My Journey Towards Personal Growth: Pursuing Higher Education

Introduction

In this assignment, I will be outlining my journey towards personal growth, which began with my transition from Second level education to how I decided to pursue third-level education. I graduated from secondary school in 2017. I then went on to do a PLC, Post Leaving Cert, course in Marino College of Further Education. After my PLC course, I decided to work in my field of study. Once I saw what type of work opportunities my PLC provided me with, I made the choice to further my education by applying for College. I will discuss my transition in the format of The Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Graham Gibbs encouraged people to think back to a certain time of transition or difficulty. Then reflect on these experiences in structured phases. Therefore, helping you to better understand yourself and to be more prepared for a similar situation in the future (Gibbs, ’Learning By Doing’, 1988).

Beginning of My Personal Journey

To begin with in 2017 while I was getting ready to sit my Leaving Cert exams and apply to the CAO, I decided going straight into a level 8 college course did not appeal to me. I applied to a Travel and Tourism PLC course at Marino College of Further Education. The day the CAO acceptances were announced I got offered a place in my PLC course. Therefore, in September I started My Travel and Tourism course in Marino. Once again, the option to apply for the CAO was available, this year I decided not to apply as I wanted to enter the workforce instead of continuing education. By the end of this one-year course I was searching for a job in the Tourism industry. This was a long process, and knowing this I started applying to different job opportunities in March. In May 2018 I started my new job as a Swissport Check-in Agent at Dublin Airport. I quickly progressed in this job being trained on an additional two airline check-in systems. In February of 2019, I made the decision to apply to the CAO once again and get a level 8 degree. It was a very different process applying at this stage in my life as I was doing it completely alone with no academic body to refer to for help. I also had to provide a large amount of information as I was no longer a student. In July of 2019 I received my place in DBS, Dublin Business School. That September I started my BA Hons in Marketing.

Personal Fear of Academics

I feel I am not the most academically inclined individual. This possible fear of school and learning is what most likely stopped from wanting to go straight into College after completing my Leaving Cert. I was afraid the work would be to difficult and the learning environment would be incredibly different. When starting my PLC course, I was very nervous as well as being excited. I settled into Marino easily as the class group was still small and we had classrooms unlike massive lecture halls usually seen in large Colleges. As my environment did not change drastically this made my transition seamless. Although I was very nervous when we received our first assignment. The teacher talked us through the brief and answered any questions anyone had which made me feel very comfortable with what I needed to do in the assignment. When applying to the CAO became a choice again, I dismissed the idea as I felt ready and comfortable to start working. I found my PLC prepares their students to enter the working world or continue their education. I once again avoided applying for the CAO, while still being able to move forward in my life in a positive way. I wrote up a CV sent it out to different hotels, travel agencies and to companies in the Airport. It felt like I was never going to receive a job offer. When I finally got my job in the Airport as a check in agent for Etihad, I felt relieved and ready to start. Although nothing prepared me for how difficult the training process was going to be for a week straight, we had several tests a day to pass, before even being taught the computer system to check in. I really struggled with learning the computer system for checking in so once I passed, I felt more confident in myself.

Once I began working with customers, I became more confident in myself as I was the person with the knowledge for customer queries. As my confidence was developing so did my desire for a change or challenge. I was given the opportunity to be trained on new computer systems for other airlines. When studying for the new airline exams I was eager to learn the systems and how different airlines policies worked. Therefore, this moment was my first positive experience with learning as I had changed my perspective on the end goal and how I would then use the skills I was learning. This moment of clarity made my mind once again go back to my struggle with the CAO. At work, I became restless of the same task of check-in, as it is a repetitive task. I decided I would finally apply to the CAO, at first, I did not tell anyone in case I changed my mind. I still had a sense of fear with the CAO results so I did not think too much about what it would be like to start at college. I feared if I did not get accepted then this was the best way to cope, to just not think that far ahead. When I finally got accepted to DBS, I was so proud of myself.

While starting a new school, changing location, and finding new friends can be challenging, I feel I have handled myself well in all of my transitions in life. Although I felt slightly underprepared ahead of the transition from working full time to attending College full time, as I was unsure about getting a place. Therefore, I felt quite rushed in leaving work and starting college when I received my place. Once I got used to the idea of having a more structured week, however, I became comfortable with the idea of starting somewhere new.

The Desire for Personal Growth

When I was starting at Marino College, I was excited and felt like there was not much change from secondary school. When I started in DBS, I was extremely nervous, I instantly felt the change in my day to day life. I was comfortable in my old schedule; I knew my role in work and was close with my colleagues as well. Starting again as a Student reminded me of being back in school, being younger, trying to make friends and find my way around. As I started my PLC course it was an expected change in life, I knew I would leave secondary school and start higher level education. Whereas with deciding to go back to education after becoming so independent and reliant on myself was difficult, I was making the choice to benefit myself in the long run. The path I took was not a natural progression from school to college unlike most people in higher education.

Conclusion

I found that I try to avoid things that make me uncomfortable. Applying to the CAO had become this very daunting concept in my head that I believed I could not conquer, nor did I want to face up to this challenge. Therefore, I settled on doing a PLC course instead of applying for a place in University. After being in the workforce for a few months I began to regret not signing up to the CAO, as I started to find my job unfulfilling and unchallenging. Following this development in my personal growth, I realised I had become mature enough in myself to commit to college. To this day I am happy with the route I took to get to where I am now. Working for over a year helped me gain focus on what I wanted to do with my life and what I wanted from life. “It is easier to adapt to the changing requirements of study, work, new contexts and new people if you are building on a solid base. This comes from gaining a deep understanding of yourself…..”, (Cottrell, Stella, Palgrave Study Skills,2015) During the period of a year I found myself constantly adapting to my new working life in the airport as well as confronting my own personal struggle with learning and studying, this was the “solid base” I had built to ensure I was confident to face my fear of attending College.

References

1. Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning By Doing. Birmingham: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.

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2. Cottrell, S. (2015). Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook. Third Edition. Palgrave Macmillan.