Hello everyone.
Since I left high school in 1998, aged 17, I couldn't see myself doing any further education at college, university or wherever. All that shouting, screaming, swearing, giggling etc overwhelmed me for much of my school life.
When I was doing sixth form education in 1997, I studied an intermediate-level business course. At the time, I did so because it involved occasional car trips to local businesses. A few years later, I admittedly studied the wrong course, despite being close to passing my exam by three marks. I should have studied Information Technology, because I was never particularly interested in working in the business industry.
13 years after I left school, in 2011, aged 30, I plucked up the courage to study a European Computer Driving Licence (or ECDL) course at my local Learndirect centre in Ipswich, Suffolk. I finally got to study the kind of course I should have done all those years ago. At the time, I had gained plenty of experience in word processing, spreadsheets, Internet, email etc. There wasn't much of an Internet or email system in my school days.
Normally, anyone or anything that would vaguely remind me of my stressful time at school would haunt me, but my tutor, and the other students in the computer room, were all very supportive and friendly. Before I studied the course, me and my mum both went through an assessment procedure, because my mum was learning Information Technology (or IT) herself. My tutor said that a foundation or Level 1 course may suit her, although she wasn't intending to study the course anyway. It was a good chance to assess her computing ability though. I was told that I was highly experienced and talented, and that a Level 2 course (the highest level) would suit me.
So I decided to give that course a go, then if things didn't go well, I would downgrade to Level 1. As I was (and still am) on benefits, I was entitled to study the course for free. Some courses can cost a fortune, especially if any public transport was used. There were 7 categories in my ECDL Level 2 course, but I only needed to pass 4 of them to gain my qualification. I studied Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and the mandatory Improving Productivity Using IT. I passed the first 3 courses very easily, but I needed support from my tutor to pass the 4th as I found it difficult.
I think that the standard pass rate was 75%. I scored 97% in Word Processing, 91% in Spreadsheets, 97% in Presentations, and 94% in Improving Productivity Using IT, giving an average score of 95%, which is a fantastic achievement for an autistic or non-autistic person. The course was meant to last 3 months, but I gained my qualification in 5 weeks, which was just over a month. My future career opportunities were boosted as a result. The experience was enjoyable, but there were moments when I knew the correct answers to specific questions, but they weren't available, otherwise I would easily have achieved a couple of 100% scores. Oh well, that's technology for you.
I hope you find this story inspirational. If you have any inspirational post-school or adult educational stories of your own, I would love to hear from you.
