Iva Pospisil, political science student

On leaving secondary school, Iva Pospisil wanted to start her professional life. So she enrolled at the Ecole Normale (now the Haute Ecole Pédagogique) and qualified as a generalist teacher. She worked as a substitute teacher at a primary school, then taught for 4 years in classes from year 7 to year 9, while completing on-the-job training to become a semi-generalist teacher. After completing her training in 2006, she decided to fulfil a long-held desire: to study at university. Iva Pospisil began studying political science at the age of 28, mainly out of personal interest, to broaden her culture and compensate for a certain feeling of intellectual stagnation in her profession. Having reached the end of her first year, with 3 failed exams to make up in August, she hopes to move on. Once she has her qualification, she would like to move into humanitarian work. However, she has not ruled out a return to teaching.

Iva Pospisil has been awarded a scholarship, which just about enables her to make ends meet. However, she had to wait until November to find out whether the scholarship would be awarded to her. So she lived on her savings for her first few months at university, suffering a great deal of stress due to this uncertainty. Having always had her sights set on going back to university one day, she saved and maintained a student lifestyle - sharing a flat, no car and no luxuries - during her teaching years. But her financial situation weighs heavily on her: she knows that if she fails again, her grant will be withdrawn and she will be unable to continue her studies, which puts extra pressure on her shoulders. The young woman also had to get used to studying again. It's hard, when you've been out of the gym for several years, to get your memory back or learn a good essay technique... To give herself the best chance of success, Iva Pospisil took the 'Question de méthode' introductory course and the AESSP dissertation course, both of which proved very useful. Adapting to university working methods remains a problem, however. Faced with exercises she had never had to do before, and with virtually no assessment during the year, Iva Pospisil didn't know where she stood until she received her exam results.

Despite the difficulties she has encountered, Iva Pospisil finds her studies extremely rewarding. She has already learnt a great deal thanks to a wide range of courses and competent teachers. Professionally, new prospects are opening up for her. Socially, she has met some passionate and exciting students. Intellectually, she has developed her critical faculties and has more arguments to defend her ideas. Finally, the way people look at her has changed. She has gone from being "a teacher who is always on holiday" to "an intellectual who is asked how to vote", a situation that amuses her greatly.

Although Iva Pospisil does not find it any easier to cope academically than the other students, contrary to her expectations, she does feel more at ease with the teachers. Her teaching experience helps her to listen to their comments and take a step back from certain criticisms, the constructive aspect of which she perceives better than her fellow students. Not intimidated - some of her assistants are her age - she doesn't hesitate to speak up and ask questions. What's more, she feels well integrated despite the few years that separate her from her fellow students. She has friends with a similar background to her own, as well as others who have just graduated from secondary school. In the end, age doesn't seem to matter much to her.

Iva Pospisil advises future students to be extremely available for their studies. She finds it really difficult to succeed in her first year while holding down a regular job, even a very part-time one. She had hoped to retain a few hours of teaching alongside her courses, but admits that she had to give up because of the amount of work she had to do for the university. She also suggests not being too perfectionist, and in particular not trying to read every work in the bibliography. It's best to ask advanced students what they really need to read. Finally, for students like herself who are returning to study after working, she feels it is important to be aware of the material sacrifices that this can involve and the additional pressure imposed by financial insecurity.