[2109]
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Much stress has been placed on the need for on-going education. Indeed, in the 1990s, the ultimate in education – LLL (Life Long Learning) – was very much in vogue; though in practice little was done about it. But education is not just something done in the classroom, it is an attitude of mind.
I was very lucky because I had a very good start, before I was even five years old.
0020 My Grandfather
(0020T*) was a teacher extraordinaire and major influence on me
0044 Early Memories
(0044T*) – especially during wartime life at Croft
Avenue
Thanks to my mother, and my grandfather, I was a voracious reader from an early age. I read anything I could get my hands on. Ultimately my dream world was that created by Arthur Ransome, but radio in those times also had its place – where Lord Reith had ensured it too would see its role as educational.
0051 Early Book Reading
9195 Children’s Radio in the 1940s
Even our holidays soon abandoned sea and sand for the country; and the lessons of farm life.
0010 Haymaking at the Cottage
(0010T*)
0065 The Cottage
(0065T*)
0004 A Welsh Hill Farm
(0004T*)
Just occasionally we also went to London, where my favourite outing was to
the science museum:
The impact of my formal schooling was, of course, crucial.
0091 - First Prep School – although my first school was something of a disaster
0057- Birkenhead Prep School
(0057T*) – my second was something of a
miracle, and I never looked back.
And this naturally led on to:
0063 Birkenhead Junior School (0063T*)
As it was a public school, it purported to follow the practice of entry to the senior school by the ‘common entrance’ at the age of 13. In reality this was a fiction, and I knew of nobody who had actually entered at this age.
0040
Third-Form
(0040T*)
0041 Form Four
(0041T*)
0098 Fifth Form
0097 Lower Sixth
(0097T*)
0014 The Sixth Form
0568 Upper Sixth
For the whole of my (secondary) school life everything I learned was directed at becoming a scientist, though – by the time I reached the Sixth Form - the seeds sown by my success in Economics were beginning to germinate.
0079 Scientist - my future career in science already mapped out.
00137 Rockets - with my fascination of this subject a major contributor
0170 RAE - leading to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, as my first (gap
year) full time job.
0154 Government Research – though in reality I worked on computer circuits.
But, perhaps due to my growing interest in Economics, though surprisingly in view of my previous achievements and the fact that I now have a PhD, I never quite got down to my academic studies and barely scraped a Third Class Honours.
0186 Imperial College -- Physics First Year
0152 Physics Second Year
0148 Physics Third Year
But, despite my growing alienation from science, even my vac jobs still reflected my position as a physics student.
0128 Physikalische Technische Bundesanstalt
Indeed, my real learning there – which was not obvious at the time but became important in my later life - came from my involvement in student political activities.
0180 International Relations Club
0147 Anti-Apartheid
Thereafter, like that of my peers, most of my education came from my best (educational) experiences in the workplace.
0136 Graduate Recruitment & FCB
(0136T*)
9268 PST - Phillips Scott and Turner
(9268T*)
0157 Brand Management at PST
0111 Gallahers – training
0190 Gallaher – leaf
0164 Gallahers - tobacco production
0177 Tobacco Division
0105 Gallahers market research
0146 Condor advertising
0151 BTR -- British Tyre and Rubber
0127 Polymeric Production (boots)
0101 BTR moulding shop
Above all, it came from IBM – which was one of the few companies to take education of its staff as seriously as it should be, then spending something like 8% of its revenue on educating its workers.
0200 IBM Education
0174 My Sales Training
0162 Sales Enthusiasm & Learning
Indeed, I soon graduated to teaching trainees myself, just about the best way to learn yourself:
0153 Teaching
0163 Business Education
0259 Education Staff
0173 Sales Trainer
0129 Dummy Calls
0244 GSD Education
0220 GSD Business School
(0220T*)
9120 LBS Teaching
On the other hand, the most intense burst of learning probably came when I moved into IBM Biomedical Group, and had to move from zero knowledge of biology to being an international expert on pheresis in less than 18 months! It showed just what can be done by self-education.
0224 Joining Biomedical
0134 Biomedical Entry
(0134T*)
0232 Biomedical Seminars and Symposia
9181 Biomedical - Medical experience
0131
Biomedical Research
Of course, you should also learn from your mistakes and this was certainly true of my greatest business failure when – full of confidence - I set up my own business.
0222 Computerland - the Road to Bankruptcy
The most obviously educational aspect of my life came, however, when I joined the OU:
9180 OU 1 - Starting at the Open University
9124 OU4 - The OBS Family
(9124T*)
9179 OU14 - Head of Centre -- Strategy and Policy
(9179T*)
Starting with marketing courses, which applied the practical knowledge I had spent a couple of decades acquiring:
9119 OU 2 - Marketing Courses in Maintenance
9132 OU 3 - The New Marketing Course B732
I moved on, in a natural progression, to corporate strategy – and the course B885 ‘The Challenge of the External Environment’ - which then, unexpectedly, moved on to futurology and became one of the most successful courses at the OU:
9128 OU5 - The Start of B885
9192 OU12 - Writing B885
In particular, though, the learning process peaked as I built up my research:
2012 Marketing Material – as I have said,
the earlier academic interest, derived from my previous career, was in marketing
2018 Futures Research – but I later moved
on to long range planning and futurology
I suppose the peak of my education should be seen as the award of my PhD, though it didn’t seem like it at the time; and still doesn’t. This was merely the natural outcome of a lifetime of learning!
7174 PhD - Reducing Uncertainty 1 – Abstract,
List of Included Publications, Introduction,
Background
7187
PhD Reducing Uncertainty 2 - Context and Initial Field
Research, Simpler (Corporate) Scenario Forecasting,
Robust Strategies, Global
Scenarios, Applications
7120 - PhD Reducing Uncertainty 3 - Hypothesis of Aggregated Expectations,
Government (Global) Action,
Conclusions, Appendix -
Research Methodologies, References,
Acknowledgements
Indeed, throughout my life, I have learned as much from my private life as from work. Just one example of this is that learned from the Arts:
2021 The Arts – where this section records the various facets of my main pastime.
hits