I got by with a little help from my friends: how I completed my masters degree

Since 2015, I’d been studying for an MSc in Computing in Education at Nottingham Trent University. Teaching in the classroom, being part of the Computing at School network, running a Code Club and then working at the Raspberry Pi Foundation had all ignited a desire in me to spend more time investigating questions about how best to teach all aspects of computer science in the classroom.

The first two years passed reasonably smoothly and I amassed enough credits to get to the biggest chunk of work: my dissertation. I was curious to find out more about how teachers were actually implementing the computing curriculum, four years in, and specifically how physical computing was included in their plans and schemes of work.

As a part-time student, I had a timeframe of 11 months to review existing literature around the subject, devise a robust methodology to answer my research questions, conduct the research, then analyse the resulting data for trends and make conclusions and recommendations.

The same 11 months were unexpectedly to become one of the biggest battles of my life so far.

My eldest daughter became ill in November 2017: too ill to go to school, in a tremendous amount of fatigue and pain, but without any clear markers showing up in blood tests to determine the causes. Eventually, in May 2018, she was diagnosed with ME/CFS, which raised more questions than it provided answers. In the current educational climate, many schools now have an obsession with attendance bordering on the unhealthy. My daughter’s school was one such institution, and so I ended up face-to-face with an Educational Welfare Officer threating legal action for her school absences and having to take the local authority to tribunal to assess her for special educational needs.

Educational Welfare backed down, and I won the tribunal. But at a cost. Both victories took an enormous amount of research, reading and conversations with support agencies to find the right information with which to fight my daughter’s case. Often this was done late at night after I’d finished caring for her. And all the time, I was getting further and further behind with my dissertation.

In September 2018, I had a clear choice: defer or commit. I saw a tweet on my timeline with a quote by Simon Sinek “Progress is more important than perfection”.  I decided that was so close to completing that I had to keep going and get the work done, even if it meant compromising on the grades I wanted to achieve.

I revised my project plan, gritted my teeth and buckled down. Even then, there were tough choices. Did I complete some more tribunal paperwork or write part of my literature review? Both were essential; I had time only for one.

Spoiler alert: reader, I submitted my completed dissertation on time and my daughter is still ill but now getting the educational support she needs.  What helped most of all  with finishing my university studies were professional friends. I consider one of the most important sections of my dissertation to be acknowledgements, and I would like to add them publically to my blog.

• Rachael Blazewicz-Bell for supervising my dissertation,  helping me keep on track and pushing me just enough to get where I needed to
• Dr Sue Sentance, Jane Waite, Scott Turner, Dave Catlin & Simon Humphreys for their support in providing material for my literature review and data acquisition in the most generous ways possible. The computing education research community is a supportive and welcoming place to be and I was always made to feel gladly received.
• The MA Teachers and the 20 Goto crew for those moments where I needed a swift reality check, had a burning question to answer or needed reassurance that I really was going to finish before the deadline. You were always there and I appreciated it enormously.
• Simon Johnson and Gaz Needle for their amazing kindness and encouragement in letting me use a slot in their Twitter chat schedule to ask about my research and to advertise for participants.
• Sway Grantham, Phil Bagge and Esther Devonport for being amazing primary practitioners who consistently supported and challenged my thinking.
• Maria Quevedo and Sarah Sheerman-Chase for being the most supportive bosses ever, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation for having the well-being of their employees at the heart of all they do
• Janet and Richard Hush for being my last-minute proof readers (well if you can’t ask your parents when you’re way behind schedule, who can you ask?!)

So with a little help from my friends, I made it down the long and winding road to the end of my MSc. At times it felt like I needed eight days a week but all I’ve got to do now is graduate in July!