Learning to learn – be kind to yourself!

Coming back to learning after any length of time away can feel like a daunting process and learners often feel at the same time a lack of confidence and somewhat overwhelmed. I have worked in adult education for over twenty years now and when I started a new course last year was annoyed to find myself having some of the same feelings! I thought it might be a useful topic to explore for those of you who are coming back into your learning with MBKB. So let me share some tip with you which I have picked up from working with a range of learners on a wide range of education programmes. 

You have to learn to learn!

This sounds silly I know but I always tell anyone starting a new programme of study that they have to learn what is required on any course and it is a normal part of the experience. There is learning how your Tutor will communicate with you, who else is on the course and what they are like, what will be expected of you, what work you will have to do, what standard that needs to be, how it will be marked or what kind of feedback you will get and much more. When you are on an apprenticeship there is another layer – what is the learning platform? How do I use it and how do I remember where everything is? Where do I submit my work? How do I log my off the job hours, what counts as off the job hours?!

Give yourself time.

Your Tutor is used to working with new learners, they know that you are learning and will not expect you to ‘get everything right’ straight away. Our apprenticeships are a collaboration, and we are here to work with you and with your line manager to support you. Your Tutor will get to know you and what works for you to offer you the best support to suit your needs. You will have 1-1’s where these discussions can take place, and this will help to put you at ease. When you first submit work, you will get feedback from your Tutor. We do lots of work with formative feedback rather than giving you a grade. This means that the feedback is there to help you to develop, to pick up on your strengths and to support you to improve in your areas where development is needed. So, you can just give it a go and you will learn from your feedback which is to support you and stretch you. 

Peer Support cannot be overstated!

In all of the places I have worked with learners, one of the most helpful things I encourage them to do is to form a peer support group. Some do this using WhatsApp or Teams. One current cohort meets weekly via Teams. However you do it, the support and space to share ideas in a safe space, practice together and encourage and support each other makes a massive difference. In apprenticeships you can practice skills on each other, give peer feedback and share new ways of working to support each other. 

Learning comes with discomfort. 

There is a concept that we teach learners about in Coaching (and other sectors too) called ‘The Journey from Unconscious incompetence to Unconscious Competence.’ This sounds complex but at its core it means that when we start a new ‘thing’ we don’t know what we don’t know. Think about it, you start a new job feeling full of confidence. Then you start learning all you need to know and that starts to feel overwhelming, you think ‘I will never be able to learn/remember all of this!’ So, you move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence – I know all the things I don’t know! This is the uncomfortable part; we all want to know what we are doing and feel competent. It is a vulnerable place to be, as the goddess Brene Brown puts it: ‘Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they are never weaknesses.’

Once we move forward, we move into conscious competence, we can do the new things as long as we concentrate, then finally into unconscious competence, the new learning becomes part of us. It changes who we are and how we move through the world. This to me is the essence of good learning, it transforms us. It requires us to be brave and to expect more from ourselves than we think we are capable of. 

So, to summarise, learning is never easy, nor should it be. It requires us to be open, to be vulnerable and often as adults, to set aside our ‘expert’ hat. I tell you this as someone who left school without looking back at seventeen. Four years later I was back in education and have rarely been out of it since. My life looks nothing like the life I was told at school would be mine and that is because of education. So, if you are just starting a new course of education I wish you well, be kind and patient with yourself. If you are thinking about doing so, then do it and take every offer of support, practice and developing your skills. If you have joined us at MBKB then you are in the best hands, and we can’t wait to watch you grow. I will leave you with a final quote from a wise person. 

 “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss

Suzy Alexandra-Troy – Coaching Programme Lead