Abingdon and Witney College

At Abingdon campus meeting students using the latest version of OSP. There are many dimensions to their experiences.

I started the session talking to the learners. This group was all women, with quite a wide range in ages (I observed, but was not so rude as to ask!). All the learners are on an access to HE course and were starting out on that challenging path to university. There was a majority of people who were headed for careers in Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, but also interest in Environmental Science and Psychology and Education. It wasn't my aim to explore motivations but I did ask "why" once or twice.  I won't generalise, but some people "had personal reasons" or "It is a long story". Others had children who are growing and at school not and it is time to step back into the job market. Several were working in care homes or other para-professional caring capacities and wanted to professionalise their practice.

The format of the session was: Ellen Lessner, the class teacher introduced me and then left the room giving me a half an hour with the students. Then Ellen returned to the classroom and took a large portion of the class leaving me with a small group to interview more closely.

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