does freelancing make you a better lifelong learner?

We're currently in the middle(ish) of this year's Lifelong Learning Week - an annual campaign to highlight the importance of continuing to exercise our 'little grey cells' after our school years, and shine a light on the various benefits that doing so creates for us personally, those around us, and the wider communities and worlds we're part of.

As a freelancer/self-employed, I've always prioritised maintaining an ongoing and active learning mindset:

• I set targets for how much of my turnover I try and spend on courses, journals, and events;
• I keep a rolling monthly log of all my formal CPD activities, to help reflect on what I've taken from them, and how they've contributed to how I've challenged/changed my thinking and practices;
• I hold memberships of bodies like the Workers Educational Association and the Co-op College, as a show of solidarity with providers of lifelong learning;
• and more...

But I was struck this year that only 52% of us 'adults' have engaged in any type of recognised learning activity in the last 3 years, and that there are growing inequalities in the opportunities and abilities for some of us to even have the option and opportunity to engage in learning activities : https://learningandwork.org.uk/resources/research-and-reports/adult-participation-in-learning-survey-2024/

Reflecting on my own 'learning habits', and hearing about those of fellow freelancer and self-employed types through different communities I'm part of (such as Being Freelance, ipse, FSB, etc) makes me realise that perhaps there's something about working in this way which helps to address some of these barriers and inequalities that we all face when it comes to lifelong learning.
Maybe because we recognise the importance of always investing in our skills and knowledge (we'd quickly become obsolete and lose work if we didn't!), and because of this, more easily 'catch the learning bug'?

And if so, should we make this part of how we celebrate and evidence just how important we are to the wider economy and communities, as another example of how underrated and undervalued we are to policy makers and politicians?