There’s a lot to be said for learning as a family: the places you can visit, the memories you can create, and the conversations you can spark, together.
But Zoe Lee, Marketing and Communications Director at BMet College, has taken it to the next level; we spoke to her to find out more as the Family Learning Festival continues.
After having always been more confident in the arts, Zoe decided it was finally time to get some science skills into her back pocket, so she made the bold move to undertake a Biology GCSE at age 49 — and it just so happened she was doing it as her daughter was beginning her GCSE studies.
What followed was “like a weird time machine,” said Zoe. She and her daughter were studying at the same time, albeit at different stages of the GCSE, but nonetheless this enabled them to share their knowledge and skills whilst both making sense of piles upon piles of past papers.
After receiving her result in August, when Zoe exceeded her own expectations by achieving a grade 5 rather than the grade 4 she had set her sights on, Zoe’s daughter, Megan, was “very proud and impressed,” said Zoe, “which were big ticks.”
Zoe (right) and her daughter Megan (left)
And it doesn’t stop there; with Megan still having a few years of studying towards her GCSEs ahead of her, Zoe feels that she can continue to share knowledge to positively shape Megan’s learning journey.
“For me, it’s understanding an element of what’s being delivered in the classroom so that I can give her some meaningful advice… and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without the Biology GCSE.”
Outside of the classroom, the learning continues for the Lee family.
Zoe finds that it's important for them all to keep up to date with news and current affairs together, saying that “we watch Sunday politics shows which will spark debate… I see that as continuing the learning and looking at different viewpoints.”
On another one of her self-proclaimed flights of whimsy, Zoe said that she and Megan even attempted to learn kickboxing together; but Zoe decided that, although she holds a martial arts licence, she would stick to learning science.
It just goes to show that learning together as a family, however that might look, is not only a great way to improve skills but also, as Zoe put it, “it’s strengthening that family bond.”
The possibility to learn collaboratively with her daughter was a great benefit of choosing to take her GCSE when she did, but Zoe’s reasons for doing so go beyond that.
Zoe saw this as a great opportunity to fuel her own self-belief. As we get older, it’s possible that we can tend to self-limit, but Zoe is a firm believer that if there’s something you’d like to do, you should just do it.
With a great career in marketing behind her, Zoe didn’t feel that her science skills were necessarily leaving a gap, but obtaining a GCSE in science was something she’d always wanted to do as a confidence booster.
And that confidence is a skill in itself. Zoe said that “I’d always thought that [getting a Biology GCSE] was something I couldn’t do and I didn’t have a scientific mind, but I’ve proven to myself that I could do it.”
There were valuable soft skills that Zoe felt she picked up along the way as well, such as time management and concentration — both of which not only come in very handy when taking an exam, but also in the workplace.
“I’ll be doing something, then I’ll have another thought and go off and follow that… so that was the bit I found hardest in the exam,” said Zoe; and that’s something many of us can relate to, but taking her Biology GCSE enabled Zoe to try and learn to overcome this.
What’s more, Zoe enjoyed the social element of the course because it allowed her to learn about other people. It was interesting to see the mix of people, from career-changers to trainee teachers, who were all feeling the need to improve their skills.
Off the back of achieving her GCSE, Zoe now has a new-found love for science, to the point she even considered retraining to become a doctor; until she realised that the day she qualified she would be retired, but the thought was there.
Zoe believes it’s not long before she takes on a new challenge, and she certainly has no regrets when it comes to taking the GCSE.
She said, when asked if she’d recommend to others to go after their goals, “by continuing to learn and going out of your comfort zone, you show to yourself that you can, and I hadn’t thought that before doing the course.”
By Natasha Saxby
West Midlands Combined Authority has written this story in support of Family Learning Festival, which is a campaign set up to champion and celebrate how, where possible, learning together as a family can unlock our full potential. It runs yearly from 14th October to 5th November.