Central reason wasteful learners will be behind (6)

I believe the answer is:

astern

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'be behind' is the definition.
(at the back or behind of a ship)

'central reason wasteful learners' is the wordplay.
'central' indicates the central letters.
'wasteful learners' becomes 'tern' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The middle of 'reason' is 'as'.
'as'+'tern'='ASTERN'

'will' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for astern that I've seen before include "Towards the rear of boat" , "Aft" , "Nautically behind" , "following behind vessel" , "Toward the tail of a vessel" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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