Experiences of being a mature student

My name is Russell Jones and I am here to tell you about my experiences of being a mature student at Sheffield Hallam University.
In the UK adult learners are classed as mature students from the age of 21+ at the beginning of undergraduate studies and aged 25+ at the beginning of postgraduate studies.

I was in my forties when I studied for my degree. I started my journey by studying for an Access to Higher Education Diploma (Art and Design) at Hillsborough College in September 2018. I am Sheffield born and bred and Hillsborough College was just a bus route away.

There had been a substantial gap in my education; I had received my GCSEs back in 1994 from Meadow Head School and I didn’t do well. I got three Cs above and that was in English language/Literature and History. My favourite subject Art I received a bad grade and it did affect my confidence.

As a child I was quite introverted, often awkward and quiet. I had speech therapy at a young age and the teachers thought I was deaf as I wouldn’t respond to them when they asked for my attention. I was even held back in the infants as I struggled so much.

I loved to draw and I loved comic books and in secondary school thanks to a great teacher I started to flourish and learnt how to read and write.
I was lucky then to get the results I did for my GCSEs considering but I still felt disappointed.

I worked in various job roles from store assistant, call-centre worker, steward, bar staff and driver.
Some jobs I liked and some I didn’t; however I still felt something was missing from my life and by chance I saw a sign in a café advertising for lessons in pastel pencils £8 an hour from a local private tutor. This was in 2011 and by 2012 I had drawn my first picture I was proud of which was a tiger; which took months to complete section by section.

I was advised to attend an Access course as it would prepare me for University and the subsequent workload including working part-time alongside my studies.
As you can imagine there was some trepidation about becoming a mature student and barriers that can present themselves.

The first is a situational barrier which is addressing the stigma around how we perceive mature students in a learning environment.

The second is institutional barriers where opportunities aren’t presented either through some kind of systemic racism or other bias.

The third which is dispositional barriers which is how we perceive ourselves and perhaps incorporate other peoples negative attitudes to applying for opportunities.

I have to say I didn’t encounter any barriers to my learning at all by being mature, I was there to learn and I was confident in my abilities.
In fact I found learning a lot easier as I wanted to be there and I knew my skills were increasing exponentially which was exciting for me.

I made friends easily with a lot of interests in common not just art but music, films and culture etc.
(however I did feel old when the majority of the students who were so young had never heard of Monty Python or Trainspotting).

I actually surprised myself in how much I enjoyed essay writing which I based on the attitudes of comics and how they change and reflect over time.
After an exhibition and getting my results which were distinctions I was so pleased because academically this was the best I have ever performed and I felt like I found my niche in life.

Then in the second year a global pandemic came out of nowhere and brought the world literally to a halt with everybody isolating and using their laptop to communicate to the world. I ensured this didn’t affect my degree and adapted to the digital world where I was involved in a virtual exhibition. I bought an ipad Pro and a next gen pencil which I have never looked back since and incorporated digital art into my process.

I graduated in 2022 with a 2:1 which I am extremely proud of and it has opened so many doors and opportunities for me now alongside a confidence in my own abilities that wasn’t there before.

I am writing this as a student ambassador because I want to encourage anybody who has any learning difficulties, insecurities of being a mature student to have the courage to apply.
Sheffield Hallam has a lot of support for groups of people who may be marginalised or feel like they need help into making that step into higher education.

SHU Progress provides support for applicants whose personal circumstances might mean that there are barriers to going to university.

The scheme provides additional support in the year of application and throughout the application process, including your transition to becoming a university student.

https://www.shu.ac.uk/study-here/apply/shu-progress

SHU Progress is generally available to all undergraduate applicants with a Home fee status. We also support applicants from a refugee or asylum seeking background who are in the UK applying for undergraduate or postgraduate courses.

To join the scheme, you must meet one or more of the criteria below:

• You are a care leaver
  You have spent three or more months in local authority care while at school, from Year 10 onwards. You will also be 25 or younger when you start your course.
• You are estranged from your parents
  You are estranged from your immediate family, being estranged from someone means you’re no longer in contact or on friendly terms with them.
• You are care experienced
  You have had experience of care in the past, but do not fall into one of the above categories (care leaver, or estranged).
• You are a carer
  You care for a family member or friend which could be due to illness, disability, mental health condition or addiction. You may or may not be in receipt of carers allowance. Please note parental responsibilities do not automatically mean you have caring responsibilities, unless you are providing care for somebody with additional needs.
• You have a disability
  You have a disability which affects your everyday life. This could include learning difficulties like dyslexia and dyspraxia, mental health issues, or ongoing medical conditions.
• You have experienced circumstances which have affected or interrupted your L3 studies
  You have experienced a serious, recent event which was outside your control and has significantly affected or interrupted your level three studies (i.e. had a negative impact upon your ability to prepare for or take a level three assessment).
• You are experiencing financial difficulty or hardship
  You come from a household with an annual income of less than £25,000, or you are experiencing financial hardship which affects your choice of places to study.
• You are unable to move away from your home area to go to university
  You have circumstances that mean you need to be able to study close to home, these could include cultural reasons or family commitments.
• You are a mature student
  You are aged 21 or over and are returning to learning after a break. We can also support mature students wanting to return for postgraduate studies.
• You are homeless or risk of homelessness
  You may be homeless/risk of homelessness if you:
  • are sleeping rough
  • are staying in a hostel or night shelter
  • are staying with friends or family on a temporary basis
  • are forced to live apart from your family or someone you would normally live with because your accommodation isn’t suitable
  • live in unsuitable housing
  • don’t have rights to stay where you are
  If you are if you are homeless (or at risk of homelessness) and have no contact with your parents, we consider you to be estranged, see above criteria.
• You are from a refugee or asylum seeking background
  You are unable to remain in your home country due to trauma or persecution and cannot return for safety reasons.
• You are from a military family
  You are from an armed forces family and your parents/carers served in the armed forces during the first 25 years of your life.
• You are a military veteran or service leaver
  You have experience of serving in the armed forces.
• You are from a Black British Background
  Sheffield Hallam is working hard to increase the number of Black British students studying at our university and therefore we encourage Black British* people applying to the university to join our SHU Progress Scheme. To be eligible to take part in the scheme you will be:
  • a Black British person (either African descent, Black African-Caribbean, or another Black background or a Black British person with dual heritage).
  • paying ‘Home’ (UK student) fees.

There is no age restriction, and the scheme applies to all full-time undergraduate subjects.

Good luck to anybody who uses Shu-progress to achieve their dreams there is always support. If I can do it so can you…

The beginning…