“GCSEs are like a passport for any profession”

For Najma, that profession was teaching. However, before embarking on her chosen PGCE course, she first needed to acquire the required GCSEs to access it.

Before studying with the National Extension College, Najma graduated with a maths degree through the Open University. Already familiar with distance learning, Najma knew what she wanted from her course, and had researched many online providers before deciding that NEC was the best choice for her.

“NEC arranged the exams with one of their exam centres, whereas with other colleges you had to arrange your exams yourself. I was unsure about organising my own exams, with NEC, they were all nicely organised for me.”

A mum of two, Najma needed to fit her studying in around childcare and other commitments; “The flexibility of the course was a definite highlight,” she says. “Infact, from day one with NEC, I was guided step-by-step and talked through the whole process.” This included sorting out financial arrangements, “NEC helped me with a plan that worked for me”.

“Being a distance learning course, it had to be in a logical order so that students can follow it.”

Najma enrolled on NEC’s GCSE English language and GCSE Maths courses, and was impressed by the quality of the course materials and the level of support and guidance she received from her personal tutor. Having already studied maths at degree level through distance learning, Najma felt the structure of the course material was easy to follow, and helpful when picking out parts of the maths course that hadn’t been covered by her degree. The support from her tutor was also particularly valuable when studying her GCSE English language course; “In Pakistan, English is a second language and taught accordingly,” she says. “The coursework level of analysis was totally different. I called my tutor when I didn’t understand something, and he always helped me. I felt I had the whole package in studying the English GCSE with NEC!”

After completing her GCSEs Najma appeared as a guest on the BBC news programme Victoria Derbyshire. As well as revealing on live television that she achieved a grade 8 (equivalent to an A*) in her maths course. She reflected that the experience was a very good and necessary one, “Even though I had done a degree, there were some areas (in the degree) which were never touched upon…So it gave me a good subject knowledge, which is necessary for when I go into the classroom as a teacher (sic).”

Now Najma has her GCSEs, she hopes to finish her teaching training. Ultimately, she wants to go into an education as her profession and enrol on a masters qualification.

For prospective students her advice, says Najma is simple, “Make a rigid schedule and stick to it. Allocate a certain amount of time for your study and follow this schedule.”

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(Ref: BBC; Victoria Derbyshire 23/09/18)