Meet Sara and Jordan Haldane, brother and sister who both studied social sciences at Fife College but chose very different career paths.
Jordan Haldane (JH): The course I studied at Fife College was the HNC Social Sciences, and the HND in Social Sciences.
Sara Haldane (SH): I also studied HNC and HND Social Sciences at Fife College.
JH: I had initially started the HNC, probably about 2017. I failed that course right at the end, and I dropped out. I left it alone for a few years, went to work. And after a few years of working, I was like, you know what, I'm going to go back, because I thoroughly enjoyed the course. The tutors are great. So I went back and unbeknown to me, my sister also joined at the same time.
SH: I'm a mum of four and had been looking for something to get back into. I've studied at Fife College before in Travel and Tourism, just at the start of COVID, and decided that that wasn't for me, and just had a look through the prospectus and decided that social sciences looked like the perfect fit. Love history, love psychology, so why not give it a go?
JH: Sociology?
SH: Not so keen on that!
JH: It's my subject.
SH: That's your subject, yeah. I surprisingly really enjoyed the politics, which I think is coming out of the course, though. But history has been my passion for years and it stayed that way through the course. But criminology was a big surprise. I hadn't studied criminology before and it just caught me, and I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed that. It was my favourite towards the end.
JH: I think it became everyone's favourite towards the end. I think it's because of how cynical it was.
SH: Just don't tell Steph that my favourite wasn't history and we'll be all good.
JH: I would never drop you in about that.
SH: She says on camera!
JH: So since completing my studies, I then went on to join the Scottish Prison Service. I've been in there for about a year and a half now... thoroughly enjoying it. I think the course helped me quite a bit. It gave me a good background on how to deal with difficult individuals and troubled individuals and dealing with their past and their socials. Sara went a completely other route.
SH: I went a totally different route. I went on and did the final degree here with the Open University, following the pathway that's open from the college. Then I came back here to work, lecturing in social sciences with my old lecturers, which is just incredible. I'm loving every single second of it
JH: Just didn't want to be left alone. You got quite comfy!
SH: I got comfy here. The lecturers make you feel at home. It was a natural fit when it came up as a position.
JH: The support you got from the tutors was always probably the best part because it didn't matter what you came at them with. They always found a way to help you out, no matter what. Sometimes at some stupid hours of the night, they would help you out.
SH: My husband had a liver transplant while I was at college. Again, it's the support of the tutors. They were just incredible. Every single step of the way, couldn't do more for us, really, if they'd tried. As Jordan said, middle of the night, you could message and you'd get an answer back. It was incredible. Not to encourage people to message in the middle of the night, of course!
JH: Don't do that!
SH: But, yeah, the tutors, or the lecturers are definitely the key.
Related Courses
This course offers routes into a range of degree courses, employment, and vocational training. It focuses on the systematic study of people and society. It also aims to develop transferable skills including communication, analytical ability, and the handling of complex information.