A Lecturers Life – Meet Bryan Schooling

A Lecturers Life – Meet Bryan Schooling

The phone rings, my taxi is here. I kiss my family goodbye. My 4 year old runs off to play with something as my impending absence is instantly forgotten about. Unicorns are obviously much more interesting. My wife with a 7-month-old in her arms wishes me a safe journey before closing the door and rushing off to see what that crashing sound was that came from the direction of said 4 years old. I’m standing there staring at the front door, inches from my nose. It’s not like in the movies with tearful goodbyes, Bach playing in the background, this is reality. Sigh. I’ll be on my way then.

Airport, please.

I’m not actually flying as the times aren’t suitable to get to where I’m going so picking up a hire car for a 5-hour drive. 5 hours of peace and quiet……don’t tell the wife! It’s been busy recently and I’ve worked quite a lot so am treated by the guys with a Mercedes Benz! Nice. 30 minutes later after making/finding the adjustments to fit my 6’2” frame behind the wheel of a sports saloon I’m on my way, cruise control on and music blaring in prime comfort.

CRACK! What the blazes was that!? Oh no, the windscreen has a crack right in the bottom left which is thankfully just above the bonnet so at least no bodywork repair. No idea what hit me, just thankful the car is still roadworthy. Need to tell the boss and send photos.

Crack! Not so loud but again another impact. It’s OK, no cracks and the previous one hasn’t grown. My years of inspecting kicking in there…..wonder what the tolerance of the windscreen is? Rate of deterioration acceptable. I jest, of course, I do have friends!

My mind cannot help but wonder about the upcoming two-day course. There is always a little anxiety before meeting 8-12 strangers and trying your best to give them value for money. Will they understand how I explain things? Will they read my writing OK? What questions could they ask? Our company philosophy is not just about ensuring the delegates pass an exam but more about providing knowledge and understanding to improve upon what they already know and pass the exam because they solved the problem and not because they remember a fact or figure. It’s not enough to know what but also why.

Check in to the hotel goes one of two ways usually. I arrive with the reception trying to charge me for the stay after this has already been agreed the week before by my company whom I work for and will be paid at the end with the card details already provided. Or, everything goes smoothly………

I am absolutely certain I do not have to pay, please check the email correspondence. Receptionist roll of the eyes. My damage tolerance is decreasing by the minute. We eventually get things sorted out and I am on my way to unpack and prepare for tomorrow. I can’t wait to sit down, I’m so tired. Why!? I’ve just been sitting for over 5 hours. Isn’t that strange? I’m now slightly dreading what kind of preparation the hotel has done for the room I’m going to be using to deliver the course.

I’m up at 5 am to prepare for the day. Lesson plan reviewed and a bit more reading to firm up the information swimming around my mind. Off to have breakfast. Nice healthy stuff so I can justify a wine and some tasty unhealthy food in the evening!

The room requires some work to arrange in the “U” shape previously requested. Where’s the water? Where’s the HDMI cable? Where’s my desk? Where’s my Gin! I get everything sorted out which is why we usually get to the room a good hour before the delegates arrive. I wonder what a bad hour looks like? The sign on the door says, Welcome Stephen. Who’s Stephen??

The delegates start arriving and small chat ensues. When everyone is here I say Hello everybody in my voice that suggests this is now to pay attention time and we have started. I say something like thank you for choosing Wilkinson Coutts as your training provider and that what better way to spend a Monday morning than learning such a technical subject that takes 3 months of prior online learning just to get to the classroom! Be honest, make it seem like they’re doing something crazy and as such are a special unique breed of person for even considering such madness. It’s not far from the truth actually. It takes a lot of time and effort, after years of gaining experience, to pass some of these exams. Imagine then what kind of lunatic it takes to teach this stuff then!? Wait a minute?…………

We’ve had a laugh to get rid of any nerves and now know that this is an informal and welcoming environment in which to learn. Let’s get serious and explain what the expectations are. No death by PowerPoint. We write all the notes down on, these days, a digital whiteboard which is displayed on a TV or projector screen.

I love it. No more pens running out, paper running out, people at the back not able to read because the chart is too small or I’m in the way as I write. I pace up and down gesticulating and writing on my pad, choosing different colours to emphasise drawings, diagrams and text. Mistake? No worries, I just “undo” or rub it out. Long press on my wiggly line turns them into ramrod-straight lines, boxes and circles! I can draw perfect circles! What? You missed the last bit? Well let me just scroll up a bit…….there you go. I’m in full geek mode and yes, the small things in life for sure after years of paper frustration. Tap tap tap and a video is now playing. I look around at people frantically writing down the information. They’re hooked, brilliant!

We like to engage our delegates by asking them questions and leading them to find the answers. Better to learn from working it out yourself than be spoken at for 7-8 hours. You’re here to learn. Questions are welcomed, discussions are welcomed, sharing of experiences are welcomed. It all adds to the learning experience and what better way to relate the theory to the practical world?

Soon we’re into the second half of the morning and things have got serious. Furious writing and concentration etched on every face or is that confusion or anxiety, probably a combination of all. These courses can be an emotional rollercoaster for everyone. The delegates hoping they’ve done enough to pass and we hoping we’ve done enough to teach them what they need to know. The drive to succeed is fraught with difficult twists and turns but is then so much more rewarding when the goal is achieved. It’s been well earned and then some.

At the end of the day, homework is given out and is met with some tired but smiling faces. Thanks for that Bryan, great day. Inward huge sigh of relief.

Any questions before we finish?

Bryan, you didn’t use any notes or read from a book. How do you teach a whole day like that?

Oh, well….(feeling a little sheepish but also quite proud that the work that has been put in has been noticed)….We put in the time to prepare and go over the material. I brush it off in exaggerated modesty.

Honestly though? The directors, Paul and Craig, have exceptionally high standards and we are required to deliver courses without any aid. This way, we learn the content and all the background information over hours and hours of pouring over the codes, publications, books, reference material and the likes in order to try and fully understand the subject matter. This approach allows us to flow dynamically with the class learning ability compared to a linear PowerPoint presentation which would be a lot more restrictive. It has taken a lot of hard work and tears to get to this position.

Well, that was a successful 8 hours. Time for a bit of decompression and then some food. It’s about 7 pm and now catching up with the day’s emails. Questions from delegates asking for clarification on information from last weeks course. Switch gear and get mind into another subject matter to email back explanations. What’s the best course for me to achieve a, b or c? Switch gear again. Did you consider option 1, 2 or 3 based on your current experience?

By the end of the course, we are all tired and ready to go home. Me, to spend a few hours with the family before the next course and the delegates go back to work waiting for the good news of a pass to come through.

I get home in the middle of the evening after the monsters have gone to bed. I try to downplay how awesome it was to have the bed to myself and sleep uninterrupted through the night, despite the questioning. I’m tired from the drive but say nothing to a woman who has had to look after two young children for 3 days. I’ve done some stupid things in my life and I’m not about to add this to the list!

5 am start the next morning, switch gear again. I’ve beaten the kids in waking up! Picture an adult fist-pumping in silence at one of the few times he’s beaten his 4-year-old daughter. I don’t care what you think, I’m taking it.

Preparations start for a virtual in house training course over the next few days. This company in the Middle East wants us to train their guys as it is cheaper than to send them to the UK and with remote exams which can be done at home or in the office it makes far more sense financially to do this.

We have been carrying out training specifically for companies more and more recently whether that be for the fully certified courses or company-specific training to meet internal or regulatory authority requirements. Piping Inspection awareness, PRD Training, Pressure Testing awareness to name but a few courses we have designed to meet client requirements. You could be in Italy, Kazakhstan, UK, Middle East, West Africa or wherever as it does not matter when virtual training is so easily available.

Hello?…..Hellooooo? Can you hear me? I can hear you. Oh, we’re all back. Can you see my screen? Is she frozen or just sitting really still?? Hang on! Is he asleep?! No, just frozen! It doesn’t come without its challenges but these are part of the quirks associated with the digital world and now happens a lot less frequently as realisation from the software developing companies that virtual communications are more essential than ever and need to be more robust. It works very well now.

It’s the end of the week and everyone has passed their exams that had courses that week. I get an email from someone who failed their exam the previous week. We can’ twin them all I guess and they become one of the 5% who fails their API exam after training with us. 95% pass rate. Not bad against the global about 50-60% pass rate.

I get home and the kids pounce and snuggle up to me on the sofa, a beer is thrust in my hand and Peppa Pig is on the telly which I can’t hear anyway as my daughter is talking to me like I’m across the room. What? It’s not like in the movies remember? And, the Lions aren’t playing until tomorrow. I’m already hatching a plan to sabotage one of the activities I’ve been told I’m doing so I can watch this.