UNISON Ulearn Northern Ireland

I left school with no GCSEs and a few CSEs, the Troubles impacted on our family circumstances and I had to get a job to bring money into the house. I started working in the Royal as a domestic and have been here for the past 23 years. It was a temporary post and I went for a job as a theatre orderly when it came up because it was permanent. I worked in theatres in the 80s where every week people came in with bullet wounds or injuries from explosions. I was so amazed at the ability of the doctors and nurses treating people and fixing injuries on the operating table. They were also doing cardiac surgery and I still remember the first time I saw them stop a person’s heart and put it on by-pass.

I was there for twelve years and over that period I learned the names of all the instruments, how to take them apart and put them together again. The NVQs had just come in and I really wanted to do some training, but it was deemed unnecessary for theatre orderlies. Then I saw a job for a Nursing Auxiliary and I knew they could do NVQs so I moved to that post and transferred to the ante-natal clinic to have more patient contact.

I heard about the Return to Learn through a work colleague and I decided to go for it because I felt that I hadn’t got the best out of the education system. I felt denied and deprived and this was a chance to prove to myself what I could have done. In spite of my enthusiasm for the opportunity I was incredibly nervous, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able for it, would I be good enough, would I even be accepted? I saw myself as a failure because I hadn’t completed my education.

The Return to Learn opened up my mind, it made me realise that I wasn’t stupid, that I had the capability. I achieved at Level 3 in all my assignments and it amazed me. I was really determined and worked hard, I developed new skills and confidence. I really enjoyed the bit of the course where you picked your own subject to research. I picked the Brook Advisory Clinic. I had to interview people and it was really interesting. I loved learning. The tutors were brilliant, they were down to earth, they were there to support us, they treated us as adults and were very encouraging and reassuring.

From that I was given the chance to do an NVQ 3 and having done the Return to Learn I found I had much more confidence, I had gained good study techniques and was able to interpret assignments, Return to Learn was my rock. But even with my NVQ I still wasn’t able to progress any further in my job, it was very frustrating.

Then last year I heard about the Open University K100 course which UNISON was promoting. I went to an information session and the key for me was that it could potentially lead to nursing, after all these years I was being given a chance to progress.

The K100 is tough and getting your first assignment is really daunting. I found the study skills course which we did really helped. Even though I’m only half way through the course, with each assignment my confidence has grown. The course content has opened up the whole world of care. You tend to live in your own wee world of work and home, this course gets you thinking about things such as how care is provided in the community, about the work of carers, about the way women take on the main formal and informal caring roles and about the many different people who access care and their needs. For me, it has highlighted to me my own practice in relation to seeing the label and not the person – it has challenged me to think and act differently.

I’m really enjoying it but I don’t know if I would have done it on my own, I don’t think I would have believed that I could achieve at university level, but I am. Getting the chance to do it through UNISON and supported by the Trust, meant that it was up to me, I had no excuses.

Footnote
Theresa Kielt successfully completed her K100, went on to get her Essential Skills Numeracy and gained a place on the OU Pre-reg Nursing programme which she started in February 2007.