Isobel, Master Degree in Personnel and Development

My name is Isobel, I am 43 years old and a single mum of 12 year old Abigail.

My childhood was one of children’s homes and foster care before finally moving back with my mum when I was 15.  This had a catastrophic affect on my education. I moved schools when I was one term into my GCEs which left me completely de-motivated.

I stayed on at college finally achieving a GCE in English, Religious Studies and French.  I then joined the Army with a view to being trained for a career in office work and stayed for seven years.

I was working at BAe when I decided that I wanted to go into personnel. I requested unpaid time off coupled with leave to attend the Certificate in Personnel Practice at Plymouth College of Further Education which I also funded myself.  I passed the course but there were no opportunities at that time in the Personnel Department.

I stayed with BAe as by now I was married and my daughter had arrived.  When I left after about seven years.

!n 2004 I completed a two year HNC in Business course at Plymouth College of Further Education. I had eight distinctions out of 10 subjects and I wanted to continue and attain a Foundation Degree with my ultimate goal of achieving a degree. 

However, personal events occurred preventing any chance of pursuing these aims for a while including the terminal illness of a loved one, a divorce and a house move.

In March 2006 I was made redundant from Wrigley’s. With my redundancy money I took some time out to evaluate my options.

I investigated possibilities with Plymouth College of Further Education, the University of Plymouth and the Open University.  I considered the Masters in Personnel and Development and suitable degrees. 

I also looked at the financial implications and discovered the Government would fund a degree as I was a single parent but I would probably have to take out a loan for living expenses. 

I still had some savings but didn’t want to see these dwindle to nothing, nor did I want to get into debt.  I decided that the remainder of the redundancy money would finance the Masters in Personnel and Development run by the University of Plymouth with the aim to complete it in the shortest time possible. And I would look for part-time work.

I knew that it would be tough; I was also scared that I would be out of my depth.

I took a part-time role which allowed me to attend both the Tuesday and Wednesday modules of the course and condense the first two years. 

It is hard – especially on time and energy but I have no regrets. The Programme Manager and the University are very supportive and understanding.   For me, this is about life choices.  If I can earn a decent salary, maybe I can afford to work fewer hours and be there for my daughter rather than work full-time and farm her out.