Not everyone would react to being made redundant while on maternity leave in the same way as Miranda Buchanan.

But Buchanan’s resilience in the face of adversity, is perhaps just one of the reasons why she was named AAT’s Distance Learner of the Year 2018.

After her job role at a charity was lost following a takeover, the new mum saw the combination of redundancy pay and maternity leave as an opportunity to learn new skills. Knowing she would have to find a new job, she reviewed her CV and was confident in her management experience, but wanted to boost her financial qualifications. Her research led her to the AAT and a quick online test suggested Foundation Certificate was a good starting point.

“I used my redundancy money to do the course, which was a bit scary because it was my financial security at the time – but I don’t regret it,” says Buchanan, who was 30 at the time.

Distance learning – the perfect solution to juggling motherhood and studies

Buchanan’s daughter was just eight months old when she enrolled for her course in August 2016 (a month after being made redundant), with The Training Place of Excellence, which coincidentally is a short distance away from her home in South London. “It turns out I drove past it all the time but had never really noticed it before,” she says.

Her plan was to become “a student at night” and use the flexibility of distance learning to fit her studies and exams around her new family commitments. Learning at her own pace also helped accommodate her dyslexia, she says.

“I’d get my daughter into bed and then 11pm-5am was my study time. I knew it was time to go to bed when I heard the first plane fly over,” she explains, adding that “having a baby who doesn’t respect that mum might want to sleep” made her night-time study make even more sense. “Obviously I would have loved more sleep, but it was short-term pain for long-term gain.”

A self-confessed night owl, Buchanan realises her study plan wouldn’t suit everyone, but says coming up with a regimen that suits you, your life and your preferred times for study is one of the biggest advantages of learning at a distance.

Finding a balance 

After her first exam, Buchanan took a short break from her studies but later took five or six assessments back-to-back. She passed them all first time, but says it was harder to get back into the studying routine after pausing:

“When I first started it was like when you sign up for the gym and you are an eager beaver and then after a few weeks… it changes,” she says. “Sometimes flexibility is good but then you can abuse it. With distance learning, there’s no one else there pushing you. It’s a lot of self-discipline, you’ve got to put in the hours. Like everything in life, you’ve got to stick at it to get results. The flexibility is there though if something happens and you need to take some time off.”

She also urges students to find a balance, as without a classroom setting and peer-to-peer you can burn out. “It’s easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself and spend too long staring at a laptop,” she says.

“Make sure breaks and treats are part of your schedule too, whether it’s a biscuit, a walk in the morning or a few minutes to check social media as a reward for working,” she says.

“Within the last hour of study, I’d have a break from the laptop and a gin and tonic. If you don’t find that balance you will end up resenting your studies and won’t want to come back to them the next day.”

Be persistent 

Buchanan says the beginning of the course was the trickiest part, because the language and concepts were so unfamiliar.

“It was all brand new, starting with credits and debits, which I didn’t understand at first. But once you get the foundation out of the way the course gets easier because it’s all related. You have to be persistent,” she says.

The support she received from her learning provider, especially when she felt stuck, was invaluable, she says. They provided her with ample materials and she would supplement these by searching for online discussions and YouTube videos if she needed alternative explanations of complex and new ideas.

Buchanan is now working for a small, family-run property management business and has already been able to implement some of the ideas and practices she learned for her Foundation Certificate.

“I have introduced cashbooks and there are few other things that I want to slowly introduce – I don’t want to be the new person coming in and taking over though,” she laughs. My qualification has definitely come in useful and it feels really good to be able to use it to help the business.”

Her distance learning experience was so positive that she now has her sights set on Advanced Diploma. “Looking at the job market there are always jobs in finance. All the admin jobs have that listed as a skill too so if I have that I will be more competitive,” she says.

Now it’s about applying what she’s learned and saving up for the next course. Second-time around perhaps she’ll have time for more sleep too – if she doesn’t, it’s unlikely to stop her or her success.

Resource of the day

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Going the distance with distance learning.

Studying can be stressful. Having to juggle family, work and social commitments plus trying to study, can be tricky. However, by studying through distance learning, these issues can be managed and you can work your studies around YOU and YOUR life.

Still have a few unanswered questions about distance learning? We’ve  teamed up with Premier Training to provide three videos packed full of top tips to help you out. Whether it be time management, how to create a revision schedule that works for you, or even how you’d go about making the jump from foundation to advanced, we have it covered. 

In each of the three videos Sam Hannigan will be devoting time to specific topics, namely the foundations of distance learning, how to gain your professional membership, as well as how to step up and advance your studies. Sam Hannigan is the Programme Manager at Premier Training and is a qualified teacher with over 15 years experience of teaching the AAT.

Below are some of the topics that will be covered in each video.

The foundation of distance learning (20 minutes)

• • Time management – hints and tips on how to plan your time in order to achieve the most out of your study session.
  • Bite size chunks – how much studying can be too much or too little.
  • Remember you are not alone – what support is available for you while you study via distance learning.

Gaining your professional membership (20 minutes)

• • Prior knowledge – the leap from the foundation level to the advanced level can be overwhelming at times. So what can you do to ensure you stay confident and achieve your desired goal?
  • Planning – what are you going to study? When are you going to study? Where are you going to study?
  • Support – using the support networks available is crucial. So, what is available for you to use?

Advancing your studies (20 minutes)

• • Stay focused – as the qualification gets harder now is the time to focus on the reasons for taking the qualification.
  • Fail to prepare – prepare to fail.
  • Use your experience and prior knowledge to help you succeed.

Next Up: From adversity to award winner: AAT Distance Learner of the Year 2018

Browse the full range of AAT study support resources here

Distance learning can produce a unique type of stress and anxiety.

Students can feel isolated at home without the camaraderie of classmates or personal encouragement from teachers.

Flashpoints can occur when booking assessments or panicking during revision. Stress can also be triggered by practical difficulties linked to problems as mundane as slow internet connections, or the lack of a quiet space to study.

However, experts agree that whatever the challenges may be, stress when distance learning can be avoided and overcome with the right mental attitude.

“Often you can’t change your broadband speed or you can’t change your IT but you can change your attitude,” said Professor Stephen Palmer, director of London’s Centre for Stress Management.

Strive to be more organised

Instead of accepting “low-stress tolerance” where you tell yourself you can’t stand a particular situation, opt for “high-stress tolerance” where you teach yourself to accept a situation that you don’t like, he explained.

“So you actually change your inner dialogue and are more resilient to do a distance learning course.”

Harbouring unrealistically high expectations for yourself and others or taking a perfectionist approach to life also added to the pressure, he said.

“Changing your thinking style can actually help. Instead of saying ‘it must be this way’, it’s better to say it’s preferable to be this way but it doesn’t have to be. So you can take some of your self-created stress out of the equation,” Palmer suggested.

On a more practical note, however, he advised that striving to be more organised was also an important stress-busting technique.

“People put themselves under time pressure, and often will leave things until the last moment. That’s when IT or your computer goes wrong. Things happen. Life happens and it’s about how to tackle it when it crops up. Give yourself more time and don’t do things at the last moment,” he said.

Focus on positive emotions

Elaine Sanders, a life coach and co-founder of The Stress Experts, said that in order to be able to handle stress better, it was imperative to understand the difference between the terms “stressor” and “stress.”

“Stressors are those things that trigger you, in this case the deadlines, time pressure, faulty technology, or difficult people. Stress is your emotional response to those stressors,” she said.

“While you can do very little to escape, change, or prevent the stressors, you have absolute control over your emotional response and thus your stress. Preventing stress, therefore, depends on your ability to regulate your emotions,” Sanders explained.

Lingering negative emotions add to stress by creating disharmony among the brain, heart, and other body systems, leading to “drained energy, lower concentration, impaired memory, and decreased brain function,” she added.

Tackling this requires a focus on positive emotions including “enthusiasm, appreciation, care, or self-compassion” and spending less time and energy on negative ones.

Build healthy habits 

Sanders recommends building certain healthy habits into your schedule to help regulate emotions.

“Before you even get out of bed, start your morning by feeling in your heart the emotion of appreciation – appreciation just for being alive. Try to sustain this feeling for at least the first half hour of your morning as you get ready for your day,” she said.

Controlling your emotional responses also helps to overcome procrastination, one of the barriers to the successful completion of distance learning.

“Preparation is one of the best habits to implement. Prepare for each day, each segment of your work, each project by asking yourself what you want to feel in that particular situation,” said Sanders.

“Do you want to feel engaged and attentive? No one is going to reach inside you and make you feel that way. If you want to feel it, you need to intentionally bring it.”

Maintaining a healthy diet and getting 7-9 hours sleep a night are also vital to well-being, she said. “End your day in the same way you began it, feeling heartfelt appreciation before you fall asleep.”

Take a break 

If you do feel your nerves becoming frayed under building stress, it’s important to take a break, said Sanders.

“Not just any break with checking email, visiting social media, or rehashing what you’re working on, but an intentional emotional break,” she underlined.

One technique recommended by Sanders is to pause, bring your attention to your heart, and breathe calmly.

“This technique, though simple, can have profound results if done genuinely. Focusing on your heart gives your mind a break from focusing on the problem. It also helps the heart to resynchronise the brain and other body systems,” she explained.

“Breathing calmly lets the body know that it is safe, helping the autonomic nervous system return to balance.”

Managing your mental state

Mike George, an author and motivational speaker at The Relaxation Centre agrees that tackling stress when distance learning, or in life more generally, is a battle with your mental state.

“No. 1, you’ve chosen the course so keep confirming that choice every day. No. 2, any pressure any fear is entirely self-created. It’s not the course, it’s not the deadline, it’s in your mind. So you have to manage your mental state,” he said.

“If you want to manage your mental state then No. 3, you have to find some kind of exercise like meditation or contemplation,” he continued.

“No. 4, don’t make yourself dependent on the outcome. If your life, your happiness, your feel-good factor is dependent on getting through it then you’re not going to be a happy bunny all the way to the end. Don’t make your journey dependent on passing and then you get rid of the fear of failure,” he said.

“Those are the four basic things because the stress itself is all in your mind.”

Resource of the day

Learn more about coping with stress when studying for your AAT qualifications.

Next Up: Video training sessions with Premier Training

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