Learning – why me?

‘I left school/university/college/home to get away from books, classrooms and desks. Away from people who wanted to teach me things I didn’t want to know. I don’t want a nine-to-five job. I don’t want to commute in a grey suit, and I certainly don’t want to be in a nothing job. I don’t want to be on civvy street. I want to be out with my mates. What do I want with learning and qualifications? Waste of time.’

Anyone who has spent any length of time with young people will have heard these or similar comments – often more forcefully expressed. While a number of people who join the Services have a genuine desire to serve their country or learn a profession or trade, others may well hold views something like the ones above.

But few people stay in the Forces for a full career. Huge numbers leave at the first break point in their contract, and many others go long before retirement age. Even those who stay the course and last until they are around 40 or 55 will have another career ahead of them unless they have another income stream. And we should all be aware that the pendulum is now swinging towards a later end to the working life as the effects of a longer life span, stock market collapse, Treasury raids on funds, and a smaller working population bite into pension provision.

So it is clear that Service leavers at all ages need to be able to compete with civilians for jobs, and they need learning and qualifications for that. (Remember that the civilian has had years of widget-selling while the Service person has often had none.) They must show that their Service training and experience has a value to a civilian employer. They should also show that they are ready to be the adaptable, teachable, flexible employee, ready to learn and practise new skills, of the type that is in demand in 2003. And the way to do this is to demonstrate a bookful of qualifications and a portfolio of personal development.

However, people who do stay in the Forces for a full career are also finding that they constantly need to learn new skills if they are to be up to their job – and certainly if they want to get ahead of some very stiff competition. While personal development may not appear formally on the annual appraisal, commanders and line managers certainly notice it. And the individual who is engaged in learning is going to be a better bet to go on that key career course than the one who props up the bar every night.

Of course, learning and qualifications are not the be all and end all. There are plenty of degree-festooned prats wandering around, who can hardly string two thoughts together and whom no one in their right mind would follow between two trees, let alone on an operation.

But the combination of theoretical knowledge, common sense, practical and usable skills, experience and personal qualities is the employer’s dream. It is often the first of these attributes that gets its possessor to the interview where the others can land the job.

All of us now have to learn or fail. This failure may not be dramatic or obvious; it may be no more than not achieving what might be possible. But it can still leave a sour taste and the feeling of a lack of personal fulfilment, quite apart from a less admiring family and a smaller bank balance.

The trend towards learning is developing in the rest of society as fast as it is in the Forces. Most university students are ‘mature’ – they did not start their course directly from school. People with trade skills develop them further and learn specialisations in college; those with Modern Apprenticeships convert them into Foundation Degrees or HNDs; and the really high fliers develop wide skill sets that enable them to move from narrow roles into broader ones.

So, even if learning for its own sake does not interest you, an awful lot of people are going to be ahead of you in the queue of life if you do not take it up. And there ought to be something that turns you on out of the millions of courses now available. And please do not say that you haven’t got the time. We all have the time to go to the pub, enjoy parties, watch TV and read a book. Even with the Armed Forces so over-committed and under-funded, most people can make the time for study if they really want to.

Forget bad school experiences and exam failures – modern learning should be nothing like that. Find something you enjoy and learn about it. Take advantage of the money available to support you and go for it. Sign up for a taster course and try out different learning methods. Use all the Service facilities on offer. Talk with an education officer or personal learning adviser. It is your life – do not waste it.