Peter Steere
Student spotlight details
After a career in IT for more than 40 years, Peter turned a lifelong passion for history into an academic journey at Oxford Lifelong Learning. From undergraduate diplomas to a master's degree and now a DPhil, his story shows how it's never too late to pursue your interests and grow through the power of education.
'I recently retired after working in the IT sector for over 40 years. Although I have moved around southern England during that time, for most of my working life I was based in Berkshire in the UK.
'The highest standard academically that I achieved prior to embarking on a relationship with Oxford Lifelong Learning was school A levels. Family and work kept me busy in the years until 2009, when I decided to regularise my interest in history and start to study it academically. After successfully completing two undergraduate programmes (the Diploma in English Social and Local History and the online Advanced Diploma in Local History) I was offered a place on the part-time MSc in English Local History.
'I very much enjoyed not only the course material given, both by teaching and guided self-study, but also the interaction with my fellow students, which broadened my social horizons. For the MSc dissertation I chose to study the public health situation in Berkshire in the nineteenth century and, of course, this then whetted my appetite for a further and deeper study, culminating in a proposal for the DPhil in English Local History. I am now nearing the end of that journey with submission of my thesis and viva in 2025.
'The structure of the DPhil programme is slightly different from other PhDs in that there are two "gates" that need to be passed through before submission of the thesis is allowed. These are Transfer of Status and Confirmation of Status. Both are formal investigations concerning the study programme that has been decided upon, to make sure that the path that you have chosen is one that is academically rigourous, is of a manageable scope, and that there is a likelihood of finishing within the prescribed time allowed. The Graduate School at Oxford Lifelong Learning helped here in preparing for these by offering sessions to all Oxford University DPhil students (both full- and part-time) on how to pass progressions. I found both these sessions very useful and they smoothed the path towards success.
'The DPhil degree is, by its nature, a potentially lonely pursuit. One of the offerings from the Graduate School is the regular weekly online session titled Think, Articulate, Edit, Write, which allows all DPhil students to meet and discuss their progress and commit to writing in the presence of others online. I have found this to be extremely valuable whilst I have been in the write up phase of the DPhil process, providing me with extra motivation.
'The Oxford Lifelong Learning programme of study is an enriching experience for me, both in an academic sense and a social sense. It has given me an academic confidence that I would never have thought possible prior to my engagement with Oxford. The friendliness of staff and tutors is part of the ethos of Oxford Lifelong Learning. The academic atmosphere feels collaborative, peer-to-peer, rather than hierarchical. The tutors and lecturers guide you towards your goals but allow you to find your own way. This, coupled with the unrivalled resources that are available to you as an Oxford student, means that if you choose to study with Oxford it is likely to be an inspiring experience.'
