Session 4: Thinking about my learning path

Introduction

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.

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

After working through this session you will have:

• an idea of the directions carers might like to go in

• an idea of what it is possible for carers to achieve in their immediate future

• an understanding of the learning options open to carers

• an idea, or ideas, about possible learning paths

• as a learner, how to go about finding out what you need to know

• the ability to use the internet to find information useful to you.

Where do I start?

In this section you will hear carers from very different backgrounds and circumstances talking about their motivations for study.

Your own starting point for study will depend on many things: your personal circumstances, previous educational qualifications, the length of time away from formal education or training, and opportunities for accessing the courses that interest you. To get you started we have provided links to free online courses at a range of levels. Some are very short (just 5 minutes) and others are longer. You can look at them whenever you want to, start and stop them as you wish, just dip in and out. There are no quizzes or tests and no assessments. All you will need is a way of accessing the internet. You could even use your phone, a tablet or an e-reader.

These courses are all from The Open University’s OpenLearn website. Many include free extracts from Open University course materials at different levels so they will give you a taste of what a more formal Open University course would be like.

We have grouped a selection of courses into three thematic areas:

• health-related conditions
• something for me: making my caring experience count
• something completely different.

When you’ve had a look through, you can capture your ideas in Activity 4.1.

Health-related conditions

You might be interested in learning about something that’s linked to the person you care for. In the example below, Sandra successfully passed The Open University access course, Y183 Starting with Psychology, and moved on to study DSE141 Discovering Psychology and DD131 Introducing the Social Sciences – Part One at undergraduate level. As well as being something ‘just for her’, she feels these courses helped her gain a better insight into her son’s condition.

Sandra

Figure 4.2 Sandra (Library image)

Sandra, 47, is a qualified nurse but because of her own health problems she isn’t currently able to work in nursing. She cares for her teenage son who has Asperger syndrome. At first she felt selfish making time for herself to study psychology, but she found that it has given her the energy to cope with her demanding roles and has helped her understand her son’s condition so that she is better able to support him. She has found that returning to study has been a crucial part of regaining her sense of herself.

Read about Sandra’s reasons for studying psychology:

The degree I have is great for nursing, but I felt that I needed to be challenged because I spent all my time with my son.

I fill my time with things for my son, so this is where I get to do things for myself … my son has so many needs it was easy to lose myself in his needs.

That’s why I started studying at The Open University, because I felt I was beginning to lose my sense of identity. I felt that I was so involved in caring for my son, that I no longer had time for me. I no longer had time to stretch myself, even just to do something for myself.

The psychology degree really interests me because it is making me think about what makes people tick and, for me especially, it helps me to understand how my son thinks.

I understand my son so much better and myself so much better. I suffer from clinical depression and the psychology course has been really cathartic.

The thought I had when I first started was that it felt a bit selfish to be doing this, but that’s gone now, and I really found that this is purely for me – this course that I’m doing – and it’s really good.

And one thing I enjoy is going to our local coffee shop with my books and having a hot chocolate and studying there for an hour. It gives me the energy then to cope with caring because I’ve managed to do something that’s totally away from that.

I’ve developed skills through persevering through caring … As much as my son has developed social skills and such like I think I have learned skills as well, like coping skills and perseverence.

Because I’ve become resilient, even when the course became hard and I felt like, ‘I can’t do it’, I actually managed to keep going with it.

Sandra chose to study psychology as a personal challenge that gave her time for herself. The fact that this gave her a greater understanding of her son’s perspective was a bonus. She enjoys her time studying and realises that this time for herself helps her cope with her caring role.

Perhaps you’d like to know more about a particular health-related condition, such as dementia or diabetes? The courses Sandra studied are no longer available but if you are interested in these topic areas new, complementary courses include the access course Y032 People, work and society, DE100 Investigating psychology 1 and DD102 Introducing the Social Sciences. In addition here is a selection of courses on OpenLearn that are concerned with health-related conditions.

Something for me: making my caring experience count

Perhaps you’d like to explore other areas of caring, maybe gain a perspective on what it means to work in social work or health and social care?

Naomi

Figure 4.3 Naomi (Library image)

Naomi is 24 and is a single parent. She left school at 15 with no qualifications and before having her daughter she worked in call centres. Her daughter, who has just started school, is visually impaired because she has albinism. Caring for her daughter has changed Naomi’s ambitions and she has decided she would like to develop a career in social work.

Naomi has started K101 An introduction to Health & Social Care, which is an overview of health and social care and an introduction to learning in higher education.

We will look further at Naomi’s learning and career path in Session 5.

Here is a selection of courses on OpenLearn that are concerned with the bigger picture of caring in our society.

Something completely different

Taking up something new, be it studying or any other activity, doesn’t have to be all about employment or related to your role as a carer. Doing something that’s just for you is important. Making time for yourself and doing something that you really enjoy can help you to relax, de-stress and make you feel good about yourself.

In this section you’ll hear carers talking about the benefits of choosing to do ‘something for me’.

First listen to Gillian and then read about Hedar talking about their study choices.

Gillian

Gillian (54) is the training coordinator at her local carers centre. She works part time and is still very involved in caring for her family. She has three sons, two of whom have a genetic learning disability. Her first experience of returning to studying and working was with her local carers centre, where she took part in an Open University course looking at ‘make your experience count’. Completing this course gave her the confidence to apply to work at the centre. Since then she’s chosen to study something just for her – maths.

Here Gillian talks about how she chose to study something completely unrelated to her job or her caring role. Gillian talks about why she chose to study maths.

Download this video clip.Video player: gillian_snippet.mp4

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Transcript

Gillian

I chose maths really because that was at school – it was like ‘nope – can’t do that – don’t want to do that – don’t understand it – don’t get it – I can add up, take away, I’ll be fine in life’. And I have been fine in life, just being able to do that. But as I’ve got older I’ve thought well actually, I’m quite a good lateral thinker, I quite like working things out, I can, I have to do many problem-solving exercises bringing up the family, juggling time, managing finances. Um, I thought, I think I would like to see, to do the studying, maths, or understanding maths. Em, because I think I do, and I think it’s about time now to prove it to myself. Also I was very conscious there was no essays needed to be written for it. Which, whilst I love English, I just felt that the format of the maths was going to be more suited to me.

This makes absolutely no difference to my job, it makes no difference to my caring role. It’s a personal achievement for myself. It’s myself that has benefited from it. Em, no the whole thing has been about me. And really in the last 26 years of caring, that’s probably the one wee thing that I’ve done that has been all about me.

At the moment I’ve taken this fur…, the studying further, it’s just not right for me at this moment in time. But it hasn’t put me off it for the future. So I’m interested to see what else the OU’s going to come up with for carers. And I wouldn’t say no the same way, and I wouldn’t say ‘oh I can’t do that’ – if you want to achieve something, you can achieve it.

I would encourage all carers, if they’re given the opportunity and an invitation to come along and hear about what OU has to offer carers, is to rise to that. Put your name down, go along. Don’t be thinking ‘oh I don’t want to sign up’ to this. It’s not about signing up. Hear what’s on offer, gather the information together and there’s every chance that the feelings you had at the beginning of going along to hear about it, your ideas have changed and it could just be it’s something that you thought wasn’t possible, and it is possible. But not to look at any invitation to you and think ‘oh that’s not for me, I haven’t studied for 20 years, I haven’t studied for 10 years, or I wouldn’t know my way round a computer’. Don’t let things be a barrier. Just go along and hear what’s on offer.

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Hedar

Hedar, 45, has lived in Glasgow for five years, and cares for her father and her sister. Hedar and her family are refugees from Iraqi Kurdistan. Hedar’s father and sister have disabilities and her father also has dementia. Hedar is their full-time carer. Hedar has chosen not to make use of external caring support currently and chose distance learning as a way to create time and space for herself while caring at home.

Figure 4.4 Hedar (Library image)

Read why Hedar finds distance learning so rewarding.

I’m a person who can’t go out a lot. I don’t have the chance to attend colleges or universities and I don’t have a social life. I have lots of health problems. Sometimes I get depressed. So The Open University is the best thing for me.

I like to be busy inside the house, trying to overcome the depression, to overcome the sadness and all the things that happened to me, so I work … I do housework in the morning as much as I can and look after Dad and my sister. And then after 8 o’clock I start working on my Open University assignments.

My way of thinking is completely different than it was before. I feel I can think deeper, understand things easier. These things make me happy because I feel I’m improving myself. I’m improving my brain, doing something for my brain.

I can do everything at home. I can use the computer, I can communicate with my tutors, I can explore things easily and things are very useful with the Open University. Very rewarding … for a person like me very rewarding.

Hedar chose distance learning as a way to create time and space for herself while at home, and over the course of her study she’s gained an Open University degree.

Choosing something completely different

Click on a subject area to find out about some of the courses available on OpenLearn. To return to this page, click on the back button of your browser and continue.

[Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab]

Support for learning

For some of you ‘something for me’ might mean joining a carers group. [See Websites  in the Resources section at the end of this course for more information about carers organisations.] For example, the young adult carers in Renfrewshire have a social group that meets fortnightly. They take part in a range of activities, learning together and supporting each other in their caring roles. Joining a support group may just be about having fun with people who understand the challenges in your life.

Clair, a young adult carer in Renfrewshire, comments about what she gains from being part of the young adult carers group.

Listen to young adult carers Clair, Jade and Scott talking about how they support each other.

Download this video clip.Video player: renfrewshire_group_snippet_1.mp4

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Transcript

Group discussion

Gavin

What do you feel like you get out of the groups we have every fortnight?

Clair

Seeing each other and, I mean it’s good having one on ones with you, but I mean it’s good to really meet the group and see how everyone’s getting on. And we are all really interested in what’s going on with each other. We’re all wanting to know how we all are, and it’s a good way of catching up with everyone.

Jade

It’s like a big family. Like we are just your extended family.

Gavin

Yeah, Yeah

Scott

Aaawwww! Everybody at once! [all laugh]

Jade

Well in a way you’re our carer. But it’s coming in and knowing that if you’ve had a bad day, you can escape from it, or you can talk to someone. And even if someone’s not been through the situation, which is quite rare, then they will still feel like I know what to do here – I can help you.

Gavin

Yeah, superb

Scott

I just love that everybody’s so caring. And because it’s kinda hard to get a decent person nowadays that actually really sincerely cares about you. When you walk in here it’s like, you actually, you know that people care about you because if you walk in with your face trippin you, like you know someone’s going to ask you what’s up and sit and talk about you. And be genuinely interested and not just be asking just for the sake of asking you sort of thing. D’you know what I mean?

Gavin

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Scott

So it’s good to know that there’s people that actually care for you.

Gavin

Yeah, cool man, and in terms of you guys being, your experience as a carer, what do you think is the most positive thing to come out of being a carer?

Clair

I think all the skills you get from it. So all the good skills. A lot of people think of all the bad stuff, like you’re late and you’ve got your phone on all the time and school and things like that. But the things you can bring to any project, or any of these qualities like the caring side of things like we are caring because of what we do, and things like that. And we’ve em, you know we’re use to maybe stressful situations, maybe all that kind of stuff so we will bring a lot to even a job, or anything like that so I mean that’s definitely a big positive as well as just the relationship you have with the person you’re caring for. I mean you become a lot closer to them. Em and they’re relying on you and that’s, that means a lot to them so it’s great to kind of have that time with them when you’re kind of doing things for them and just to chat and it’s really great.

Gavin

yeah, yeah, yeah

Jade

I think it’s as Clair said the relationship that you build up with that person that you’re caring for, that you could be doing the littlest things for them and you can see that they are so grateful for it. And then you realise, like this isn’t actually just life, but it just makes my life more special

Gavin

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jade

And you kinda value your own life a bit more as well.

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Are you thinking about taking up something that’s ‘just for me’? Perhaps you would like to join a group, meet new friends, or study something that’s just for you.

Activity 4.1

Learning paths

If you enjoy a free OpenLearn course you might like to do another one or take on a different challenge.

Your actual starting point might vary depending on your previous educational experience and qualifications, time spent away from formal study, and your level of confidence.

Another helpful route through OpenLearn is to use the online guide, Open Pathways to Higher Education, produced by The Open University in Scotland. The guide is for learners navigating their journey through the free resources on OpenLearn and on to formal learning if they wish. There are three subject pathways – Arts and Languages; Science, Maths and Technology; and People, Work and Society – that learners can choose to work through at their own pace. (Please note that only learners living in Scotland are able to obtain the hard copy of this guide.)

Mapping learning paths

You may already have some qualifications, in which case you might find it useful to think about how different qualifications relate to each other.

For example, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) shows the relationship between the many qualifications and learning programmes in Scotland. It provides a common language for all types of learning whether it is formal, non-formal or informal. The framework helps you understand and compare qualifications by clarifying entry and exit points. This all helps you plan your learning path.

The SQA has other ways of comparing and explaining the range of formal qualifications available in Scotland that you might find helpful: http://www.sqa.org.uk/ files_ccc/ readyreckoner.html.

For further information about a specific course, contact your local college or university, or visit The Open University in Scotland website. For information about career paths see useful websites in the Resources section at the end of this course.

Summary

In this session, you explored a range of learning opportunities and thought about what other activities you might like to get involved in. In the next session you will explore learning paths linked to employment and careers.

Session 5: Exploring employment opportunities

Acknowledgements

This course was written by Lindsay Hewitt, Sarah Burton and Julie Robson.

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