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ABE Diploma 5 – Cherrisa Barran

Being a working mother in today’s world seems very common, but when you add being a student to the mix, bring out the caffeine!

I made the decision to start this course in 2020 before the pandemic with the excitement of being back in a classroom after over 10 years. That excitement changed as well as everything around, work became remotely, my daughter’s classes became online and then SITAL also announced that in-class sessions will not be happening. My excitement dipped slightly as I had to reshuffle my mind about how was I going to function with everything from my home, worried if my lectures will be engaging or welcoming and what about my peers, will I be in this alone trying to figure it out? I didn’t let any of those thoughts deter me as my main goal was still at the top of the list. Get my Level 4 ABE Certificate and move on to Level 5 ABE Diploma for the betterment of myself and for my child.

Leading up to classes the SITAL ABE Support Team was overly supportive, sending reminder e-mails about class dates and times, login information and class materials. Then when classes commenced the lecturers ensure to keep up that high level of support, sharing their personal contacts and e-mails and creating WhatsApp groups to provide that extra blanket of comfort. You’d be surprised how quickly one semester will go by, but I guess as the saying goes ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’. When exams came out the lecturers all made the effort to explain each paper in bitesize pieces even if it meant having to go over and over one part and into extra class time. The support team was no different too they organised seminars for us to attend that helped with the structure and formatting of the exams for submission. Managing my time to meet the draft deadlines was not easy and I often found myself burning the midnight oil but what I liked was that the lecturers provided one-on-one support based on my submission, so even if I didn’t complete and had questions they were willing to answer my questions to explain further and guide and that made meeting the final deadlines easier as I would now have a roadmap as to where I need to go.

With all that being said two years later with my Level 4 ABE certificate completed and one semester left to conclude my Level 5 ABE Diploma my experience was way better than my expectations. And for that, I am thankful for all their support and understanding.