How to get the most from Enhanced Learning Credits

All Quest readers should be aware by now of Enhanced Learning Credits (ELCs) – a huge new injection of money into the Personal Development Plans of people in the Services. If this is news to anyone because there have been other things going on recently, please ask your education or learning adviser, or see the article in our May edition or at www.questonline.co.uk.

However, spending £1000 (or £2000 for people who wait that long) a year for three years on your own personal learning, self-improvement, education, training or whatever you want to call it, may not be as simple as it seems. There are plenty of sharks around just itching to magic that tidy little sum from your wallet into theirs, and there are more qualifications than you can shake a stick at nowadays. But that does not make all of them any good. And it certainly does not make all of them any good for you.

In any case, your commander or line manager, and your education or learning adviser have to be sure that the course that you want to take is within your capabilities and that you have a realistic chance of being able to complete it given your background, your role and your job. It also has to fit with your Personal Development Record – so you had better see if you can find it – and it should also have some relevance to any likely future you might have in the Forces or outside them.

ELCs should also fit with an overall personal learning plan, and most people do not have one! Few of us have clear ideas about where we want to go with our lives and how we think we are going to get there, but any programme of learning has to have some overall goal, some objective to which it leads, otherwise all it can be is a mixture of modules that may result in the accumulation of qualifications, but could add up to nothing worthwhile. For example, an NVQ 3 in Warehousing, an HND in Electronic Engineering and a History degree do not prepare the individual who possesses them for any particular career.

This does not mean that an entire Personal Development Plan has to be focused on one specific target. If someone wishes to become a lawyer, it might well include gaining the necessary GCSEs, A-levels and a degree; but, for many people, it will contain a collection of elements – some of them obtained through their Service job and others gained outside it – that form some sort of pattern that fits with an employment field.

Because ELCs are such a big sum of money, it makes sense to put them aside to help pay for the major courses that form part of this plan. To ensure that this one-burst, three-shot weapon is wisely aimed, do some research or hold a small trial before you use them. Try a short course with the training provider or in the subject that interests you. See if it is right for you and that you are comfortable with the learning style. Does it fit with your job and personal circumstances? Would you be better off tackling the shorter elements of your learning plan now and wait a little while for the big effort, by which time you could have accumulated double the ELC money you could get next year?

Everyone’s answer should be different. However, most people find that the most difficult thing about picking up learning again after a break of some years is the start. Once the habit of learning is re-established (or in some cases formed for the first time), interest in the subject and determination to succeed can carry them through the difficult times.

For most people, therefore, a good plan might be to take a taster or introduction course in the area that interests them using Standard Learning Credits (currently £175 a year for every year of Service). Try to get some preliminary learning and experience under your belt.

You might discover to your surprise that you are absolutely comfortable with electronic learning even though you are not an experienced computer user, or that you are a ‘techie’ who feels more at home in the classroom. German-language training may leave you cold while European history may seem interesting. And a school maths failure can suddenly find that management accounting opens new horizons.

All of us have talents and abilities. The lucky ones find the right combination early, study at university and progress to glittering success, usually adding more than a little hard graft on the way. Many people, however, find that the niche that suits them best takes longer to materialise and, when it does, ELCs will provide the backing for them to achieve it.