Alison Jones
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 GCSE maths course offered by Adult Education Wolverhampton. She said: "All credit should go to my tutor Terry Mills who eventually broke down the mental brick walls that I had built up around maths over the years by finding a way to teach me that I could understand.
"At the same time my eldest daughter Jessica was studying towards her GCSEs. She was able to help and encourage me and I was able to support her with her homework which to say had previously phased me would be an understatement. I used her homework as extra revision for myself, too.
"On results day I was the happiest person in the world, having passed with flying colours. This meant I could continue to progress, going on to complete my Teaching Assistant qualification with Adult Education Wolverhampton - which has led to me being offered a part-time job within a school.
"Both courses were part-time and fitted around family life making my goal of passing maths achievable and dream of working as a teaching assistant possible.
"I would encourage anyone else who is missing an essential qualification, as I was, to enrol with Adult Education Wolverhampton and complete their CV because, as I have learned, if you believe, you can most definitely
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