Anyone rate the Open University for young mums like me..?

[ShellGirl]

Hi all,
I thinking about what to do with my life now I'm a mum, and whether I need to up my education qualifications. I've always dreamt of working in social work and have seen courses on the OU website. My mum has offered to look after Jamie my little boy because I think I'd need the study time LOL! I have one A-Level in English although I think I could've done better if I tried :-(
Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Shelley

I am doing an OU degree and I love it but you do need to be very self-motivated.

Sign up now because the fees are going up soon.

I second worldgonecrazy about being motivated. I recently did some postgraduate study with the OU and it is hard work especially when there are other distractions. Look very carefully at any course and be sure it is what you want to study.

you cant do the social work degree without employer funding but you can work your way through most of the units. This will give you learning experience and credits to apply for a "brick uni" to do the social work degree. It is hard work and a very high standard of study, you will really need to be comitted to putting in the work, reading, some online forum and discussion and writting the assignments.

That is what I have just done. I would recomend it definatly you have nothing to loose and would probably get help with course fees.

I have found the courses I have done are more rigorous than for my first degree and really interesting!

The self motivation is the key

The good thing about the OU is that it suits all sorts of people - in my tutorial group there is an age range from about 18 to 60. Some people in the group left school at 14-15 without any qualifications for a whole load of reasons whereas others already have a degree but want to study for personal development.

Face to face contact is only a very small part of studying with OU on average only one tutorial per month (or less) and most of the learning is done independently or through the use of student forums or Facebook groups. This works well for most people but some can find it quite isolating especially if this is the first module studied.

The advantage is that you can study when it suits you - which can also be a disadvantage if you are not motivated to study. Personally I love studying with the OU and would suggest that you do a short course to start with in something that interests you to see how you find it. If you do plan to complete a degree then sign up fairly quickly as otherwise fees about going to increase by about 300% in 2012 for new students!

Go for it girl! I did my degree in the 80s and loved it. Not easy, full time job, 2 DSs and a husband. A bit of time management needed and a bit of selfishness. Sorry, I've got a TMA to do...
You won't regret it, go to tutorials: you will meet allsorts and widen your horizens.

Hi all, thnx for your replies they have really got me thinking :-)
I'm a bit worried about the study side, guess it's a confidence thing. Might go for a opening course to get myself going... Understand u can pay with Tesco Clubcard points? What a great idea. Nice to hear it can be done, thnx ladies. Shel.