Home schooling

Since the Covid-19 lockdown, online learning is all the rage. Leslie Bliss takes a look at what it has to offer those who wish to upskill from the comfort of their own home

- Leslie Bliss

EVERYONE’S doing it. From toddlers to pensioners, all and sundry have embraced e-learning since the Covid-19 lockdown. Learning online is more accessible and enjoyable than ever.

As the entire country has been confined, video conferencing has suddenly become mainstream. Everyone is using it – Zoom, Facetime, Microsoft Teams, Skype and Cisco WebEx to name but a few – from the BBC with its daily government coronavirus press conferences to Have I Got News For You, as well as schools and universities.

Online education providers have been inundated since the lockdown as e-learning has come into its own, even for equestrians. No, you can’t beat practical experience, but there is a huge amount you can learn. After all, distance learning has been around for a long time, once upon a time reliant on good old-fashioned Royal Mail.

BHSII Julie Brega founded The Open College of Equine Studies (TOCES) some 32 years ago, offering what were then called correspondence courses.

“I was filling a gap in the market. While training British Horse Society (BHS) students on my yard, I was running evening classes for them, setting homework, and it progressed from there,” she says.

The college has come a long way since then, catering for complete beginners to those aiming for a degree-level diploma. There are 100%-online courses, but others require hands-on experience. For those, TOCES combines e-learning with practical study weeks at its new, purpose-built training facility in Suffolk.

“Our youngest student is 13, our oldest 72, and 20% come from abroad. Students fly-in from all over the world for the study weeks – from the Singapore Turf Club, Hong Kong, Finland and South Africa.