Nothing Can Stop You

It is estimated that in the UK alone that one in six people do not have the literacy skills expected of 11 year olds. The impact on everyday lives of a literacy, numeracy or language difficulty can be enormous. A couple of years ago the Government ran a series of adverts with Gremlins (i.e confidence) holding people back from tackling their learning and skills deficiencies.

Now Learndirect have launched a free book in an attempt to get people to conquer the hurdle of deciding to tackle their skills issues through learning, aimed obviously at Learndirect. The book is available free through the website www.nothingcanstopyou.co.uk and is designed to help people break through their own personal barriers to learning in quick easy steps.

With a foreword by ex-Hearsay'er and Corrie star Kym Marsh, the book is actually more of a self-help book than a manual. It's only 64 pages long and written in a relaxed but formal style, full of activities and checklists for people to try out as they look to conquer their learning barriers and plan to increase their skills in whichever area they choose. Each of the five chapters looks at subjects ranging from setting goals and getting motivated to creating time to learn. For example, people admit to wasting an average of 2.2 hours a week because they put off jobs or simply lose time because of a lack of planning. Tips to overcome this hurdle are covered here.

Learndirect have a myriad of advanced and non-advanced courses for people to try, I'm not sure on the cost of any of them though as the book and learndirect themselves don't seem to provide any course prices, which is obviously a concern for any low earners who wish to better themselves. A quick call to the Learndirect helpline didn't really help, although they did state that course pricing was individual and would be set by the local Learndirect centre. That aspect could really be a bit more transparent as that is a barrier to learning all by itself.

That aside, the book itself is bound to be of help to anyone needing to convince themselves that learning is a good way of boosting skills and confidence. And it's free…