How feasible is it to quit work after maternity leave and train as a midwife?

[Jolleigh]

I'm currently expecting my first and am due to go on maternity leave at the beginning of March.

I'm also in desperate need of a career change...although quite well paid, my current line of work is about as fulfilling as banging my head against a wall for 9 hours a day.

My DP is on around £27k. How feasible is it to go right to uni after maternity leave, and what help might I be entitled to?

depending on how long you have been away from education you might need to do an access course before starting uni. I would crack on with it ASAP as I found childcare harder to manage once they start school.

I hadn't yet looked into child care options Natasha. Though of course I know I need to. I'm not too sure what options would be open to me in terms of out of hours care in case DP is away.

I wasn't aware of a bursary. I'll definitely need to look into that.

What's an access course Anita? (Sorry - have only really admitted to myself today that I need things to change so haven't looked into things much yet.)

As far as I know (looked into it myself) if you've been away from education for a while you have to do something (an a level or similar) to 'prove' you can still learn & pass exams. Think this is what's meant by an access course but I could be talking out of my arse.

I'd honestly love to be a midwife, but although we are always hearing about the desperate shortage of midwives, the truth is there aren't more positions being made available as there isn't the funding for more midwives so in my case there was too much risk of not getting a job at the end of the course.

Good luck if you decide to go for it though!

Had a bit of a browse around and I'd be best set getting some more career-specific qualifications before I bother applying. I reckon I have enough UCAS points in total but the courses themselves are nothing to do with midwifery (not even vaguely). So, I'm thinking a possible combination of Anatomy and Physiology, Psychology, and Sociology maybe.

It'll cost a fortune on courses, but I can stay in my current employment while getting that far and it could leave some time for employment opportunities to improve.

If you want to earn money as you lean then perhaps it would be a good idea to look into Maternity HCA jobs? You can do that part time, so you earn whilst you learn! Also, as far as I'm aware, you'll eventually need a work placement as a part of the Uni midwifery course anyway so at least you're getting a head start there.
This is how I'm doing my nursing degree - I'm starting as a healthcare assistant whilst I learn :)

ooh, now there's an idea. I'll definitely look into that

How much does the access course cost and the if successful, how much are the Midwifery training fees? Does it count if you've already accessed the Bursary option? I did just over two years at University studying Nursing then Midwifery, but left due to horrid personal reasons! Very much want to go back but worried I can't afford it! Especially if they don't offer financial support for more than a certain amount of years, as I'd gave already used up two! I believe the NHS paid part/all of the fees. Can't really remember!