Skip Channel4 main Navigation
In this final programme Phil decides to enter his class for Adult Literacy tests approved by the Government. He wants to prove both to himself and to the nine people on his course that they are able reverse a lifetime of failure and pass an exam. But it's a huge risk, 'we're dealing with years and years of education making these people feel bad, and I don't want their last experience of this course to be of failure'.
Forty-eight year-old Linda couldn't read a word at the start of the course, just 16 lessons later, she's able not only to read the classic literature she's always been desperate to read, but she's enjoyed writing the Shakespearian sonnet Phil set her as a project. 'My head is full of words', she says, 'and I can honestly say that I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life'.
But the Government exams will bring back memories of the past that people in Phil's class have spent years trying to forget. We meet John, who's in his 40s and runs a successful business, but as he works through test papers, he remembers sitting in front of exam papers at school, unable to read the questions let alone make an attempt at the answers. 'The last exams I took were a waste of my time, I might as well as not even been there… I suppose in some ways, if I didn't take them, then maybe someone could turn round and say "he's still a failure".'
The exams are scaring 58-year-old Teresa, too. She came to the course not being able to read a single word, and in just six lessons learned more than in 10 years of being at school. She's been able to read to her mother who has always made her feel stupid, but her mum's reaction did nothing to restore her confidence. Now the exams are making giving her nightmares – will she go back to feeling stupid if she fails?
As the class work their way through test papers, Phil's ambitious about Linda's abilities. She scores over 80% on the 11+ paper that she was unable to take at school, and Linda is thrilled – despite the fact that she told everyone that it didn't matter to her, it really does mean everything to know that she was clever, that she could have gained the education that would have altered the course of her life.
Programme one | Programme two | Programme three
