“I volunteer during my spare time and also had quite a few other things on my plate, but I knew I needed to obtain this knowledge, and Open Study College enabled me to fit my studies around everything else.”
Madison, Buckinghamshire
Madison works part-time at an NHS GP surgery as a health care assistant and recently completed a health and social care course at Open Study College to ensure she could advance further in her career.
She said: “I really wanted to be able to progress as a health care assistant, and knew I needed the necessary knowledge to do so. Along with my in-surgery training, the Health and Social Care Level 3 course at Open Study College will hopefully allow me to complete ECGs, blood tests, dressings, and more, all without having to take the longer route of going to university.”
When asked why she decided to embark on the distance learning route, health and social care student, Madison, replied:
“I volunteer during my spare time and also had quite a few other things on my plate, but I knew I needed to obtain this knowledge, and Open Study College enabled me to fit my studies around everything else. I wasn’t restricted to a class timetable, and the flexibility and freedom of the course meant I could study early in the morning, or later in the evening if I needed to.
“I could also really take my time during parts of the course that required additional research. Of course, some sections were easy to understand, but it was reassuring to know that I could have this extra time to ensure I fully understood everything and felt comfortable before moving forward to the next stage.”
Madison used the nationwide lockdown in 2020 to her advantage to complete the health and social care course, but still felt supported by Open Study College during this time:
“If I had any queries, I knew I could email my tutor for advice, and they were always able to assist and answer my questions. They also helped me get in touch with the technical support team, who immediately fixed the problems I encountered.”
Looking back at her time, Madison highlights that motivation will play a big part for anyone who is considering enrolling at Open Study College:
“I found that I needed to summon the motivation to study at times, but once you sit down and make a start, you quite easily get into the flow of it all. If you are a motivated person, you will really enjoy the way these courses work through distance learning. If you’re not, you will find the approach a little harder, but you will get through it and will feel really proud of yourself when you do.”