From Chalk and Slate to Online Learning
Whether you are starting out on your career journey, or are following the path you set out on many years ago, it is worth remembering that some people’s career journey is not always straight-forward.
Many people leave school without the results they need to take the next step they had planned, while others realise that their dream job, training or learning opportunity wasn’t the right fit for them. This means they have to change their plans and find a different path. This can seem really daunting, but it is worth remembering that learning, and professional development are life-long and can offer opportunities we never would have imagined.
Jim Love, who is currently undertaking his Masters Degree with UHI, has shared his career journey which helps us understand that there is no wrong path:
During an email communication with Jenna Harper late last year, I mentioned that my education had been going on for more than 60 years, and that along the way I had encountered a number of fairly difficult challenges. Jenna suggested that, in the new semester and the New Year, it might be of interest for me to describe my educational journey - so here goes!
My education began at primary school in the autumn of 1960 when I was five-years-old, there being no preschool provision in those days. My first school was in Blackwood, a village in South Lanarkshire, and my enduring memory is of being issued with pieces of chalk and a little slate in a wooden frame, on which we learned our letters and numbers.
Then, not long before my eighth birthday my family migrated to Australia, and I started my new school in Hammondville NSW. I loved my new school, however, since the curriculum was completely new to me I struggled to keep up. After living on the migrant hostel for two years my parents decided to return to Scotland, and when we arrived back I started school in Larkhall, a village in South Lanarkshire. I was then faced with a return to the Scottish curriculum, and again I really struggled to keep up. Around one year later I sat the “11+” exam, which I failed. My classmates who passed went to a senior secondary where they had the opportunity to sit “O” Grades and Highers – those of us who failed went to a junior secondary and were required to leave school at 15.
A particularly memorable aspect of my primary and secondary education in Scotland was the widespread use of corporal punishment, which consisted of a leather strap or “Tawse” across the palm of the upheld hand. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this barbaric practice was that it wasn’t reserved for the most serious disciplinary matters, such as bullying or truancy. Indeed, even minor infractions such as talking in class or failing to hand in homework on time could result in a pupil being “Tawsed”.
I left school aged 15, in the summer of 1970, a time when opportunities for young people were very different from today. For example, in 1970 only 8.4% of young people of an age to be at university were, in actual fact, at university. So what happened to 91.6% of those who didn’t go to university? The short answer is work, with an abundance of apprenticeships available – apprenticeships that usually included one day per week at a technical college. My dad was keen for me to become an apprentice where he worked, Ravenscraig Steelworks – I, however, had different ideas. So, two weeks after my 15th birthday I enlisted in the British army as a ‘Junior Soldier’, and spent the next two years in a Junior Leaders Regiment (a type of military school), where in addition to core military and technical training I continued with academic subjects such as English and maths. After my two years as a Junior Soldier I served in the regular army for four years, before settling in Orkney with my Orcadian wife, Marie.
That was in 1976, when it was really easy to get a job, and I immediately started work at Highland Park Distillery. After a few years I became quite interested in the science of whisky production, so at 25-years-of-age I began to study “O” grades at KGS evening classes, passing in English, Chemistry and Biology – this led to me being encouraged by one of the teachers to ‘raise my sights’ and go for a degree…
So, at 30-years-of-age I embarked on a social science degree with the Open University. This was very challenging, for in addition to working shifts at Highland Park, Marie and I were bringing up our two young children, Marcus and Tom. In terms of tuition I only remember one of my tutors coming to Orkney on three occasions during my six years of study. There were telephone tutorials, however, since Marie and I couldn’t afford a telephone I really was on my own. In any event I persevered and was awarded my degree in December 1991.
The degree made a huge difference to my employment prospects, and in 1992 I began my 25 year career as an officer of Orkney Islands Council. Interestingly, like many new graduates successfully appointed to their first graduate position, I believed that my education was over – not a chance! In the early 1990s there was an urgent need for councils to understand the ways that newly enacted community care legislation would impact on social work departments. In order to assist councils with meeting this need, Dundee University introduced its new Certificate in Community Care Studies, and I was among a group of social work officers who were provided with the opportunity to undertake the certificate. By the time I was awarded Dundee’s certificate in 1997 I had been promoted into a management position, so I then began the Open Colleges’ Postgraduate Certificate in Management. I was awarded the Open College certificate in 1999 and this enabled me to progress further with my career within the council.
In March 2018, aged 62, and after almost 48 years in fulltime employment, I took early retirement. After a few months of taking stock, I began to look around for a new challenge, and decided on a master’s degree with the UHI. I registered in 2020, and have now completed three modules of a six module + dissertation MLitt History. And because I’m taking only one module per semester, I will be 68 before I complete the degree, in late 2023.
So, that’s been my educational journey – from chalk and slate to online learning…
As to how your own educational journeys might go in the years to come nobody can say. I do believe, however, that over the coming decades the educational opportunities and teaching methods will surprise, excite and motivate in ways that cannot yet be imagined. And yes, you will no doubt have challenges along the way. But bear in mind that you’ve already had to cope with the social and academic impact of an unprecedented challenge to your education - Covid-19. And if you can overcome that, you’ll be well placed to overcome any and all challenges that you may encounter as you progress on what may well turn out to be a lifelong educational journey.
All the best
Jim Love
Every August, Developing the Young Workforce Orkney support the No Wrong Path campaign, which aims to highlight that many people in interesting jobs didn't necessarily take a straight, obvious or traditional path to get there. To learn more about the campaign, visit: https://www.dyworkney.co.uk/latest_news/category/no-wrong-path or search #NoWrongPath on social media.