Tag: story

My name is Stephen Kearns and I am the module co-ordinator for the maths module on Go Higher.

I remember when I was in junior school and would rush home to work on my mathematics book because I loved solving the problems and getting the smiley faces on my work. I always considered myself to be quite clever and thought I’d do really well in school. But, secondary school was a different experience.
The pupils just wanted to mess around ensuring the teacher spent most of her time dealing with the disturbance rather than teaching the class. Many teachers were absent through illness and substitute teachers struggled to lead the class so the pupils lost interest. It was a difficult environment in which to focus and I struggled. I left school with a couple of GCSE’s and Art A-Level which was all I deserved really, but I knew I should have done better.

After many insignificant roles in thankless jobs I had begun reading about philosophy, spirituality/eastern philosophy, and physics. I had begun to ask meaningful questions about myself and the world; I wanted more from myself and my life. I decided it was time to retrain and get a career possibly in nursing so I started looking at access courses in Liverpool and came across Go Higher. I am from a poor, single parent family of six and was indoctrinated from an early age to think I was not the sort of person who goes to university. Go Higher was not a path to nursing but it taught a variety of modules including philosophy and so I applied thinking I wouldn’t even get accepted. But I got an interview and I remember the day clearly, I parked my car on Grove street, walked past Abercromby Square which looked beautiful in the spring sunlight with the trees in blossom, and nervously made my way to a large Georgian building which was a buzz of student activity. I sat in a dark oak wood room overlooking Abercromby Square wandering if I had made the right decision but the tutor who interviewed me made me feel valued for my life experience and dedication and not looked over because of my lack of academic qualifications. From this point on I never looked back. After completing Go Higher I stayed at University of Liverpool to complete my philosophy degree exceling at formal logic which is a mathematical based system of argumentation. I stayed at Liverpool for master’s degree focussing on ethics, the environment and technology. I am currently a PhD student focussing on the moral status of synthetically generated organisms in a Kantian framework, something I would not have dreamed about before I started Go Higher.

I have worked in several secondary schools and the difficulties I faced in my education are still there. When I started teaching on Go Higher the academic literature on mature student learning of mathematics supports a flipped learning strategy so we redesigned the course to best fit the mature student learner. Learning math on Go Higher is not like school learning, there is a staff team to deliver 1:1 teaching, students have access to all the material at the start of the semester so they can go at their own pace, we have weekly quizzes for students to test themselves and for tutors to check how they’re progressing, and most of all it’s fun! The mathematics module is one that scares mature students the most but it not like mathematics at school, and once students get past that initial reservation it is great to see them understand this, enjoy it, and flourish. It is brilliant to see how many students end up enjoying mathematics on Go Higher, but it’s not surprising as that is why we structured the module the way we have, and it does work. Our pass rate is exceptional but that’s because students are willing to learn the subject and that is all down to them. Last year I went to the graduation of a former student who passed his History degree. He came to Go Higher hating mathematics but he was willing to put in the work and now he has a whole new life ahead of him. Go Higher could change your life if you are brave enough to give it a go.