A MOTHER-OF-TWO and parttime personal assistant is on her way to a degree after 36 years away from the classroom.

Susan Finnigan, 52, from Tudhoe, County Durham, left school as a teenager and started work as an office junior.

Almost 40 years on, she has graduated from Teesside University with a foundation degree for leadership and management with 19 other North-East Chamber of Commerce employees.

She said: “I thought that further education had passed me by, but the course has given me the confidence and passion to develop the skills to reach my potential.

“I have gained in personal development and my employer has gained from the skills I have obtained.

“I had wanted to be a teacher, but due to economic reasons in my family I had to look for work after leaving school.

“I started my career at 16 as office junior in the North Eastern Electricity Board, eventually working up to a managerial position.

“In the Eighties, family reasons led me to request parttime hours. In those days, it was the accepted culture that you relinquished your managerial role if you reduced your hours.”