How To Start a Reskilling Revolution

In 2016, two friends discussed how they wanted to change the direction of their careers. Zahra Davidson and Jacob Bacian noticed that most people who wanted to make a career change took the formal education route to reskill themselves. But what happens when you don’t have the desire, time or money to pursue a traditional master’s degree? Zahra and Jacob agreed that there were some elements of traditional education that they really could benefit from, but there were some aspects they felt were really not for them. They wanted to work in collaboration and exchange skills ideas with a dynamic cohort of supportive co-learners. They also wanted structure over a significant period of time to act as a backbone for meaningful learning enquiry. They didn’t feel a need for accreditation, a fancy campus or being told what to do by tutors. From this discussion, the peer-to-peer learning collective — Enrol Yourself was created.

Learning Marathons
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Zahra and Jacob ​started the first Learning Marathon pilot of Enrol Yourself in the summer of 2016, as participants themselves. The Learning Marathon cohort consisted of a group of adults committed to learning with and from each other, over a period of 6 months. During the pilot, they realised that the process could be of value to more than the 12 people participating in the initial pilot. This led to Enrol Yourself developing from a side project to social enterprise.

Enrol Yourself gives participants the opportunity to collaborate in a multidisciplinary peer group. In formal education, students studying on the same programme often come from similar professional and educational backgrounds. Zahra and Jacob believe homogenous learning groups are of much less value in terms of learning than more diverse ones. Diversity of skills, backgrounds and perspectives only enrich the learning experiences of Learning Marathon participants. The peer-to-peer learning gives participants the chance to share and construct new knowledge.

The Learning Marathon curriculum is always evolving to meet the specific needs of each cohort. It is co-created with participants at the beginning of every Learning Marathon. Everyone maps their skills and goals. The group then discusses and votes on which workshops will be of most value to them. From this, a personalised programme of learning that spans 6 months is designed.
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The Learning Marathon provides participants with a safe space to experiment. Participants decide on what ‘good enough’ looks like to them. The role of an expert tutor doesn’t exist in a Learning Marathon. The co-founders stress that the roles of all participants are of equal importance to the Learning Marathon. This environment enables participants to feel safe enough to take risks; try out new ideas; express themselves; tackle challenges; and be vulnerable.

Learning with a purpose

Each participant comes to the Learning Marathon with a specific learning question. This question frames their exploration and learning — and it’s essential that the question is of great importance to the individual. For example ‘how might I create a boardgame that communicates important messages about the climate crisis?’ or ‘how can I use movement and dance to overcome limiting thinking habits?’. Each Learning Marathon enables participants to get to know a group of new people through the lens of their most burning question. New relationships are formed around the things that matter most to them.

Addressing local needs

A large amount of funding is available for programmes that provide learning opportunities for young people up to the age of 25. The co-founders noticed how this provision drops off a cliff for similar programmes for over 25s. “In the 21st Century we are facing huge challenges, not least widening inequality and the climate crisis. These challenges will not impact everyone equally. Those who typically have fewer opportunities will be impacted the most. There will be huge changes to society including loss and creation of jobs due to automation and accelerating technological development,” says Zahra. She believes adults are going to need to learn like never before if they’re to continue to thrive — or even stay afloat. “If people need to rely on our traditional models of learning for this, the majority will be screwed. We need models of learning that devolve power and opportunity to communities to do it for themselves, to reduce costs and redistribute agency.”
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Enrol Yourself addresses this challenge by placing peer-to-peer approaches at the heart of everything they do. They train all local hosts who initiate and run the Learning Marathon in their local area. Everything they do is designed to be distributive, locally-led and empowering at the grassroots level. The programme encourages people to take their learning into their own hands, alongside their peers.

The impact of Enrol Yourself
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More than 130 people have now participated in the Learning Marathon in London, Birmingham and Bristol to date. Enrol Yourself measures the impact that each Learning Marathon has on learner wellbeing, resilience and 21st Century skillset. Their alumni tell them they are 38% more professionally effective, 27% happier and 23% more entrepreneurial after participating in the programme. They also report that the process has improved their mental health, helped them set up side hustles and businesses, helped them change careers, find new jobs, allowed them to make new friends, helped them feel more purposeful, less lonely… the list goes on.

• Enrol Yourself is always looking for new hosts and participants. If you want to find out more about hosting or participating in the Learning Marathon head to enrolyourself.com
• You can follow what they’re up to on twitter @EnrolYourself and on instagram @enrol_yourself
• Enrol Yourself also work with organisations; running programmes for employees and offering learning design/delivery consultation, drawing on their experience running the Learning Marathon.
• Contact them on [email protected] if you’d like to work with them, or partner with them on a project.