The phrases ‘adult learner’ and ‘life-long learning’ crop up everywhere in healthcare education. Essentially, they mean that you – yes, you – are responsible for acquiring knowledge and skills throughout your life through education, training, employment and life experiences. If you expect your tutors and mentors to expound all the knowledge you will need to become the practitioner of the future, you are in for a shock. Think beyond the elements of your course that are assessed and strive to become the best you can be by going that extra mile for yourself. You will make decisions about why, what, when, how and where you will study, so choose wisely – your future success will depend on the choices you make (Figure 1.1).

The reality for many students is that higher education is hugely bureaucratic and run by individuals who often manage administrative and research responsibilities along with their teaching roles. Try to learn something of the systems and people who shape your institution and influence your learning opportunities. You can do this by attending orientation days, speaking to staff, becoming a course representative, attending staff–student committees or by getting involved with your local Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Royal College of Midwives (RCM) or the National Students’ Union.

Alongside the culture of your institution, you will also need to negotiate the culture and expectations of your chosen profession (Marshall and Rowland, 1996).

Succeeding as a student is a balancing act. Your friends and family are probably very excited and supportive of you starting your course. This enthusiasm can begin to flag a few weeks down the line when there is no milk in the fridge, nothing for dinner and all you think and talk about is your course. For the first few months you might ride a rollercoaster of emotions and may feel exhausted most of the time. You will eventually find your equilibrium but, in the meantime, you will need to learn to say no to unreasonable demands with grace and confidence and know when you need to make time to have some fun (Common, 2007).

Before you start, be sure to find out about important things, such as what time your day starts and finishes; whether there is car parking nearby and how much it costs; and, if you are going to be late home, who will take care of your family (e.g. children and other dependants). Neglecting any aspect of your life will create an imbalance that might cause you additional stress and affect the quality of your work.

You are going to be developing existing skills as well as new ones, such as information technology skills or the power of language. This is demonstrated in the box below.

If you seek certainty in life and do not want to change your values or your ideas, then a career in nursing or midwifery might not be right for you. Higher education will confront you with questions that challenge your existing value systems. It will ask you to open your mind to both exciting and confusing possibilities. Explore your motivation for study and what you hope to achieve, then stay alert to all the ways that will lead to your success (Marshall and Rowland, 1996).

Look at the following activities and think about what they might entail:

Some of these activities involve working with other students and some are solitary activities. To do them effectively, you will probably need to develop or enhance new skills, such as how to prepare for lectures or to read effectively; these are discussed in detail in other chapters. You need to think about what resources you need to become an effective student.

Asking ‘why?’ can help you to reveal fundamental questions. For example, asking ‘why do we write information down about clients?’ will produce more insightful answers than asking ‘how can we improve handwritten records?’ Asking ‘why?’ can lead us to understand, criticize and evaluate the status quo and inform our answers.

Nurses and midwives are researchers and innovators. Being able to ask experimental or cause-and-effect questions such as ‘what happens if…?’ or ‘what might happen if…?’ can help to influence how care is delivered. Equally, being able to free your imagination and ask speculative questions such as ‘what if…’ can lead to the development of practice in new and challenging directions. (Marshall and Rowland, 1996).

How you learn, where you learn and when you learn will be determined by a number of factors. At university you will receive a time-table, which will tell you about the times and locations of lectures and seminars; do give yourself time to find where these rooms are, as arriving late is embarrassing for you and distracting for those who got there on time.

There may be minimum attendance requirements to pass modules – this will include time spent in practice – find out what these are and, if you are ill or away, be prepared to make this time up. There will be personal study time when you can choose ‘how’ and ‘where’ to study; use this wisely.

There is an assumption that you will spend time outside of ‘university’ hours engaged in activities related to the course such as reading, preparing assignments, collecting materials for projects.

Management of your time and the activities that fill it is a very important aspect of studying. When you are studying outside the time that has been allocated to you in university, you will have to make all the decisions; working at home means mixing your studies with all your other activities. Devoting time to your studies means that you will have less time for some of the other things that you already do. Northedge (2005) identifies three areas that generate activities that are likely to compete for your time: social commitments, work commitments and leisure activities.

If you devote too much time to learning at home, or in university, then your social life and leisure activities will suffer. Embarking on a midwifery or nursing course can be life changing, and you need to be prepared for how it might affect people close to you.

You need to have balance between your social life, work and leisure. We are all different – some people like to leave things to the last minute whereas others plan ahead. Planning can help you organize your life and should lead to less stress. Planning/timetabling is very helpful; you can use a diary (online or paper based) or a year planner. Remember that:

Being realistic will contribute to your sense of wellbeing. If you set yourself demanding goals and then fail to live up to your own expectations, it is possible that you will feel frustrated and disappointed; for example, not giving yourself sufficient time to write an assignment can result in you not answering the question, rushing it, making mistakes or having great ideas poorly structured (Siviter, 2008). If you set an achievable goal, you are less likely to fail and you can benefit from the positive feelings associated with a job well done. Don’t be tempted to set goals that are easy to achieve; if they are too low, you may feel frustrated because you are not making the most of your abilities. You also run the risk of falling behind because you are not doing enough to keep up with the demands of the course.

Planning and setting realistic goals is a skill that is gained through experience, so don’t be afraid to experiment and try out different things. First of all you need to identify what kind of learner you are.