Lieutenant Rachel Smallwood

"I find that you can take as much as you want from OU study."
 
Lieutenant Rachel Smallwood

• HMS NELSON, Portsmouth
• Completing a Graduate Diploma in Psychology

 
Courses studied:
DD287, DD205, DD303
 
"My last job was as a FLEET Education Officer. I went from ship to ship looking at education and development for people in the navy. I sold the OU to so many people! I find that you can take as much as you want from OU study. I tend to study when I'm on day duty. And I volunteer to do weekend duty, so I'm stuck there for 24 hours and can get a lot done. My husband is in the Royal Marines, so whenever he goes away I cram in loads.
I like to fit my studies around my life. I'm quite happy to just get on with it. But I know if I've got a problem there's an online study group which is amazing, there's my tutor who's there whenever I need her, I can email or phone her and she's really approachable and there's the support staff as well who will talk me through anything nightmarish I have to do on the computer. I did a Summer School last year as part of my course. It was good because I was expecting the OU people to be very geeky, but they were quite normal and we enjoyed a good week!
I always go to the tutorial before the exam, which is absolutely essential as it really points the way forward. It builds your confidence and shows you are on the right track. I intend to stay in the Navy until my pension point in 2012. And then what I'd like to do is use the skills I'm learning in my job for to be an Adult Education Psychologist, although there's no such thing in this country at the moment, so I'm a bit of a trailblazer!"