Mary's story I often recommend Adult Education to my neighbours, friends and colleagues. Mary Murphy My name is Mary Murphy, I came to Adult Education Wolverhampton in September 2017 to study Functional Skills Maths at Level 2.Prior to starting my Maths qualification I was a disillusioned teacher working in secondary education. I loved teaching but was concerned with the number of children suffering mental health issues and the lack of help that was in place to support them. At the age of 45, in what I call my second phase of life I felt I needed to stop complaining and make a change in my own life to help make a difference to others.My plan was to re-train and work as a nurse in mental health, but in order to do so I had to conquer one of my biggest fears…Maths. As a child I had a strict upbringing and education was a priority, so when I made mistakes I was scolded, which consequently made me develop a mental block and fear for Maths.As soon as I came to Adult Education I was made to ...

Alison's story I would encourage anyone else who is missing an essential qualification, as I was, to enrol with Adult Education Wolverhampton. Alison Jones A mum was inspired to go back into the classroom by her children – and finally passed her GCSE maths almost 25 years after first trying.Alison Jones wanted to retrain as a teaching assistant but needed GCSE maths to do so. Now, a quarter of a century after leaving school and spurred on by her children, she has made the grade with the Ofsted Outstanding-rated Adult Education Wolverhampton.The 41-year-old said: "I have to say maths was probably one of the biggest hurdles in my life. I really struggled with it throughout school and failed my GCSE in 1993."After leaving school, I worked for the council for 18 years before being made redundant. I really wanted to retrain and become a teaching assistant and perhaps eventually a teacher, and for this only maths as a GCSE was acceptable."To complete her CV, Alison enrolled onto a part-time ...

Charlotte's story The staff at AEW gave me opportunities and support at a difficult time in my life and helped me to find my sense of purpose and confidence again. Charlotte Davies I first came to Adult Education Wolverhampton (AEW) to study CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from October 2015 to March 2016. After completing the course, I went on to an Erasmus Plus project, starting 7 weeks of Italian lessons in March 2016 and going out to work in Brescia, Italy for 5 weeks in May 2016.I chose to study CELTA because I was at a crossroads in my life.I had recently recovered from a long and serious illness and I didn't want to go back to work in Public Relations (which I'd worked in previously for 8 year).I had always been interested in languages and travelling, and I wanted to do a job which would help people.CELTA seemed like the perfect qualification to help me along a new career path.When the opportunity to study Italian and work in Italy, I jumped...