A master's at 60 - not out

Bernie Branagan left the formal education system at the age of 14. She went to work in a glove factory earning less than 40p a week and married at 18. She had 10 children and separated from her husband of 34 years when her youngest child was just nine years old. "I really felt I needed to do something different and something for me," she says. "With a husband and a big family you are constantly doing things for other people. I drove a taxi for 10 years to put my older children through college."

Although she had left school early, Branagan had always harboured the desire to finish her education. With her marriage at an end, she enrolled in a return-to-learning foundation course at the National College of Ireland. "I did six subjects, including computers, maths and psychology, but we also had tuition on how to study and how to structure and reference essays. I would recommend this course to anyone thinking of going back to learning after a long break away. It certainly gave me the confidence to tackle the degree programme," she says.

Although her undergraduate years at UCD were enjoyable, Branagan admits they were also very hard work. "It's a tall order to take on three new subjects at this level and I had to push myself all the way," she says.

Having done very well in her BA, Branagan was invited to join the MA programme in sociology. She describes herself as "very intimidated" by what she'd taken on but she stuck with it and graduated last year with an honours degree. "It was very tough and there were constant deadlines and of course a major piece of research to do. But I survived and it was a very worthwhile thing to have done," she says.

"I feel an enormous sense of achievement at having got this far. My family are very proud of me which is nice and I'm proud of having done something significant for myself. I'm doing substitute teaching at the moment, which I love, and I'm also interested in getting involved in counselling. I've been through a lot myself and I think at this stage I'm a good listener."