THE phrases ‘this student could do better’, ‘this child never pays attention in class’ and ‘doesn’t hand in coursework’ have never boded well for a schoolchild.
In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that the owner of such a school report is destined to end up in a dead-end job for the rest of their life.
We make our way through school being told that we have to concentrate in order to pass our exams and get a good job but just because someone skipped school or wasn’t as academically minded as some of their peers, it doesn’t mean they won’t end up as one of life’s success stories.
Take Going Places managing director Terry Fisher.
He was expelled at the age of 18 from the Travel and Tourism course at Huddersfield College when it was found out he had lied about his 0′ levels and was told by the college he would never make it in travel.
Yet three years later, he set up Travelworld which he turned into a 116-brand chain. Sixteen years after setting up the business, he sold it to Airtours for about £13m, becoming a millionaire at the age of 35.
Business travel agency The Travel Company GTMjoint managing director David Whittaker is another example of someone who successfully runs his own company despite ending his formal education before A’ levels.
He admits he was hardly a model pupil, leaving school with only two O’ levels.
He took a five-year apprenticeship scheme at business travel house Wakefield Fortune, now part of Hogg Robinson.
He formed The Travel Company GTM in 1981 in partnership with joint managing director Mike Walley after 10 years of working together.
His company is now part of an alliance with other business travel companies around the globe and is hugely successful but Whittaker feels he took the long route.
He said:”A formal education would have probably seen me better and I have encouraged my teenage daughters to go on to higher education.”
Cosmos sales and marketing director Paul Riches passed seven O’ levels at school but decided not to go on to further education.
He felt that a trade would be more beneficial to him and joined British Telecom as a trainee technician, completing a five-year apprenticeship and gaining City and Guilds and Higher National Certificate qualifications.
He then took a job as an overseas rep for Club 18-30 and has stayed in the travel industry ever since.
Riches said: “I don’t regret the route I took. Looking back, I wouldn’t change anything. Although the university years would have been fun, I made up for it during my three years as a rep.”
He puts his success down to having a good commercial awareness and says that persistence, drive and determination are the qualities that have helped him most in his career.
The Travel Training Company head of sales and marketing Peter Holyoake agrees that formal qualifications are not essential for someone who wants to move up the travel ladder.
He believes in some cases it could be more beneficial for new recruits to get on-the-job training rather than stay on at college to study.
He said:”In this industry personality and aptitude count more than school qualifications.
“Lots of people have done well by joining the industry and getting qualifications like National Vocational Qualifications and the ABTA Certificate.”
“There is no evidence to suggest that college leavers do better than those who leave school at 16 and get the training later on,” he added.