To be clueless on such an essential subject

[Littlemuster]

My DM and DF did not attend secondary school. DM has been on benefits her entire life. DF worked very hard for many years in a labour heavy night time job, fell ill and has been on benefits ever since.
My older sibling dropped out of school around 14, had a brief job and claimed benefits ever since.
My DM took me out of school at 12 years old although I wanted to attend. She told the LA authority she was home educating me although really she bought some textbooks and gave them to me to read.
I've tried really hard to teach myself enough to fit in socially and actually think I would have done incredibly well in education.
I'm now early 30's - was pregnant with my eldest at 15 - have been on benefits for 15 years but really want a different life. Desperate for it.
Where do I even start? No education, no experience.

OP, you’ve made the biggest leap already in deciding you want to do this - that’s huge! Well done, from someone who left school with no A-levels and is now in HE. You can do this!

Definitely talk to your local FE college; they can help with GCSE equivalent for Maths and English, and Access courses are aimed at mature students returning to education after a break. Should be funded for you too if you’re in receipt of certain benefits.

Photography is a great hobby or part time business but the industry has changed hugely over the last ten years. Prices have been driven down for all but the most popular photographers because everyone knows a friend of a friend who owns a decent DSLR now, unfortunately.

Go in to your local FE college and have a chat with them. They'll be able to advise you on a good route for you based on what they get from actually talking to you. The world really is your oyster if you're keen to work and determined to succeed. I'm 41 and I'm just finishing my access course and I start university in September. Don't let anyone convince you you're too old. Yeah you wouldn't be the youngest junior doctor on the ward round but there's no reason why, with hard work and determination, you couldn't do it. Life is not over if you haven't secured your RG university place at 17!

Good for you OP! Try your local college for an Access Course. It will give you a good grounding on many subjects. I did one years ago. Best of luck!

3000 extra training places in midwifery

Yeah, keep photography as a hobby

Very, very few people are able to make a decent living from it professionally and it's very precarious. In your situation, with kids, I would not advise coming off benefits into such a precarious role with huge fluctuations in earnings.

Keep it as a hobby, take some courses in it for interest and give you a confidence boost but I'd really counsel against it - I know a lot of people with significant advantages over you (young, no kids, highly flexible, can travel at a moment's notice) and they struggled to live off photography earnings.

I also wouldn't worry too much now about what you want to do exactly. You need the English and maths and preferably science level 2 qualifications before anything else (normally) so get to your nearest FE college and start in September.

Once you are studying those, you can access careers advisors in the college to talk about long term options and there may well be a series of taster events learning about different roles. So if you start with the English and maths level 2 courses, you'll also be in the right place to start learning more about future options.

All work requires decent IT skills these days including nursing. I would suggest looking at getting your word processing and spreadsheet skills into shape..lots of useful online courses on word and Excel. Taking something the European computer driving licence (ECDL) would also be good. There are three levels but just getting the basic one done would be a start and help overcome future employer's concerns that having been out of work or education, you may not be familiar with modern IT.

You can do it at home as long as you have windows laptop or there will be computers to use at college if you don't.
It would also give you a confidence boost to get another qualifications and with your GCSEs in English, maths and science and ECDL, you may find employment options open up straight away.

Here is a site where you can test your IT skills
www.diagnosetest.ch/en/bestellen/

"My dream has been to be an obstetrician but that is out of reach."

Personally I don't see why you still couldn't do this and work yourself up right from the start, but it would be very long with 5 years of medical school and further training on top.

Would you also consider midwifery?

Your local adult ed centre will run maths and English classes, these are free and you can also do English and maths gcse free. I would definitely recommend doing the skillswise sessions first, maths gcse has got a lot harder in the last year, and it's a very intensive one year course.

The Open University run introductory courses which you would probably be eligible to study for free. They’re designed for people in your situation, to teach you the basics of studying from scratch.
www.open.ac.uk/courses/do-it/access
I’m an OU postgrad student and I can’t recommend it highly enough. You’re clearly intelligent, articulate and curious; with the right study support you’d be a natural academic, by the sounds of it.

Hello,

What other posters have said is true. If you have not got Level 2 English and/or Maths, you can study these at no expense with a local college. There are training organisations that also provide vocational courses, very cheaply and our local housing association runs vocational course, including Level 2 First Aid, retail related and health and social care related short courses.

The Open University also run 'Access' courses (which are there own version of the Access to HE courses). These are free to individuals under a certain income and help is also available to purchase a computer on these courses (sometimes a full cost grant is provided).

So, there are quite a few options. Furthermore, if you are good at photography, you could start up your own business, perhaps online.

However, you are determined to help yourself and to help your children to improve, and that is admirable.

As PP have said, an Access course would be a great first step. There are many options/subjects to choose from on the Access courses, and you can also do your maths and English GCSE at the same time. This course is accepted by universities in place of A levels. It will give you confidence as well as skills and qualifications, whilst buying you time to figure out where you wish to head in terms of your career future. The very best of luck to you OP 💐

Thank you for all of your replies!
I think I will definitely go down the Maths/English/science GCSE route and then consult someone regarding where to go from there.
I used to want to get into midwifery however it seems a tad airy fairy compared to what I really want, tricky to explain.
However, going the midwifery route could more allow me to continue photography in some way, especially newborn photography. I would be eager to then continue studying, perhaps to sonography.

Or maybe, I'll change direction completely when considering courses.

Thank you again for the time you have all taken to reply. Very much appreciated.

There is a whole world of choices open to you, Especially as despite having missed out on education you obviously natural brain on their shoulders!

Good luck little! You deserve this I hope it leads to a fabulous career that you enjoy!

There is a thing called level 2/3 entitlement.
My access course , along with level 2 maths and english were funded through this , basically if you didn't finish school , you are entitled to a basic level of education.
It is worth researching. Good luck

I am not sure how easy it is to "just put yourself in for GCSEs". You are better doing qualifications through a provider who will enter you at the correct level.
I went back to Uni and retrained, The Uni happened to be running a 3 week study skills course the summer term before I started and it was invaluable in how to write essays and everything that goes with studying at University level.

“You write very well for someone with no education.”
“If you left school at 12 and write the way you do, I'd say you're very high ability and should set your sights accordingly.”

I agree with both of the above. I wish you well with whatever you do – you have the right attitude.

I wouldn't necessarily set your heart on a particular career till you've done your GCSEs. Not because you're not capable, but because you might discover a love for a subject or area that you weren't aware of. Go and have a chat to your local college, get yourself enrolled in GCSE classes in Maths, English and science. See how you feel when you're approaching exam time and thinking of next steps.

Best of luck - as everyone else has already said, you're clearly very articulate and intelligent and you'll have no problem making up for lost time :)

OP

Just a thought but do you know there is such a job as medical photography?

The illustrations for medical journals / books are not there by chance. If an unusual operation is happening then there will be a film made of it.

It's not always a pleasant job, photographing a child with a tumour or a burn victim is totally different from smiling babies but it is something you already have a skill set in.

www.nhsjobs.com/job_list/Health_science_services/s5/Medical_Photography/d528

www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/Explore-roles/healthcare-science/roles-healthcare-science/physical-sciences-and-biomedical-engineering/clinical-photography

If you have talent in arts in general then there are people who create prosthetics including things like rebuilding faces, creating artificial ears / noses.

Hi, can you contact your local College as they often have access to learning courses. Wish you the best of luck OP x