We recently caught up with Jitka Evans a mother of two who is currently studying towards her AAT level 2 while working part time for Karndean in their customer finance team.
Jitka grew up in her native Czechia, and having completed school and realising that university study wasn’t for her, she began working in admin.
After moving to and settling in the UK, Jitka’s admin experience led her into junior accounts roles, before she joined her current employer, Karndean, in their customer finance team. Jitka has been with the Karndean for six years, and is now studying towards her AAT Level 2 bookkeeping qualification.
“I’m really happy with my employer and they’ve been very supportive with me wanting to develop myself though my studies.”
When researching training providers, Jitka knew she wanted to join a college, rather than self-study, so she could get all the necessary support and expertise to help her on her journey. Reed Business School’s locality, well-equipped manor building, and extensive online resources were just what she was looking for.
So far Jitka has been impressed by the structure of the course, with teaching workshops scheduled every two weeks, and further learning materials available on our Mindful Education platform to use in between.
“I really like the videos that I can re-watch in my own time, and having set things to complete each week ahead of the next workshop to be able to participate in it fully. Doing a little and often works perfectly for my lifestyle.”
Time management has been one of the biggest challenges for Jitka, with a job and two small children to consider, but she manages to make it work and still give herself evenings to spend with her family.
“I work part-time in the mornings and look after my children in the afternoons. When I have my workshops or I need more time for independent study, I arrange extra childcare if my husband can’t help at those times. I try to make time to do everything I need to do during the day so studying doesn’t take over my whole life!”
Reed Business School’s Mindful Education platform not only contains all the relevant learning materials for each unit, but a huge range of practice and mock questions for students to complete in their own time. Following each workshop, students can practice what they’ve learnt straight away, in addition to making the most of additional resources on the AAT website.
“I like how much practicing you can do, and the revision workshop at the end of the course allows you to ask questions about parts you might have been struggling with. You can do as much as you want to, and I did every practice paper available to help me feel ready for the exam.”
Jitka has passed her first Level 2 exam, and plans to enrol onto the Level 3 course next month if all goes well with her second. Longer-term, she hopes to develop within Karndean towards a management accounting role. She is currently able to spend time with that team once a week to learn more about topics such as bank reconciliations and balance sheets, and values this as part of her professional development.
“My colleagues are all really supportive, and many of them have been through similar journeys, so it’s great to know there is a pathway there if I choose it, but I just want to get through my next exam first!”
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