Session 4: Thinking about my learning path

Introduction

Graphic of man standing in a circle of arrows suggesting different directions
Figure 4.1

Carers and carers’ organisations tell us that there are different reasons for carers choosing to study.

You may have an immediate wish to find out more about a health-related condition relevant to the person you are caring for, or like many carers, your main motivation for choosing a course might be to enjoy some precious time for yourself.

A change in circumstances may mean that the time is now right for you to think about returning to work, or resuming studies that have been put on hold, or even to change direction completely. This could involve building on the knowledge and skills you’ve gained from caring and thinking about studies that lead to care-related employment. Or you might want to start something completely new.

This session draws on the experiences of individual carers to illustrate different motivations for study and learning paths. To whet your appetite we introduce you to a range of free online courses available on The Open University’s website OpenLearn [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

We conclude the session by showing you how you can move from one level of study to another. Session 5 will take you further by looking at learning paths in terms of career destinations.

Learning outcomes