Mother and Daughter Prove the Value of Adult Education (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Mother and Daughter Prove the Value of Adult Education

MOTHER and daughter Beryl and Vicki Gray have proved age is no barrier to fulfilling your learning goals by being awarded for their achievements in adult education.

On May 15 Beryl and Vicki collected a NIACE certificate (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) during a ceremony at Shire Hall, in Gloucester.

They were among an elite group of 19 individuals countywide to receive the certificate after being nominated by their tutors at Cirencester College as part of Adult Learners' Week, which was held that week.

Beryl, 57, and Vicki, 32, have both completed a one-year Helping in Schools course and a one-year CACHE 2 (Childcare and Health and Education) certificate. Beryl also passed a computer skills course.

Their achievements in working together in their spare time highlight how adult education can change people's goals.

Beryl, from Meadow View, Kempsford, started work at Kempsford Primary School 22 years ago as a dinner lady and has built up her experience as a learning support worker (LSW) over the years until turning full-time two years ago.

She still also works as a dinner lady, and runs after-school clubs on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

She outlined why she decided to return to education, saying: "I think things were passing me by. I didn't even know about switching on my computer. "I would go into a blind panic if I was asked to switch on a computer so I did a computer course and got a grade two in that."

In 2000 Beryl was joined in working at the school by Vicki, a qualified hairdresser and beauty therapist, who has two children, eight-year-old Natalie and Jemma, four.

Vicki, of Cross Tree Crescent, Kempsford, said: "I've always had an interest in the school, in fact it was my second option if I didn't get into hairdressing."

Both women were indebted to family and friends for helping them complete their part-time courses and to the school's head, Martin Ballard, for agreeing to finance the CACHE 2 courses.

Beryl would advise anyone to take up adult education.

She said: "You don't know what you can do until you try.

"If there's a course you can go on then go for it. "Opportunities are there for us today when years ago they were not."