Spanner

You would easily be forgiven for thinking that this is the latest HS:MS photo prompt, but it is not. It is in fact a creative illustration of the latest frustration I have come up against in my quest to become a teacher. Yes, another spanner has made it’s twisted little way into the works.

At this point I feel I should point out my ignorance and hope that the picture is indeed of a spanner!! Being a gal, all things tool-like are somewhat foreign to me, and I had no member of the male species around when I took the photo to confirm that I did have the right tool for the job, so to speak!
Anyway – I digress.

The rocky road to higher education.
First of all, I was a little late in applying. Then there was the nightmare interview with Cranky-Pants-Witch-Face. Then there was the “conditional offer” which, whilst of course I was overjoyed at, there was the nightmarish prospect of managing to fit in my entire NVQ by September!

This is where the plot thickens, my blogeroonies. My NVQ assessor phoned me at work on Friday night to say she’s been discussing my case with her manager, and they think that, due to the limited/scarce observations she is going to be able to make as I am a night worker they would like to approach my company’s personnel manager and discuss transferring me to a level 2 (equivalent of a GCSE), rather than a level 3 (equivalent of an A level). She assured me that this was no reflection of my ability, but purely due to the constraints of my shifts/role and the high volume of observations required to sign off the units. I then explained about my uni offer, and I have to say, the poor woman was as bummed about it all as I was! She advised she’d go back to her manger to discuss ways to work around the issues so I can complete the level 3, although she did also say that my file would be away for two months to be verified – which means I’d need to have completed it and everything to be signed off by the start of July at the very latest in order to have my results in time to gain a place on the course. Which then essentially means I have, as of today, 34 days to complete the written work for a further 5 units, and for the observations and work products for all 8 units to be sought and completed.

In her own words, it’s unlikely for this to happen.

Bummeration.
My only hope is to contact the university and discuss the situation and see what they think about it all. I only put the darn blasted stupid NVQ on my application form anyway as I thought may as well…………..wish I hadn’t bothered now………..but then would I have had any offer at all without it, as prior to this my last study/qualification was gained outside of their recommended time frame of three years?

What a to-do, once again.
xxx