If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would be sharing the story of my career development, I would have burst out laughing. My name is Mel: I’m 46 and mum to 2 children. Every day is a challenge and I feel like I am constantly juggling plates between work, studying, housework and being a mum. 

Childhood

I was talking to my mum about my childhood, and discussing how busy our lives were. Like me, she was a single mum who was working full-time and studying. She explained how every teacher described me as being ‘a lovely, kind and well-behaved little girl’ but how I was ‘not an academic’. School was a massive challenge, and I didn’t really understand what was going on. I had no confidence and became withdrawn and shy. I still cringe today at how little faith even my teachers had in me. 

Luckily for me, I didn’t listen, and my mum pushed me to do the best I could. The problem was, as a family, we didn’t have the finances to afford private tutoring to enhance my education. I always dreamt of being a nurse but was always told I couldn’t because I was not clever enough. After leaving school with no GCSEs, I had to work out how I was going to achieve my dream. Why was it so difficult?

A turning point in my education

I decided to go onto college and took a GNVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care, which was equivalent to two GCSEs, alongside my maths and English. This was a pivotal stage in my life as I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia and given the support and resources to get my thoughts down onto paper. It was a huge light bulb moment and suddenly all the dots were joined together. 

At this point, I was awarded the ‘Student of the Year’. This was the first time in my life I had been recognised for my hard work and resilience. 

From Healthcare support worker to nursing

In 2003, I worked as a Healthcare support worker in the Heart Department at my local hospital. Part of the stipulation for accepting this role was to study for my NVQ Level 3. With study support in place to accommodate my dyslexia, I successfully passed. However, I would still look at the nurses in their scrubs and wished that would be me one day. 

The hospital started to work in partnership with the OU, advertising for healthcare support workers to apply for their Adult Nursing Diploma. I had been recommended for this programme and was successful in getting a place. I remember receiving the phone call from my line manager and screaming down the phone. I had just woken up from a night shift! 

Panic set in again as I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I was determined to get through it. At last, my dream had come true. The Open University provided me with the opportunity to study to become a nurse, which I never thought was possible. The brick university route of education is expensive and this was never going to be an option for me. A more practical route of learning suited my personal needs, allowed me to study and I had the knowledge of being supported by my employer and the OU. This gave me the flexibility to study, while also working. I was provided with a network of support which included a mentor from the hospital and a Practice Tutor from the OU. 

I successfully passed my Diploma in Adult Nursing, and I became a Band 5 on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register. I started work on the Heart ward. My dream had come true, and it was all thanks to The OU. 

Over time, my love for nursing grew and I developed a love of teaching new students within the clinical area, especially those who were still training. At this point, I wanted to expand on my own career development, so I applied to do my degree in nursing leadership, through The Open University, which I successfully completed in 2013. 

Working for the OU

Without sounding like a cliche, The Open University opened my life to a career that everyone else said was not possible. The OU vision is ‘to reach more students with learning that meets their needs and enriches society’. This resembled my pathway into nursing and paved a professional career that I always dreamed of. 

Fast forward to 2018, I was working in the Heart Rehabilitation team, and I was drawn to a Practice Tutor job advert from the OU. I remember thinking to myself, this is the job I was born to do. I was successful in gaining this position and was passionate about this role, to the point that I resigned from the local Trust, where I had been working for 20 years. 

Now, everyone has a phase in their life that pushes them to their limits. Mine happened three years ago, when I had a sudden change in my personal life. I had to think creatively and consider how I could utilise my nursing skills and my love of teaching in a role that suited my new lifestyle. I know fairy godmothers only appear in Cinderella but once again the OU saved my life! At this point in my life, my boss Mags was my fairy godmother. Due my own journey, I can emphasise and have the time to listen, mentor, and do whatever I can, to help students as they say ‘I can’t do it! I don’t understand, I’m running out of time!’ 

Now I’m a Staff Tutor for the OU. Encouraged by my line manager, I am studying for my master's in educational leadership. ‘Oh my god, here we go again!’ I thought to myself. I have a degree in nursing not education and now I have to learn a whole new field of teaching and leadership. 

As The Open University clearly points out your ‘Future is Open’. How true that is! The OU gave me a future that potentially may not have happened if I had listened to my schoolteacher. Thank goodness I had the common sense to follow my dreams! 

The OU ‘aims to inspire’ – it has done and continues to do so for me. 

And they ‘enable learning’. Well, if I am not an advocate for that, who is? I have been the apprentice student. I have been the mentor/practice assessor within the clinical area. I have been the Practice Tutor and still am on a part-time role and I now have the privilege of being a Staff Tutor, overseeing all these roles. 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there used to be an advert on the TV about The Open University. Its final strapline stated ‘The Open University changes lives’. Every time the advert came on, I used to say, ‘Yes it does, thank you!’