When it comes to thinking about using learning to achieve personal change, this is often couched in terms of acquiring skills that are useful for work. As we suggested in Section 1, this can lead to a rather narrow definition of change which translates as ‘getting a better job?. The importance of secure and satisfying work cannot be denied. But there are many other important aspects to life that do not involve paid work. These include relationships with family and friends, voluntary activity and caring for children or people who are older or have a disability. It might even involve changes which move us away from paid work. The narrow definition of skills also ignores the sometimes very impressive skills that can be built up as a result of involvement in leisure activities. It also ignores that the skills of a swimming coach who is an unpaid volunteer may be very similar to those of someone else who is paid.
So talking about skills comes with a ‘health warning? to the effect that this word is often used as a sort of shorthand to refer to what is required to get or stay in employment.
Perhaps talk about skills is so widespread for two main reasons. First, many skills can be seen in operation. For example, you can see (and taste) when a skilled cook has prepared a meal. Second, if something can be observed, it may be possible to measure it and to teach it. It is possible to see where the inexperienced cook goes wrong and what he or she can do about it. This means that it seems much more possible to improve the skills that people use rather than to get them to adjust some of their personal qualities. To an extent, the same applies to knowledge. It is possible to test some knowledge but it can be very difficult to know what knowledge (or understanding) people acquire. Anything we are taught undergoes complex change as we try and fit it in with what we already know. So if ten people have the same teaching input there will be at least ten very different ways of understanding this.
To summarise, a focus on skills is in many ways reasonable and understandable, but it is not without its problems and we should avoid any sense that, as human beings, we are just the sum of our skills. As Learning to change is a relatively short unit, it is impossible to consider all the skills that are involved with personal change. In the next sections we focus on just three: communication skills, problem-solving skills and skills involved with being better organised.
Copyright © 2008 The Open University
