to think I could work and study?

[Zerth]

I currently work 15 hours a week, term time only.

Getting a degree would be beneficial for my job.

AIBU to think I could study BA English full time (Open University ) at 32-36 hours a week?

I have 2 DC aged 9 and 6.

Has anyone done this? Am I crazy to even consider it??

Definitely doable. I did a professional qualification when working 32hours a week with two kids.
It's supposed to take 3 years but I took about 4.5 and I'm not going to lie, it was hard! I also have a very supportive husband who was invaluable in the run up to exams. But I did it and it was worth it.
If you really want to do it then go for it. X

I think it's doable too. I'm currently doing a masters with the ou while working 40 hours a week and having a 9 and 11 year old that do lots of activities. It takes a bit of discipline but I am enjoying it too. I also find that the estimated study time is generous. Go for it

Completely possible, did my masters, distance and part time, over 2.5 years with 2 x5 year olds when I started. You can nail this.

Unfortunately there isn’t. The local universities won’t accept me into their masters program with my Bachelors. I can either do a combined 6 years Bachelor- Master here (which is 4 subjects and not relevant to my teaching, plus it would all be in a different language which would be ok but difficult for me) or study my subject at Bachelor level (in English ) then do a Masters.

Didn’t realise there were other online universities, can anyone recommend any? For either BA English or BA Language Studies (English and another language)

Absolutely possible but you will need to be organised and disciplined to make time for study and writing your TMAs. I’ve studied with the OU while working full time and managed it , both a Bachelor and Masters ( and neither subject was related to my job ) - you can do this !

I did it. I was working full time as a TA (37 hrs pw). I did a BA(Hons) Education with Early Childhood Studies. The Uni were brilliant and let me attend all my lectures after school. It was hard work, I also had the most supportive DH and 2 children who were 14 & 19. I was knackered most days but I did it and the day I graduated was fabulous. Go for it I say xx

I did a masters level course for a year whilst working part time with 2 primary age kids - it was hard work but doable as long as I kept up with the course content each week and actually used my planned study time to study! It was a professional qualification sponsored by my workplace so they were obviously supportive, which helped too.
I'm not sure I'll ever go on to complete the full masters degree though, a year was enough!

I did my OU degree in 4 years while working 5.5 days a week. I was childless at the start but not by the end. After a full time PGCE I've subsequently completed two Masters degrees while working full time and raising children and now DC are grown up I'm halfway through my EdD.

Does the masters have to be from a local university though? No idea whether your bachelors has any potential to link with a relevant masters elsewhere but if you didn’t have to do another bachelors you could use those years for your phd instead ;-)
Just asking because I lived in a country for a while where you needed Latin to access university so I had to get creative.

Im doing a psychology degree with the Open University plus working 40 hours a week with 2 kids. There have been tears but its manegeable

My local university is over an hour away and they don’t seem to offer distance learning here. I can only go straight to masters with a secondary school subject degree, which I don’t have.

The whole process is very frustrating. Especially when I am already teaching and have experience.

Yes I did this 3 times. A degree, a post grad and then the professional qualification degree level that my job requires. The first two I did with part time work and it was ok. Stressful at times but manageable.

The one I did when working full time nearly bloody broke me. I did it but have sworn off studying again.

I did my first degree with the OU and had I not, I would have still been in dead end work. So absolutely go for it OP, it’s not easy but can change your life.

@Mnhq why are posts being deleted on this thread? I saw the posts before they were deleted and they were normal replies.

I did an 8 hours per week course on top of a FT job while pg, and then did FT study for - year with a 9 month old, followed by needing to do a 40(+!) hr/week jobs while writing a thesis with an 18 mtg old….

Once you add DC into the mix, it’s much harder. I have found it almost impossible to do proper study since then, as the needs of DC got bigger and I needed my brain working for work rather than study or extra reading.

so it depends on how organised your life is generally, and how intense your job is (particularly - is it a “follow the procedures” job or something you need to do a lot of thinking and decision-making in.

it is possible, but it is hard work - and needs a lot of planning/organisation.