David Spelman, from Topsham in Devon, has graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in history. He retook his English GCSE three years ago after failing it as a teenager, because his original grades were not good enough to gain admission to the university where he had always wanted to study history.
He encouraged anyone thinking about returning to education to "go for it" and said "if I can do it anyone can".
Spelman said he had always loved history and passed that subject at school, but failed both maths and English. "I think that was one of the reasons why I went back into study after so many years," he said. "I think for many years I was kind of disappointed with my results knowing I could have done better. It's so easy to be like that and think you've only got the first time round to do it, but actually, that's proof now that you don't."
After school, Spelman spent years in driving-based jobs before being furloughed during the Covid pandemic. He decided to retake his English GCSE through adult education service Learn Devon in 2023, while also studying with the Open University, in order to apply for a degree course.
He said not achieving strong grades at GCSE initially was "not terminal". "There's always a time, a chance to come back again and redo it," he said. "It was brilliant, but it was challenging as well. It's difficult to be a mature student at university. So it is challenging, but it was also really rewarding and I think it was great to add life experience to the whole thing as well."
Spelman encouraged people to go back into education. "If you want to go and you've got ambitions to do a degree or study something new then I think go for it," he said. "You're never too old to study and learn and go for it."
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Devon Man Graduates University at 42 After Failing GCSEs