the rise in tuition fees and in it I do just that - put forward the argument FOR the fee increase. It's not my personal opinion, just a look at the subject from an alternative vantage point.

As an ex-philosophy student I'm very much used to having to argue a side I don't agree with. Here it is.

In which I play Devil's Advocate

Snovember

2010-11-30T02:34:00.000-08:00

What a month this is turning out to be weather-wise! Us true Northerners seem to have had the initial flurry of snowfall and it's caused havoc for schools and businesses right across the region. Not for OU students though, here's why:

My latest Platform blog post - Let it Snow

Linky linky

2010-11-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

It's just dawned on me that I can keep this blog up to date by linking to Platform posts. Since most of my writing is done for them now there's no reason why I can't link to it each time a new post is put up. Here's some of the previous ones:

Weighing up TMAs and exams

Two OU meetings, two TMAs and one exam. Done.

Remembering what it's like to be a newbie student

Why I'm proud of my mature student tag

How do I fit it all in? I shuffle

Flab fighting

2010-10-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

My job as student blogger for Platform has begun. I'm writing posts specifically for Platform now so my own blog seems to have suffered the consequences of having to prioritise one over the other.

Hey ho. Such is life.

I'm fully wound down from the Philosophy module now, thoroughly glad it's over and am now getting well into the swing of my Social Policy module. It makes all the difference when it's a subject you can read and understand and find really interesting, I'm genuinely looking forward to getting further through this module and I don't think I'll find it difficult to lose myself for a couple of hours at a time in one of the books so it's great to know that I'll hopefully be finishing off my BSc with a smile.

I've been thinking about my health again over the past few days. I'm getting a little bit too pudgy for my comfort and contemplated diving back into Weight Watchers full throttle, but then I remember what happened last time I did it; I was constantly hungry, really missed some foods and got a bit miserable counting up points and half points, and although I'd lost weight I was still a bit weak and flabby. So I'm considering taking my better half's advice and approaching it from the other way round. The way I view WW is that calories in must be less than calories out (ie you must eat less than you burn), however Gordie's stance is that calories out must be greater than calories in (ie you must burn more than you eat), so rather than cutting back on food, which to be honest I'm not good at doing (I'm a bulemic amnesiac - I binge then forget to purge!), I'd be better off just upping my exercise.

So.

In my usual over the top manner, I'm giving consideration to setting myself some challenges for next year. I'd thought of setting 3 challenges, each in a different discipline, and each ensuring that I'd have to train to achieve them, so here's the 3 I'm looking at doing:

Allendale Challenge - a one day 40km trek through the Northumberland moors in April 2011. This is considered a very tough walk but I love walking and the area it's in is one of my favourite places.
Northern Rock Cyclone - a 64 mile road ride around the back-roads of Northumberland. I've been meaning to do this ride for years so no excuses this time.
Great North Run - this will be the worst as I currently can't run for more than 2 minutes at a time but running's a great way to shed flab so I'll just have to force myself to enjoy it. A couple of friends run so I'll try and team up.

I usually hate mass-start events, I'm a slow & steady girl, I chug away at the back on rides and am quite happy to do that because wherever I'm going I'll get there in the end regardless of everyone else's pace, but I felt if I had paid money to enter and had to get sponsorships it puts the obligation on me to actually do it.

I fear I may be biting too much here.

Reflection

2010-10-16T01:18:00.000-07:00

As I walked out of the Britannia Hotel in the grounds of Newcastle Airport I took a deep head-clearing breath, let it out, felt the calm wash over me and smiled.

I've done it. I've finished my philosophy module.

I don't think anyone quite fully understood how important this was to me. Well it was, and it was important for the following reasons:

It's the first OU module I've actually completed since 2005 (due to cancelling modules for various personal reasons and doing my foundation degree etc).
It's the first level 3 module I've done so it's also the most challenging one I've done.
It's a level 3 philosophy module... Need I say more.

I certainly don't think by any stretch of the imagination that I've done as well in the exam as I did in my TMA's, but I'd be very surprised if I had to resit put it that way. And how many people get to say that in their exam they had to answer questions about robots, zombies and Humpty Dumpty; my favourite bits of the module!

While I was winding down from it yesterday I started to reflect on the time I'd actually spent on it and decided that while I've done quite well on it, I've not put anywhere near the effort possible for this module. The OU has SO much information which is available at your fingertips; library resources filled with journals and book extracts and more, online games to help you cement your knowledge, module forums where you can quiz your fellow students.

It's tough when you're studying part time and have other commitments alongside but I've made the promise to myself that for this last module I'll try and make the most of all of the available resources; go to tutorials, keep in touch with the tutor, have a presence on the module forum etc etc ad infinitum.

And it all begins today.

It's one of the s7ven deadly sins isn't it?

2010-10-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

My head is utterly done-in with Philosophy. It's my final exam tomorrow and quite frankly I think I'll be lucky if I can remember ANY of the names of the ga-zillion theories in order to write a coherent and logical response to any one of the 3 out of 10 questions I have to answer. My thoughts have been completely consumed with my exam over the last couple of weeks and it's starting to get me down.

I'm a fairly intelligent person and I'm hoping that once I get sat down in the exam room, calm my nerves and take the time to think about my answers and write some notes that I'll be fine, but at the minute I truly feel as if I'll not remember enough to be able to answer the questions. I've found this module very challenging; perhaps more challenging than I can realistically cope with but if I can just get through this exam and get a pass (even if it's a bare pass) I'll be suitably pleased with myself.

I've had a very eventful couple of weeks to unproductively distract me from exam revision; been down to Walton Hall twice for meetings as a Central Representative, have gone through the election process for OUSA Executive Committee member for the North and am awaiting closing date for ballots to find out if I've been elected or not, I've had the chance to meet Robyn from the OU's Platform team a couple of times and have made myself a good friend there, and a whole host of other things with the exception of going out and doing something nice with my beloved Gordon.

So.

After my exam tomorrow, Gordon and I are going to paint the town red. Well, we're gonna go to the cinema and go for a slap up meal (not quite red, maybe maroon). Can't rest for too long though, TMA01 for DD305 is due in by Wednesday lunch time and I have a school Governors meeting on Wednesday evening.

No rest for the wicked, I'm obviously a glutton for punishment.

Do the shuffle... Do do do do do duh-doo do do...

2010-09-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to go mountain biking this weekend. I can’t. I wanted to go on holiday in October. I can’t. My other half and I were talking of starting a family this year. We had to change our minds. All of this is the result of my studies. Should it be? Life can only accommodate so many things and there are only so many hours in a day and sadly that will never change so certain things have to be kept at the top of the pile and some things inevitably get shuffled further and further down, don’t they?

I love baking, and I love knitting, and I love dressmaking, and I love reading, and I LOVE mountain biking, and I love walking, and I love making presents for people. I love doing far too many things I just don’t get time to do at the minute. This sort of infuriates me though, you only get a finite amount of time in which to live your life so is it actually worth sacrificing fun things you really enjoy so that you have more time for studying (which might not be construed as fun by some...)? What if you end up running out of time to do those fun things? It could be argued that people who study with the Open Uni are a different breed; they’re studying because they WANT to be, they’re volunteering up their spare time for the purpose of studying anyway so they’ve got no right to grumble about having to make sacrifices have they?

People keep telling me that I’m making this journey for the greater good. I’m striving to ‘better myself’. But what if I’m aiming for the wrong kind of bettering? What if the kind of bettering I’m striving for makes me miserable and the kind I should be aiming for is the kind which makes my life richer by way of the fun and enjoyable experiences I have? Ooh well this is a minefield, what’s classed as fun? What’s classed as enjoyable? What’s classed as NOT fun and NOT enjoyable?... I suspect I’m of the boring variety of person because I actually do find it enjoyable going to committee meetings and lectures and visualising myself on my final graduation day in my floppy cap and ridiculously big gown. That’s not for everyone though and of course I appreciate that. I had a conversation with someone yesterday who came out with the old gem “how do you find the time, I just couldn’t motivate myself to do it”. Well matey, if it was something you really wanted to do/achieve then motivation comes hand-in-hand and you just make the time to do it. I still find time to go to gigs/theatre/cinema/restaurants etc, it’s just a case of prioritising different things at appropriate times.

Am I so sure I’m doing the right thing with the sacrifices I’m making though? Putting off starting a family until I finish my journey, when I’m currently 30 and my other half is almost 40 would be considered by many people as careless or selfish. I mean by the time I get to the end of my journey then according to some folks my 37 year old eggs will be all shrivelled up and my biological clock will only be capable of telling the right time twice a day. On the plus side though if we do start a family late we’ll be able to utilise some time-saving routines. For example my other half can collect his pension on his way to pick the kid(s) up from school. Voila – kill two birds with one stone etc. I doubt it will be quite that bad, and apologies to my better half for mocking his age, he’s still far fitter and healthier than I am and he’s only 9.5 years older than me. Neither of us has a burning desire to have a family beyond furry four-legged friends anyway so who knows, we might just skip that bit altogether.

And on reflection the sacrifices I’ve had to make so far won’t exactly damage my life irreparably anyway; so what if I can’t go mountain biking this weekend; once I’ve finished my TMA and before I start work towards the next one I’ll go mountain biking then, and have TWICE as much fun because I’ll have earned the time to ride and won’t feel guilty that I should be studying. And so what if I can’t go on holiday in October, we’ve talked about it and decided to start saving now towards a SUPER-DUPER-NO-EXPENSE-SPARED holiday to Iceland NEXT October by which point I’ll have completed my first degree and we can use the holiday as a celebration of my having completed stage one of my (immensely long!) journey. So the sacrifices I appear to be making aren’t really sacrifices at all. They’re just logical shuffles to allow me to fit in everything I want to do in a sensible order.

Dad - have I earned my macaroni cheese yet?

2010-09-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

I often listen to BBC Radio 4 in the car at work. Mostly for the fact that I can’t abide listening to the same rubbish chart music repeated hour after hour on other musicy radio stations (what a snob eh). Well this morning one of the articles on Woman’s Hour was about the recent increase in the utilisation of home tutors by parents of school-aged children and the debate as to whether it’s educationally helpful or socially divisive.

Home tutors? Is that like when your parents help you with your homework?

Apparently not. It would seem that increasing numbers of parents are resorting to the services of hire-by-the-hour tutors to help children from primary school age right through to a-level and are paying anything up to £50 per hour for the privilege. Is it just me or does that sound crackers? When I was at school there was no way on God’s green earth my parents could have afforded extra tutoring, the nearest I got was bribery to get my homework done on time (by means of the promise of macaroni cheese for tea) and a kick up the backside in the general direction of the library when assignments loomed, and after discussing this with t’other half he confessed that he didn’t so much get encouragement to DO his homework, but got threatened with a punishment if he DIDN’T do it (“you can’t go out and play until you’ve finished your homework”). What the heck has changed? Why are parents so competitive now? It’s perfectly understandable for parents to want the best for their children and if they’re struggling in a particular area then extra tutoring could be an excellent way of helping that kid keep up in class, but to get extra tutoring to get AHEAD in class? Doesn’t that just make a mockery of the National Curriculum; the Government mandated education scheme put in place to standardise the content taught in class to enable ongoing, regular educational progression? It runs the risk of kids being segregated within their schools or even bullied for being swots (do they still have swots at school, it's a long time since I was there...). The competition for school and university placements is intensifying so greatly it seems parents will do anything they can to try and give their children a leg up (coincidentally enough I’m writing this whilst watching a documentary about parents who either move house or claim they’ve moved house in order to get their children into their preferred choice of school).

One point which was raised during the radio programme struck a chord with me though. For parents on tighter budgets, if they can’t afford the (upwards of) £5000 a year to send their children to a private school then what’s the next best option - £500 a year worth of home tutoring to ‘top-up’ the ‘free’ state education? It’s a valid point, it’s a far more accessible way to give your children a slightly more tailored learning experience and in some ways is excellent for maybe indulging particular interests a kid might develop, but as a means to try and push your children beyond the set expectations of their current level of education then why not just throw a big cream pie in the face of the head teacher instead and say “stuff you, you’re not good enough” and save yourself the £500?!

It did get me thinking though... "£50 an hour?? I wonder if there’s anything I could tutor kids on...". Suggestions welcome.

Breathe out... and relax

2010-09-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

... and I quote "Submitted On 02 September 2010 at 20:26:07 (UK Time)". That's the detail for my latest TMA.

Done. Submitted. Finito. *Phew*

There's an incredible relief which washes over me each and every time I click "submit" on my Student Homepage. Aah. And it's the same relief every time, regardless of how I think I might've done. Take this TMA for example; I understood the subject and grasped the main concepts well enough when I was reading the material, but when it came time to write the TMA I had an awful feeling that I've completely misunderstood the two main objections I have to expound so in my head I've already resigned myself to the thought that I might've done pretty badly on this one (my better half tried to remind me that this happens every time I write a TMA and I always seem to do really well, but I suspect this time will be the exception). But you know what, there's nothing I can do about it now that it's submitted so I'm not going to waste my energy beating myself up about it and I'm not going to spend the next 2 weeks (or however long it is before my tutor gets the time to mark this batch) worrying myself silly about what mark I'm going to get. The main thing for me is that I've done it. I've read the necessary material and actually written the essay in plain English and submitted it ON TIME.

You see it's not just about getting the good results and getting as close to a First as I can. For me it's as much about proving that I can stick to the commitment I signed up for. I'm shamefully known for being prone to fads. At some point in my life I've been interested in just about everything and then almost as quickly lost interest (or been distracted by some other new interest) so if I can succeed with each TMA and treat it as one bite-sized piece of a bigger pizza then before I know it I'll be tossing dough and calling myself Francesca.

I'm also known for vague references...

I ain't afraid of no cenobytes.

2010-08-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

When I was little I was afraid of the dark. I remember watching Hellraiser at a very young age and from then on being scared that Pinhead was going to come crashing through my bedroom walls and drag me off to the deepest darkest depths of hell for crimes against kitties any time I turned out the lights (I once trimmed the family cat’s whiskers because I thought he had split ends. He got stuck under the gate. I also once put a clothes peg on the other cat’s tail just to see if he’d notice. He did. And he didn’t like it).

Of course I’m 30 now. I’m not afraid of monsters anymore. In fact I’ve come to have a rather too comfortable symbiotic relationship with a particularly large one of the green-eyed variety.

Yes, I confess, it’s a well-known fact among my family and close friends that I suffer horrendously from low self-esteem and that I have a truly unparalleled talent for self-deprecation. I’m constantly comparing myself to other people and unwillingly manage to convince myself that everyone else is better than me somehow. I’ve been like this for as long as I can remember and frankly it wears me out. It’s because I think too much, I over-analyse everything to the point of mental self-destruction and up until now I’ve always considered this trait to be a very negative thing. I mean, come on, who’d actually WANT to be constantly comparing themselves to old school-buddies, exes, work colleagues, fellow students and even strangers I know nothing about. What purpose does it serve? Answer: none other than to make me feel like I haven’t achieved anything with my 30.25 years.

In recent months however I had an epiphany. I’ve come to the incredible realisation that my jealousy is actually very productive. Confused? Allow me to explain. I recently discovered that an old friend of mine is now doing quite well for themselves. Not in the earning a 6-figure-salary sense, but has gone after something they’re passionate about and is really making it work for them. Now upon discovering this I sank into a self-deprecating mess (why, oh why can’t things like that happen to me?!). I wallowed in self-pity for a brief time and then I sat up in my chair, brushed myself off and thought to myself, hang on a minute, they’re no different to me, if this person can do it I’m blummin well sure I can too. So I started a little one-sided competition. I thought about what would be the biggest and best achievement for me, something that if I succeeded I could genuinely say I was proud of myself and other people would view me as having accomplished something good. That achievement for me is getting a PhD and as I explained in one of my earlier ramblings I started my thinking at the end goal and worked my way backwards to try and figure out what steps I would need to take in order to get there. So having figured out what I wanted to achieve I set about making it work and in quite a short space of time (few months, maybe) have already managed to improve myself, and hopefully my chances of reaching that goal, tenfold. That initial pang of jealousy has spawned my vampiritic-thirst for self-improvement. My jealousy and penchant for mental self-abuse has actually been the catalyst for me starting to turn elements of my life on their kilter.

I’m undecided whether the competition is with myself, this old friend or the big bad world in general but frankly it doesn’t matter does it. I’m on the path now, gaining momentum all the time, like an ever burgeoning snowball tumbling down a hillside picking up experience and knowledge along the way.

So if I’m now a metaphorical snowball on a path towards self-improvement and mental rest, then all I have to say on the matter is “since I’ve now a place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”.*

*Bastardisation of Dean Martin recognised and profusely apologised for.

Oh dear. Oh deary dear. Oh double-deary dear!

2010-08-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

The course materials for my final Undergrad course arrived yesterday. It starts in October, which overlaps with my Philosophy course ending, I knew this when I signed up.

Trouble is, my Philosophy exam is on October 15th, and my first TMA for this next course is due on the 20th October!! Yikes, that's dangerously close together... This will require some very careful planning and LOTS of revision.

I also discovered on Wednesday that I have a Social Science Faculty meeting in Milton Keynes on Wednesday 13th October. Why do I do this to myself?!

I did something amazing today...

2010-08-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

I gave blood.

Utterly irrelevant to the blog I know, but I was shocked at how few people there were there to donate this time.

If you're not already a donor, why not?

Wet-eared 18 year olds and eroded pathways.

2010-08-23T03:50:00.000-07:00

What is it about 18 year olds?! A-Level results came out last Friday and the main news topic for the following few days was the paradoxical tale firstly of record levels of pass rates and how many students are now getting A*’s and secondly how many students who didn’t get their expected grades will miss out on Uni places and how many LESS clearing places there are compared to last year. The news stories were making out like thousands of students were gonna suddenly be turfed out on the street because they a) couldn't get a Uni place, which as a result means that they b) can't get a job (no one will hire them you see, they're uneducated!).

My blood boils when I see stories like that for more than one reason. I have two simple little vowels for those masses of students who didn't get the grades necessary to go to their chosen uni - O U. Okay okay, so I know the OU isn't exactly the first choice for 18 year olds, I mean I would imagine a lot of fresh-faced 18 year olds are marginally more interested in student life and the students union than study life and library facilities but if they genuinely believe that they won’t be able to get a decent job without a University education then honestly, they could do a LOT worse than study with the OU. Besides, it’s cheaper than going to a redbrick, means you can study anywhere in the country and generally OU degrees are held in very high regard.

But why do they NEED to get a degree anyway? I don’t profess to be hugely knowledgeable on the subject (no pun intended) but it seems like degrees are two-a-penny these days anyway. When I first set out with the OU to study towards a degree I was so excited thinking how brilliant it would be to get my letters, but as time has gone on I’ve realised that having a degree isn’t anything out of the ordinary any more. In order to stand out you need something a bit more. BBC Breakfast had a piece on their Saturday morning programme about just this matter. The piece was trying to illustrate that employers aren’t necessarily as impressed with “Student X” who knuckled down at Uni and managed to get a First Class honours degree as they are with “Student Y” who still managed to get an Upper 2nd but during their time at Uni did some volunteer work, sat on a few Uni committees and gained a bit of life experience in the process.

I, on the other hand am “Student Z”. I didn’t do any A-Levels. I started them... But then got distracted by anything and everything and dropped out halfway through to get a job instead. I never regretted dropping out; it was the right decision for me at the time and didn’t hamper my opportunity to do a degree anyway so I have to question whether there would’ve been any point in doing them. My beloved, bless his almost-40-year-old cotton socks, can’t even remember what subjects he took at A-Level let alone what results he got! So honestly, is there any point? (As an aside, he did a degree in Accountancy and now works as a mountain bike mechanic... Go figure!). At 16 years old when you’re trying to decide what subjects to take (which you have to pick carefully because they feed on towards a chosen degree subject) how on earth do you know what you want to do with the rest of your life?? If I HAD thought about my A-Levels properly would I have picked subjects I thought would lead on to a decent career, or would I have picked subjects I just found interesting? The joy of the OU is that I’ve been able to indulge myself with that one subject I always fancied studying but didn’t think would get me anywhere career-wise; Philosophy. As it turns out, Philosophy links in quite nicely to the career path I now intend treading but at 16 years old how was I to know that? No one ever asked me what I wanted to do in the future so what chance would I have stood?

There’s a lot of competition out there at the minute for training/jobs/experience and whatnot so it seems in order to have the best possible chance you need more than just education or intellect, you need to have proven initiative and enterprise, enthusiasm and sensibility; something that shows employers that you’re more than just willing and able.

Who would’ve thought the day would come when a degree was barely even worth putting on your CV eh. I’d best hurry up and get onto a PhD before the same happens with them!!

Zinn and the art of mountain biking [sic]

2010-08-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

I went out for a pootle on my mountain bike last night with a few friends to the local woods (I say local, they're actually 18 miles from my house but who's counting when the singletrack is that good!). Among these friends were two Doctors. One MD and one PhD. Both are well aware of my blog and my aspirations to join the ranks of academia. In a jesting tone whilst discussing the finer points of mountain bike trail building and maintenance I said to Dr PhD "no fair, I want a PhD too", to which he simply replied "work harder".

*sigh*

But I don't even know how to fish?!

2010-08-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law is amazing. I absolutely adore her. She's utterly gorgeous, has an incredible laid back attitude to life the universe and everything, puts a smile on my brother's face I've never seen so big and gives Nigella a heck of a run for her money when it comes to cooking and baking. I'd happily volunteer that I'm incredibly envious of her (although it's no secret that I'm prone to the allure of the green eyed monster on a practically daily basis), so needless to say I was quite stunned with something she said to me during a text conversation the other week. We were talking about the fact that I became the mortgaged owner of my house on Friday 13th (of August 1999) and I jokingly said that I was doomed from the start. She replied "What you like! You'd fall in a river and come up with a salmon you would!". You wha? I don't know how to fish?!

Hmm...

I've never considered myself a very lucky person, I've had my fair share of ups and downs like most people and my family has been through some testing times in the last few years so I'm not lucky am I?

Hang on a minute... Do I even believe in luck?

Which cap do I put on here, my science one or my philosophical one?

I can't help but think about it from a practical and empirical point of view (scientist at heart obviously). I don't believe in luck. Certainly not in the "ooh you're so lucky in life" sense anyway, I believe I'm lucky to have the opportunity to live a life, I believe I'm lucky to have the family and friends I have, and probably most of all I think I'm lucky to speak English as my first language (phew, I wouldn't fancy having to learn it, muchos complicatidos!). But lucky in life? Naaa. It's all a bunch of numbers and statistics and probabilities and chance and whatnot.

Good fortune out can only equal effort in. To assist in my explanation of this let me take a quote from a song. It was a one-hit-wonder type song a few years back by a band called Len but it's a lyric which has stuck with me since I first heard it, it says "of course you can't become if you only say what you would've done". If there's something you want to achieve you're gonna have to put some effort into getting it, there's no magical genie to snap his fingers a hey-presto it up for you. If you don't put any work into achieving it you'll likely still be twiddling your thumbs in years to come resenting yourself for what you could've/would've done. It's not easy. Stuff gets in the way. Hurdles crop up. Enthusiasm wanes. However, the next line in the song reads "so I missed a million miles of fun". You'll never know how different things will be unless you strive for your goal. My goal is being able to earn a good living from something I find interesting and stimulating and proving to myself and my family that I'm smarter than I let myself believe I am. The thought of waking up one morning knowing I've achieved what I set out to do is so exciting it makes me wanna hop around the living room like a little kid on Christmas eve! But I won't, I'm 30 now, I should be sensible and mature (best not let on about the stash of Curly Wurly's in the fridge then eh?!).

When I decided that I wanted to aim for a PhD I knew I was going to be up against some challenges, but I've already attempted to overcome some of them. My propensity for fads is definitely one of them, at some point in my life I've been interested in just about everything however my education is different; I consider it a commitment to a better life whereas fads are simply activities to pass some time.
Another hurdle would be my severe lack of experience. I have a reasonable job at present however it doesn't provide me with any knowledge or experience to go towards my end goal (although the company is quite nifty at getting grants for training and my boss is always more than willing to let me go on courses somehow related to my job, it's how I learned British Sign Language), so I've tried to seek the means of getting some experience and knowledge elsewhere; namely things like signing up to be a school governor, volunteering on local committees, getting involved in the Open Uni Student Association as a Central Rep and local branch officer, but these are all things I've had to initiate myself. No one has offered me these positions, I've had to seek them out myself, Lady Luck doesn't smile on you where things like that are concerned. It hasn't been difficult to get them; there's a nationwide shortage of local authority appointed school governors, the local community committee is open to all and my branch of OUSA was dormant so it didn't take much to be voted on it as an officer. But all that is beside the point, I still had to do the research to find out about the various things, and then volunteer to be involved and now I have to maintain involvement to reap the benefit from it.

There's still more I want to get involved in, the committees don't actually take up much time so there's room to fit more in but for now I'm concentrating on my actual studies and getting off to a smooth running with those things I'm already involved in, what's the point in becoming involved unless I give it my best efforts eh?!

I think I've rambled on a bit there in trying to get the point across that luck is self-administered so how about I sum up in one short, concise statement... Here goes...

If you're gonna go falling in rivers, learn how to fish first.

Even 6 yr olds know the score

2010-08-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

Calvin is my hero.

Does inactivity breed laziness?

2010-08-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've been off work this past week on holiday, as has my better half. We haven't been anywhere, in fact we took the week off to try and get a few DIY jobs finished off in the house. Success. Hallway now looks fantabulous, kitchen tiling is booked for asap etc etc blah blah. Enough about my homemaking, it's not that exciting and given that I bought my house 11 years ago I really ought to have done this level of thorough decorating WAAAYY before now. Also, given that the DIY hasn't exactly taken up every hour of every day you'd think I'd have managed to get loads of extra studying done too.
Wrong.

Something about being on "holiday" has made me somehow forget about the fact that my next TMA is due in (now) less than 4 weeks. Hmm. Are you allowed holidays when you're studying? Surely the whole "self-study" thing means you can do it whenever you want? Well I've given this careful consideration and I don't somehow think it really works like that. I think in order to maintain a good study pattern and give myself a chance to fully understand the material I need to approach my studies as if I were at a redbrick involving regular lectures and seminars. If I leave studies too late and bunch it all up then it doesn't give me a chance to contact the tutor should I need anything clarified. Given that I've not studied for the last 10 days that equates to the equivalent of about 20 hours of study which I have to catch up on over the next 20 days (4 weeks really but 1 of those has to be allowed for writing the TMA). An extra hour per day? Doesn't sound like much but if I'd left it any longer it would've mounted up. I've studied plenty of courses and (due to unavoidable circumstances) had to drop out of a couple due to falling too far behind to know that keeping up to pace with work is pretty darned important. The OU give you a study calendar with each course which is a guide to what volume of study you shoud be doing each week; how many chapters, which cd's etc so it lets me know how far through the book I need to be by the end of this coming week. So my week off hasn't really affected my study by that much, and back to work means back to usual routine involving work, study and play.

Our week off hasn't been a complete waste as far as my journey goes though, during the week I've put into action a couple of my previous ideas. We've been walking a couple of times (much to the delight of our dog), I've started a strength training programme, I've... wait for it... been out on my BIKE today riding across the Northumberland Moors (I'm very sore all over but by god it was good fun!), I've started taking a few supplements to aid concentration and I've started a bumper book of crosswords to help the ol' grey matter. It was only £1.99 from the local supermarche so I figured if it doesn't help then it's no great loss.

Plans for this coming week:

Spend whatever time I realistically can getting up to date with the course material
Despite being in sooo much pain, continue on with strength training programme (my muscles cry no, but that's the point)
Get out for another couple of bike rides.

If there's one thing I've learned from my week off work it's that I study better when I have a busy routine in which to have to slot it in. I can so easily see how the hoardes of unemployed in this country can slip into unhealthy unintentionally lazy ways; if you have nothing/not much to do during the day it's unfortunately easier to sit around the house and do nothing than get off your backside and do something productive. The catch-22 is that if you can manage to drag yourself to do something productive, it's far easier to keep going.

Inactivity breeds laziness.
Activity breeds momentum.

I can't get no-o, mo-ti-va-tion

2010-07-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

Something has happened this week to really perk up my enthusiasm. I, being quite a cheeky chancer at times, emailed a link to my blog off to the powers-that-bee who run the OU's Student Community website Platform in the hope that it would maybe work it's way into some miniscule small print in some deep dark corner of the site. Next thing I know I get an email from the lovely Robyn asking if I'd be willing to let posts from the blog be lifted and used in the Student Blog section of the website.

Wow.

Stunned. <--- me!

So the first section went live on the website yesterday and I'm absolutely thrilled. However... There is one small matter which concerns me and I feel requires clarification...

On Platform's homepage there's currently a little scrolling banner on which my photo pops up, and next to it is the header "My name's Carrie and I'm addicted to education".

Hmmm... Well... This is true and it's not. It's true that I absolutely thrive on the thought of learning more and going as far as I can go and getting my dream job and all that, but I don't find it an easy journey. I struggle with motivation constantly and have to force myself to get my books out and concentrate on my studies. On weeknights I get home from work at 5:05pm, my better half gets home at about 7:00pm, this gives me almost 2 hours of completely free time during which I could cram some study in which would keep me perfectly up to date with my work and allow me to carry on with the rest of my free time entirely as I please.

But like the man from that annoying Nationwide advert says, it doesn't work like that. I get distracted by everything; the internet, the dog, the tv, anything shiny that catches my eye, basically anything which isn't an OU book (although I have been known to get distracted by OLD course books for whatever reason...). I find it so difficult to actually get the book out, put a highlighter in one hand, pencil in the other and actually read. It's not because I don't WANT to study, I do, I absolutely do, I just find it so hard to get going. Usually once I'm in the flow and as long as I'm understanding the material I'm fine, but getting going is a chore which I make efforts to avoid at my peril.

That's one of the reasons I started this blog actually; to try and motivate me and help me figure out where my weak spots are so I can act upon them. Motivation seems to come from strange places though. For some reason unbeknownst to sanity I watched Legally Blonde at the weekend (for those who know me, I ain't really a chick-flick kinda gaal, I'm more a horror, blood, guts, gore, psychological-thriller fan, or usually anything foreign too), and it really motivated me to finish my TMA, seeing the girl in the film trying to prove to everyone that she COULD do it, she COULD graduate from Harvard Law really gave me a boost and I blitzed the rest of my TMA with ease. Whether I get a good score is another matter but it gave me the motivation to crack on and get it submitted.

Of course that's just a film (and the fact that I went straight on Play.com to order LB2 is insignificant *ahem*, still hasn't turned up, dammit), but there are things which happen in real life which motivate me too; Robyn being my booster button this time around. The enthusiasm I got back from her was absolutely fantastic and to know that someone had read my blog with any degree of interest really perked me up and made me think "hell yeah, I can do this!"

So I dedicate this latest bout of renewed vigour to Robyn, heartfelt thanks m'dear x

I HAD thought of a title for this post...

2010-07-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

I am frequently perturbed at the outstanding ability of my brain to um... Dang. What was I going to say again? Oh yeah, forget things. I'm not talking major things, but I can be asked to do something in the morning and unless I write it down in my pocket-policeman-notebook I'm likely to forget about it. This does not bode well for my rapidly approaching (October 15th) Philosophy exam as I'll have to memorise dozens of philosophers, theories, quotes, arguments etc. I've done some online tests which claim I have the brain of a 30 year old (you don't say?!) so that's not the problem, so what can be the cause of my poor memory?

Well having done a bit of research I've ruled out the following potential causes:

ADHD. I researched this for one of my college courses, definitely not the cause.
Stress. Definitely not the cause, I'm more of a get-it-off-your-chest-straight-away-and-move-on kinda gaal, never one to fester over things.
Smoking. Apparently smoking indirectly reduces oxygen flow to the brain which can affect memory. I've never even TRIED smoking.
Poor sleep habits. My mother used to say I could fall asleep on a clothes line, I usually get 8 hours a night, rarely wake up through the night and drink decaf tea most of the time.
Atrophy. Well I'm assuming this can be ruled out, I use my brain quite a bit...

Since I can't figure out what the CAUSE is, I shall consider it inconsequential, maybe it's just one of those things.

So against my usual preachings, rather than treating the cause I'll have to settle for treating the symptom. Back to Google I go in search of memory improvement tips. And here's another nice bullet point action list for you to feast upon:

Brain training. I'm not talking Mr Wackysheemas brain training on the DS, there's evidence that it doesn't work anyway. I'm talking neurobic exercise.
More physical exercise. Harks back to my last post about a healthy body meaning a healthy mind, but it counts for memory too - increased oxygen to the brain, and a reduction in the likelihood of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease which cause memory loss.
Nutrition. As well as the obvious healthy food, supplements might be worth a try. My better half swears by glucosamine sulphate & cod liver oil to help strengthen his old sports-injured knee so why wouldn't they help strengthen the grey matter?
Improve sleep. Okay okay, I know I said there's nothing wrong with my sleep patterns, but just because I sleep for 8 hours a night, that doesn't mean I'm getting QUALITY sleep, so I'll aim to improve my night time routine and go back to having my nightcap of a warm malted milk (malt extract and milk, none of this Ovaltine rubbish). Mmmm.

Maybe it's because I try to concentrate on too many things at once that I inevitably end up getting distracted and forgetting one of them. Anyhoo, The Simpsons is on and my goulash is drying out... ;o)

Mens sana in corpore sano

2010-07-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

Or in other words, a healthy mind in a healthy body.
It has come (or rather, been brought) to my attention lately that I've been concentrating more on my studies and related activities and letting anything remotely active fall by the wayside. At one point I was fairly healthy and active, I was almost 2 stone lighter than I am now and was mountain biking at least twice a week, however I haven't been mountain biking this YEAR enough times to run out of digits while counting... (which has probably contributed to the excess lbs). Studies have shown that aerobic exercise can improve brain function which can aid concentration, retention and cognitive function in general.
So!
Enough excuses, if a healthy body = a healthy mind then I really need to shape up. I'm sure I can organise my studies a bit better so that I can fit some biking fun in. If that fails I could always use the cross-trainer-come-clothes-horse which is hiding away in the spare room; 20 minutes a couple of times a week won't break the study bank surely, and I could always use that time for listening to the cd's which come with my course material.

It's imperitive that I score very well in my final undergraduate unit as this will determine my final BSc grading so by the time it starts I gotta be ship-shape. That gives me until October to get myself in the best shape I can ready for DD305.

Wish me luck.

I Kant write this Hume-ungous essay...

2010-07-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'm busy writing a TMA for my current course which is a critical analysis of a subject which Philosophers David Hume and Immanuel Kant somewhat disagree on - the involvement of the imagination in proving the existence of the external world. Deep eh. Not really, Philosophy's one of those subjects which always sounds complex and involved and while I'm not saying it's easy it's not impossible either, takes a lot of concentration though. The good thing about Philosophy is that a lot of it is down to interpretation. Of course you have to have the skill to be able to pick holes in everyone's arguments and back up your hole-picking with evidence or solid theory but that's something the Open University course material forces you to do brilliantly. I do love the OU (in case you hadn't guessed...).
I went to an OU Open Day a few weeks ago and spoke to one of the Postgrad tutors about entry requirements for the MSc I want to do. My degree with be a third Philosophy and I was concerned that it wouldn't be a favourable entry route for the MSc in Social (or Psychological, haven't decided yet) Research Methods however the tutor reassured me that Philosophy is a great route in and the skills I already have in reading and critical analysis will give me a great head start as it's one of the key aspects of the first couple of postgrad units. That put my mind massively at ease.

As an aside, I got confirmation from my boss yesterday that both of the evening classes I've done lately (British Sign Language and Mental Health Awareness) are being paid for by the company so I'll get a nice refund of my course fees to go towards my final OU unit. I don't think I've paid full price for ANY course I've done so far, someone's always willing to make a contrubution towards my furthering education. I happily volunteer for anything too, the more experience and skills I can gain the better. If any of these things make me stand out just a little bit on a PhD scholarship application then it's all been worth it.

Anyway. Back to my Hume-ungous essay.

Dressing up is childs play

2010-07-22T04:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, say in theory I complete all levels of my hedumucation with the Open University (which I'd be damned proud to say I did), this is how I'd get to dress up:

BSc. Typical black robes, but the OU's lovely shade of blue would complement my eyes beautifully.

MSc. Reversal of colours, best make sure I get some bonny shoes to match.

PhD. Nice but the colours remind me a lot of my work uniform...

Hmm... Not bad. I'm not usually one to get excited about clothes but on this occasion I think I'd make an exception. £40 to hire the PhD gown or near £500 to buy it... I'd better get saving.

A student's lament.

2010-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, broken hearted,

Should be halfway through my TMA by now,

But I haven't even started!

A little background...

2010-07-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

I feel a bit of background information is in order, just to get up to speed with where I am at present. Here's the abridged version:

In 2004 began studies with the OU. In 2005 upon completion of 2nd unit took some time out from OU while I did a Foundation Degree paid for by my employer, came back to the OU last year. Due to graduate with a BSc in May 2011 with a degree made up of 2 social science courses, 2 philosophy courses and credit points transferred from my FD (which was in Quantity Surveying). Decided last year that I'd quite like to do a Masters too and started snooping around the OU Postgrad prospectus. Decided earlier this year that I'd love to do a Doctorate too in order to get my "dream" job and started snooping around jobs.ac.uk at PhD scholarships.
Upon deciding I'd like to do a PhD I put my logical cap on and worked backwards from there to figure out what I would need to do in order to get there and asked a few Dr friends for their opinions. This is what I worked out:

For my last OU unit I should do something relevant to my intended Masters.
Since I'm doing all of my studying whilst still working a full time job, I won't be able to get much experience from my paid employment so I need to get it from somewhere else - voluntary work.
When I enrol on a Masters degree I need to start thinking about research subjects for a PhD and so will utilise the wealth of knowledge within the OU to help me create that plan.

I've already put 1 & 2 into action. 3 will have to wait for obvious reasons of chronology.

To satisfy number 1, I have enrolled on a Social Policy course as the final unit required for my BSc Hons. This begins in October so there's about a one week crossover where I'll be taking my Philosophy exam and starting reading for the Social Policy course.

To satisfy number 2 I have been working my socks off lately. I have begun a 4 year post as Local Education Authority Governor of 3 schools in my community (a federated Governing body, not 3 separate schools), this has given me access to training schemes run by the local council.

I've also helped lead the regeneration of my local branch of the OU Students Association (OUSA) and subsequently been voted Chair, I'm helping with the regeneration of neighbouring branches too which will hopefully lead to the reformation of a Regional Forum which I intend to stand for Officer on too.

I've also been accepted as a Central Representative, this involves sitting as an OUSA rep on the OU's governance committees.

Lastly for now, I've joined my local Community Forum. I've lived in this community my whole life anyway so I figured they deserve my attendance at least, I went to my first forum meeting last month and LOVED it.

There's probably a few other things I could mention too; extra night classes I've done, other voluntary things I'm involved in, but that's the main bulk of my efforts towards a Doctorate so far. I'm not done yet though... There's always room for something extra ;o)

What I learned in school last week

2010-07-21T05:35:00.000-07:00

Well not quite in school but it sounded better.
I signed myself up on a seminar which took place last Friday to do with third sector policy making. When I was there, one of the speakers was telling a tale about a time when he was speaking to a group of NEETs (not in education, employment or training), and asking them what their dreams for the future were. Many of them came up with fantastic and colourful descriptions of how they wanted their lives to be in the future and this speaker was very impressed with their responses. When they'd finished telling him their dreams, he said to them "right, what have you done TODAY to help you achieve that dream?". This struck a chord with me, I'm never going to reach my end goal unless I make steps, even tiny little ones, at any opportunity I can.

The seminar was a disappointment on the whole but at least I took that one thing away from it and it has renewed my enthusiasm. Hey... I started this blog didn't I?!