Case study

Mary Evans
Wednesday, February 20, 2002

* Michelle Hector, 42, who has been a teaching assistant at Altmore Infant School, Newham, for five and a half years, began the Foundation Degree last September. She says, 'Most of us on the course are like-minded. We are in the same position and are working towards a common aim. For various reasons we didn't do a degree first time round, or don't have A-levels or GCSEs, and now we have this chance to better ourselves and we are taking it. 'Working in the classroom and looking at the teacher, I thought I could become a teacher too. I realised I had the practical knowledge, but what I hadn't got was the theory. I felt I needed to be doing something more, but I couldn't just leave my work and go off to a college somewhere to take a degree. I need my pay packet at the end of the week.