CASE STUDY: Hayley Sach

When we spoke to Hayley, she had just completed her first year of the Foundation degree in Working with Children and Young People at Bucks New University.

 

Hayley has really enjoyed the foundation degree so far and has gained an enormous amount of knowledge that has already helped her in her career as an Inclusive Officer at a secondary school in Buckinghamshire.

Hayley left school having gained GCSEs and a Foundation GNVQ in Business Studies, which she followed up with an Advanced GNVQ in Business. As she didn't really know what she wanted to do she drifted into retail and worked her way up to a management position with Waitrose. After five years she knew that she didn't want to continue in this line of work and left. She spent four months in America working with young people in a summer camp and enjoyed every moment of it. Realising that that working with young people was what inspired her, she pursued a career in education, starting as a Learning Support Assistant, later becoming a Learning Mentor and then moving to her current position as Inclusive Officer.

It was her employer that suggested Hayley should consider the Foundation degree in Working with Children and Young People. Hayley had not studied for a number of years and never before at Level 4. She had considered distance learning but this did not really appeal. With the support of her employer she enrolled on the course and hasn't looked back. The academic study was hard to begin with but Hayley has had good support from her tutors and her peers. The opportunity to exchange interests, experiences and ideas with fellow students from different sectors has been valuable and relevant to her own study and work.

Hayley is about to change jobs but is able to continue her Foundation degree with her new employer. She is pleased that she didn't go to university straight from college not knowing what she really wanted to do. Her advice is that it is better to wait until you are sure what you want to be and choose the right course for you.

She would like to continue her studies when she completes the Foundation degree and go onto the BA 'top up' for a full honours degree. She is considering a new career possibly in Social Work or Teaching.

We spoke to Hayley in June 2009