By Frank Locke

When I walked out of Bull Alley Tech on my fourteenth birthday on 28 January 1971, I never thought I would see a classroom again in my life.

by Michael Haughney

A story about the emotional reasons why someone returns to learning.

by Laura

I have been a learner in my local adult education centre for about 10 years, and involved with NALA most of that time. My life has changed hugely as a result.

By Peter Trinder

I decided to do this Written Off? course because I wanted to improve my reading and writing skills. I am attending a course in Youthreach in Laytown, County Meath and I feel that I am representing my friends on the course with me and other youths of my age who have dropped out of school, for whatever reason.

By Paul Hughes from Blanchardstown.

Some years after leaving school, I was driving through my home town in my lorry. The memory of my past days came back to me. I went to school in Dunboyne, Co Meath, back in the fifties. I felt I was different to most of the other boys in the class. It was the teacher who made me feel inferior. Why would he want to make me feel different from the rest?

By Stephen Cullen

In 1989 my wife Carmel, daughter Fiona, aged 9 and son Niall, aged 4 ventured on a journey to Canada.   We decided we wanted a change and we wanted to see what it was like to live in another country.  We had no family or friends out there so it was a really big adventure.  We did not have jobs or schools organized at the time.

My name is Ifrah, I lived in Somalia until I was 17. I did not attend school in Somailia because of the war but I learned Koran. I left Somalia because of the war. My mother, brother and sister are all dead – they were all killed in a war incident. My Father and brother were not at home when the soldiers came and I was left for dead. We grieved for our family members. My father, brother and I lived in the house for a while. My father and brother have been taken away by the soldiers since then and I do not know if they are dead or alive. Now I find it hard to talk about family. I was very unhappy without my family.