Education writer James McEnaney speaks to Rachel McCaw, a fourth-year university student for whom college courses have been a ‘crucial element’ in her story of success.

Thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk to me today. Let’s start at the beginning of this story – tell us about your experience of school.

I was in high school from 2010 to 2014. I loved school, and was relatively good at it, but I'd always suffered with anxiety and that started to take a heavy toll on me when I had a bereavement in the family.

I would say that was a catalyst for my mental health being really poor, to the point that I was so anxious and so depressed that I wasn't able to leave the house never mind go to school. This was 2013 so in my third year, and it went on for about a year. I was in and out of school but during that time the teachers were quite accommodating, at least to the extent that they could be.

So when my National 5s were coming up in my fourth year, for the prelims I was able to take them in different rooms and get extra time, but I was just so unwell (and I was getting gradually worse) that they couldn't really accommodate me anymore.

Once things reached a stage where the school couldn't help much more, what happened next?

So it got to a point where, before I was 16, the teachers had organised a meeting at my house with me and my parents to have one last try at bringing me back into school, and my parents weren't going to force me because they knew how unhappy I was and how unwell I was.

It was almost like an unofficial decision made there that I didn't need to come back even though my fourth year exams were coming up and I was still I was under 16.

So you effectively left school with nothing in 2014. How did you find your way into college, and how long did that take?

It took me three years to actually start to feel a bit more myself, but over that time I always knew how much education meant to me, I knew how important it was, I had an end goal - I just didn't feel like I could get there. I had no idea where to go or what to do or if it was even possible because I had no qualifications.

Then I found out that there was a college down road from me that offered an entry back into further education.

But you weren't able to pick up from where you'd left off at school?

As I had no qualifications at all I didn't meet the mark to just go right into the National 5. I knew it'd be a longer route, but I went through the application process, which was fairly easy, and the interviews and stuff like that and then found myself in ‘Intro to Further Education’ doing National 4s.

I also did manage to do the National 5 in Applications of Maths during that year as well, so that was good because I was getting my first exam and was chuffed with that. And I got an A.

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And after completing that ‘intro’ course, what were your next steps?

I knew that once I completed that course I was wanting to stay at that college. I did my National 5s in 2018, passed all of them, and then went on to do Highers in 2019. I was doing well in them and then that's when the pandemic hit. But I got my Higher grades and then during lockdown applied for an HND.

I was quite keen on going to uni after I'd sat my National 5s and Highers, but it just wasn't an option for me because I still didn't have enough qualifications, so I went for the HND Social Sciences and that was a really good course.

I was proud of myself and where I'd come from. I came out of school with absolutely no qualifications, thinking there was no opportunity for me, but college got me to where I needed to be, and now I’m in fourth year and just about to finish my degree.

Your route through education has obviously not been ideal, but would you now agree that college has been a really important part of your journey?

There is no way that I could have got here without having gone through college first. I spent five years in college and I just think that was a crucial element to where I am now. I think that it was a really good alternative route for myself and probably a lot of folk like me. You know, you don't need to go straight from school to university - there are other options out there, which you might not know about but they are there.

College gives you the same kind of experiences that university would - you're still getting similar skills, knowledge, all the kind of essential things you need for your career - but it's less intimidating, which was major for me. You have smaller classes instead of big lecture halls and that was really good for someone like myself. For me, the staff were key to keeping me inspired, keeping me encouraged, keeping me wanting to keep going – they were such a crucial and essential element of it.

You have already overcome a lot of challenges and achieved a deal - but what’s next?

As soon as I graduate it's at least a year out. I've been in education for so long and I'm 25 now so I want to get some work experience - full-time work rather than just a part-time job here and there.

Then I’ll hopefully go on to do a doctorate.