“I was born in Germany but moved to Scotland and spent some important years there while my two sons were growing up. I moved there in order to live close to the sea. With asthma in the family, the air around the sea was good for us and my kids grew up only a few minutes walk from the beach. I moved back to Germany in 2019, however, I love Scotland and my family does too. I feel very connected to this country. It’s home, or at least the sea there is. One of my children was born with a genetic defect and has an intellectual disability, which requires special schooling. This is the reason, that I went back to Germany with my family in 2019, where my son can get all the support he needs in a special school. Many of the courses that I studied were for my son. I loved studying the Alison course Working with Students with Special Educational Needs. It was very beneficial and important to me and my son and still is.”
How did you learn about Alison?
To be honest, I simply discovered Alison online, even before I saw it on social media or heard other people talking about it.
What was your first course on Alison, and why did you choose it?
It was the Diploma in Children Studies. I chose it because I love working with children and it made sense that I do that diploma, on top of my studies at university and my experience working with children.
How have Alison courses affected your career?
It’s really important to have kids around my son as much as possible. However, it isn’t always easy for a child with special needs to have contact to other kids. When I was in Scotland, I registered with childcare.co.uk and I looked after 6 children, including my own. I brought them to the beach and to the park and having other children around became just part of the everyday routine. It was very positive for my son to enjoy the company of other kids on a regular basis. I showed the parents my Alison Diploma in Children Studies, along with my other documents, and it helped give a really positive picture to parents, who trusted me to look after their children.
What’s your favourite way to relax from studying?
I sing and play the piano and I also love playing chess. I’m teaching my children how to play chess too. I love to play tennis whenever I get the chance. Apart from this, I really just enjoy the precious family time with my kids.
Where are you working and what are you studying now?
I’m a qualified pedagogue in Germany. However, in order to provide appropriate care for my disabled son, I’m currently a stay at home parent. That’s why I started to study tourism at Alison as well. However, I started this before the corona epidemic and now am not working in that area. I get to help my children with school and homework during Corona-times. As a high-risk group, they’re still staying home.
What’s next for you, in terms of education?
I would like to study professional health care, nursing services or medical care.
If you could learn absolutely anything in the world from an Alison course, what would it be?
I think it would be a diploma course that would make me qualified to be a foster carer so that I could help more children. I’ve never been a foster carer, but I’m aware you don’t need to study anything in order to do it, other than some general training from the fostercare services. I think it would be really helpful to require qualifications in order to make sure that a parent wasn’t accepted just because of their character and family, but that they would have to have more than just experience with children and have taken the time to study the many matters a foster carer has to deal with.
What would you say to someone if they asked you about Alison? Would you recommend it and why?
Yes, I would recommend it. If as a parent or for any other reason, you stay at home a lot, it’s a very good chance to study. I think during Corona-times this could be interesting for even more people than usual. Alison courses help you get a really good picture of the whole subject or if you have already worked in an area, it’s still helpful to refresh the knowledge. You can also show Alison certificates to the relevant people in your work Interviews. It’s free to learn and you don’t need to pay for diplomas. However, you’ll be so proud that you might want to have a framed certificate afterwards, and you can buy this too.
Follow Amy’s lead and start learning how to Work with Students with Special Educational Needs