Looking for intellectual stimulation after having a baby at the start of the 2000s, studying with the OU in Scotland set Moira Hansen on a new path that’s fuelled a passion for literature and teaching.

Looking after a young baby, Moira Hansen was searching for more “intellectual stimulation” than watching children’s television programmes.

Starting a module when her son was eight months old, she explains: “Open University (OU) study started as a way of giving me something else that wasn't Teletubbies or conversations about nap schedules and weaning, but it reignited my love of literature as a subject of study.”

Moira was able to study flexibility while her son slept and work around her husband’s shifts as a junior doctor and his own postgraduate studies.

She says: “I didn't have to think about the complexities of childcare to be able to attend physical classes or worry about what it would mean for my studies if we had to move for my husband's work.

“But there was also an emotional component, a fondness for those old programmes that I'd watch in the wee small hours, and the implied message that good quality study and self-development didn't have to rely on attending a brick institution.”

‘Sense of my own personal identity’

Now aged 45 and living just outside Dundee, Moira has since graduated twice from the OU in Scotland – firstly with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) (Hons) in English Language and Literature in 2008, and later with a Master of Arts (MA) in English in 2015.

She used these degrees as a platform to study for a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education to become a secondary school teacher, with interviewers over the years commenting on how studying with the OU “showed commitment, drive, organisation, resilience – all essential qualities for a teacher.”

She adds: “More than anything, I just loved that there was something in there that was me, my own work and not defined by another label of wife, mum, teacher, colleague. My OU study really gave me a sense of my own personal identity.”

‘Giving something back’

She next studied for a PhD at another university. However, Moira wasn’t done with the OU in Scotland yet. She explains: “In September 2021, that journey came full circle with my appointment as an Associate Lecturer within English Literature. I have a huge sense of satisfaction in feeling like I'm giving something back to the institution that helped me change the path of my life and truly find myself.

“I love working with my students and my own experience as an OU student definitely makes me a better tutor for them – I've been there, I understand the stresses and the challenges, but also the triumphs and the benefits.”

And she has even decided to continue studying, undertaking a MA Online Teaching course. She adds: “The OU got me into teaching and now it's allowing me to develop my knowledge and skills to make me a better teacher.”

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‘Opens the doors wider’

Thinking back to her OU graduation ceremony in 2009, Moira shares: “It really was magical – much more relaxed than other graduations I've attended, a real family affair with such a diverse body of graduates. A point was made of acknowledging and applauding the family and friends, which I thought was wonderful – that support is invaluable and should rightly be noted.”

She concludes: “While my journey sits at the centre of this, there's a wider message about an OU qualification, about the way it is so highly regarded by other institutions and employers.”

“I love that my story becomes a model for changing your life and being able to access other institutions,” she says. “There is no barrier, if anything it opens the doors wider because institutions and employers know that there's a whole tranche of skills and competencies that comes with OU study that aren't necessarily developed in the same way in the traditional study pathway.

“Study with the OU has given me so much, helped me grow so much, and I am so grateful that I can now pass that on. And all because I'd had enough of Teletubbies!”