31 Aug 2020

More often than not, we spend 13 years of our life learning the same way. Sitting behind a desk, copying down notes, memorising essays and dumping everything from our brains into an exam booklet. We’ve done it for so long, it’s almost hard to think that studying and learning can be done another way.

But once you leave high school you start to realise that even though we’ve spent nearly our entire academic lives doing the same thing, studying and learning doesn’t mean regurgitating what you find in a textbook.

Wild, right?

There’s a multitude of things you can’t pick up from being behind a desk scribing the textbook word from word. Trust us, there’s a lot. Here’s just a handful of ‘em.

 

1. Booking an appointment

Easily the most nerve-wracking experience you’ll have to endure in your life. Ever. Whether it’s getting a check-up at the dentist or finding out if you’re sick as a dog at the doctors, booking an appointment is an absolute nightmare.

The only way to get better is to just keep doing it – you’ll sound less and less like a bumbling idiot each time you do it.

2. How to do anything around the house without mum

Yeah, yeah, we know you’ve heard it all before but when you move out you truly appreciate the amount of washing, ironing, cooking and cleaning ya parents do to make sure you’re not living in your own filth or starving.

3. How to organise your time

Class timetables tell you where you need to be and when and periodic bells let you know that it’s time to eat, or pee, or go home. For the most part, your entire day is planned for you from the moment you wake up until you flop on your bed in the afternoon. But minute you leave those school gates, you need to figure out how to manage your time by yourself.

4. How to look after a car

From changing tires to checking oil, what more can we actually say?

5. Email etiquette

You’re probably scoffing at the idea but having superb email etiquette is a life necessity. Most of the time it’s the first point of contact (sometimes only) between you and someone important like a real estate agent or potential boss.

Don’t be the one that doesn’t know the difference between your and you’re, the type to hit reply all without thinking twice or believing that your humour can be received well through text.

Look, there’s a big list of things you can’t pick up from a textbook. But there’s one thread that connects all of these points that will truly ring a lightbulb in your head – certainly did for me.

All of these things are skills. And they can be learnt when you’re actually doing the task.

Booking an appointment? Intuition. Bare minimal survive without mum? Independent problem solving. Organising your own time? Coordinated. Looking after a car? Precision. Email etiquette? Communication.

Mind. Blown.

Subconsciously, when you’re getting a hands-on approach, you’re developing intangible skills that can be further developed, explored and even transferred. So, it really makes sense to think of textbooks as an ancient relic and think about how you can be skilled up instead because learning skills means you can explore a variety of different careers.

That’s exactly what Chloe Baigent did with her Cert IV in Youth Work. During her studies, Chloe received training that was hands on because VET recognises how crucial it is to bring real life experiences to a classroom instead of a dusty old textbook.

Gaining practical skills in the community during her work placements and continuously practicing, Chloe gained confidence and the skills she needed to achieve her passion of empowering people like you to chase your dream careers.

The point is that you can’t learn everything from textbooks. VET training, courses or anything practical-based is definitely an option that’s worth looking into, and it’s something more students should be told about – don’t you think?

If you’re keen to get some skills like these under your belt but don’t know where to start, our mates over at the National Careers Institute (NCI) connects people of all ages and stages to information, advice and support to help them find the job or study options that's right for them.