A mother and daughter are both set to become teachers after graduating together from Staffordshire University.
Zoe Tett, 43, and Georgia Boote, 21, collected their degrees on the same day at their graduation ceremony at Kings Hall in Stoke.
Ms Tett enrolled on to the Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status degree at the same time that her daughter began a degree in BA (Hons) Education Studies.
“It’s taken me 20 years longer than her to get here, but I’m so proud of us both,” Ms Tett said.
The pair, from Norton Green in Stoke-on-Trent, said they supported one another throughout their studies despite being on different courses.
Ms Tett said she had always wanted to be a teacher and worked as a teaching assistant for eight years before a knee injury forced her to leave the job.
She then applied to the university and completed a foundation degree before beginning to study psychology.
“During this time I spent many hours, including hospital stays to rehabilitate my leg to get strength back in it to allow me to walk,” she explained.
But during lockdown, she said, “I found my love for teaching again as I had to teach my own children” and ultimately switched courses.
After completing her degree with first class honours, Ms Tett is about to begin teaching at a St George and St Martin’s primary school in Birches Head.
Her daughter hopes to follow in her footsteps and is staying at the university to complete her PGCE and become a primary school teacher.
Of studying together, Ms Boote said she would meet her mother “for a chat and hot chocolates between lectures” and “bounce ideas” off each other during assignments.
“Our dissertations were on totally different things but we’d sit at the table of an evening together, compare word counts and get our assignments written, often until the early hours,” she said.
Ms Tett said she hoped her experience might inspire others to return to education later in life.
“I absolutely loved my experience,” she said.
“Being a mature student meant I had life experiences behind me that helped me.
“I quickly realised that you’re never too old for uni.”
