An Early Years & Childhood Studies degree student from Solihull College & University Centre is on course for a first-class honours result and is hoping to have his dissertation published.
Josh Griffiths, 26, studied on the Foundation Degree in Early Years at the College which is offered in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University. A family friend who worked at the College suggested he enrol onto a course and it has proven to be the perfect match.
Josh spent nearly 6 years working in nurseries before deciding he wanted to support his experience with a qualification. He started at the College in 2017 on the foundation degree and took a gap year after the first year where he worked in Germany as an au pair before returning to conclude his course.
He comments: ‘My good grades would not have been possible without the assistance of my teachers. For me they are exactly what teachers should be, they lead you to the place you need to be and you come to the conclusions yourself. The fantastic teaching has hopefully set me up to be a fantastic teacher myself.”
Josh is on track for a first-class result after completing his work to an impressively high standard, including a 10,000-word dissertation on why there are so few men in the early years education industry. Josh’s project discussed how less than 4% of teachers teaching under 5s were men. The work earned him praise from his tutors and he is hoping his work may be published with Oxford Brookes.
Having recently completed his degree, Josh will continue teaching at Capellas private nursery in Solihull where he has been employed since January. The predicted first-class result is a huge achievement for Josh who was diagnosed with ADHD at the end of his schooling. He admits: “I worried education wasn’t for me. I had issues with education and hadn’t performed well in my exams, but I have had a massive turnaround. Finding something I am passionate about really helped me find my focus.”
Josh’s impressive progress is set to culminate in him being selected as a graduation speaker at his upcoming graduation. As for the future? Josh hopes to go on to be active in campaigning for more men in nursery education.
