David Spelman, from Topsham in Devon, has graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in history at the age of 42. He decided to retake his English GCSE three years ago after failing it as a teenager, because his original grades were not good enough to get into the university where he had always wanted to study history.
Spelman said he had always loved history and passed that subject at school, but failed both maths and English. He explained why he went back to studying after so many years: "I think that was one of the reasons why I went back into study after so many years. 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 working in driving based jobs. He was furloughed during the Covid pandemic, and in 2023 he retook his English GCSE through the adult education service Learn Devon while also studying with the Open University, so he could apply for a degree course.
He said not achieving strong GCSE grades the first time was "not terminal". He added: "There's always a time, a chance to come back again and redo it. It was a 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 anyone thinking about returning to education to "go for it". He said: "If you want to go and you've got ambitions to do a degree or study something new then I think go for it. You're never too old to study and learn and go for it."
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Man Who Failed GCSEs Graduates with Degree at 42