Education for Adults!

[Jadeleigh]

I have noticed that the info for futher education for adults is really limited. I am a 22 year old Mum who really wants to take some home learning courses to acheive my A-Levels.(With the aim being to eventually qualify as a secondary school teacher & have a good career & more time off with my little ones. I can only take a home course because I work full time (I leave at 6.45am & return home at 7.15pm) so I cant go to college in the day time & I dont have a. the childcare to go to night class or b. the want (I have two children that i have to leave in daycare to work so i dont want to leave them at night as well.)
The problem being there are sooo many course providers & they seem quite costly! Does anyone know any good ones with credible qualifications at the end. And if anyone knows if theres anyway I could get help with funding them that would also be much appreciated!
Alternatively any advice or alternative routes people may suggest to get me in teaching will also be a GREAT help!
Oh and come on Mumsnet, you need to hurry up & give some good advice on this subject!
Thanks.

open university,i'd say - www.open.ac.uk. whhy not give them a call and ask their advice? You could do an access course instead of a-levels to get you into university??

To get into teaching you'll need a degree, and then there are a variety of options which will doubtless change by the time you get there.
As a mature student you may find Uni's ill take you without A levels anyway and from what I understand some Uni's are gearing up for part time students in 2012-13 with planned weekend and evening teaching.
I'd contact your local Uni and see what they are doing now and keep in contact to see what they will be doing when the new fees come in.
The Open Uni is a great option too

I'm a secondary school teacher. I don't know about evening courses though the OU sounds good.

I just wanted to point out that, yes we have long holidays but during term-time I don't find it very family friendly. I was out at 7.30 and have only just stopped working. I have at least another two hours work to do but I'm too tired.

I spent large chunks of half-term (last week) working both evenings and during the day.

I regularly stay at school till nearly 6 and work almoat every evening, including weekends. It is a great job but your comment about spending more time with your little ones prompted me to post.

Open university to do a named degree in a subject you're interested in. That will take 3-6 years by which time your DC will be bigger and you'll be in a better position to do the year of pretty intensive PGCE/GTP and eventually teach.

Otherwise the NEC are a well respected provider of A-levels if you feel you really couldn't cope with an OU course straight away but they're very geared towards people in your position and the Openings courses are nice and gentle.

Thanks all 4 your messages! Taken on board & much appreciated. xxx

I would suggest you do OU. You can also do the student associate scheme whilst doing an OU degree which will give you some real experience of teaching.
It is a very hard career, and I speak as someone who quit a PGCE because I couldn't cope with the stress. It was 5 -10 (sometimes 4 - 11) days with me trying to fit my kids in and still feeling I was neglecting both them and my pupils.
But if you get an OU degree it will help whatever you want to do.

Thanks all, 4 the advice & words of warning. Going to do a course, n maybe a nvq for working with the little ones as well. Then that way if teaching the older kiddies is to tough i can be a Nursery Nurse. Im very lucky as my work will allow me to drop a day at work so I can do it all & still earn. Thanks Guys x