Making the Big Society real Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 16:57

After attending NIACE's event highlighting the ways that Community Learning Champions contribute to the Big Society, through changing lives and transforming communities, Paul Maynard MP posed the following question in Parliament:

"Last night I had the pleasure of meeting three community learning champions from Blackpool at an event promoted and organised by NIACE...but funded by this Department. Does the Minister of State agree that money spent on informal adult learning needs to be valued and assessed for the benefits that it brings, because of its life-changing impact, and that money spent on informal adult learning is money that does not need to be spent on either the welfare system or social care?"

John Hayes, Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, responded:

"I think it was Yeats who said that education is lighting a fire, not filling a pail. I want the light of adult learning to burn brightly across the whole of Britain, which is why, against expectations and the predictions of our critics, we protected the adult learning budget, of more than £200 million, in the spending review. That light will burn as long as we are in government, and as long as I am the Minister."

I want the light of adult learning to burn brightly across the whole of Britain...That light will burn as long as we are in government, and as long as I am the Minister.

John Hayes, Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning

Businesses were also invited to the Learning champions: Making the Big Society real event - sponsored by Aviva - to find out how they can work together with NIACE and its partners to help secure the future of the Community Learning Champions Support Programme beyond April 2011.

Representatives from businesses including Tesco Plc, Allen & Overy LLP and Coffey International heard firsthand from some of the 60 Community Learning Champion projects around the country how lives and communities are transformed when learning champions are given the resources to use their creative talents and enthusiasm for learning, backed by effective support and training.

Kerryann Dunlop, aged 27, is a Community Learning Champion volunteering at BEST Computer Training in Stoke Newington. She said:

"I wasn't really doing much with my life before. I suffered with postnatal depression and I was stuck. Now I feel empowered and I have a focus. I've got freedom now and I've got my life back. I'm really excited about my future and about being able to help others to get to where I am."

"There are so many people that don't have the fundamental skills in life like English, Maths and knowing how to use a computer. The fact that at BEST we can offer now free English, free Maths and free IT courses to anybody with no restrictions is a fantastic thing. It makes me really happy to be a part of that, to be able to help other people forward their education or to just give them a bit of focus in life."

Liz Cousins, NIACE Project Manager, Community Learning Champions Support Programme, said:

"Community Learning Champions are having a remarkable impact on individuals and whole communities. Those attending this event will hear incredible stories about how Community Learning Champions have helped more people, not only get involved in learning, but completely transform their lives. Stories about how parents have raised their ambitions and those of their children. How offenders have been encouraged to move out of the cycle of re-offending and look positively to the future. And how more people have shaken off the damaging effects of depression and drug abuse and now feel more confident about themselves and their lives. Thanks to this scheme more people are finding jobs and more people are involved in making their community a much better place for everyone."

"We hope that businesses will see the merits of the Community Learning Champions Support Programme and that they will be inspired to work with us and our partners to build on its success and to steer a future beyond April 2011."

Attendees at the event heard from Stephanie Pickett - the first Community Learning Champion to receive the nationally recognised CLC badge - who talked about her work at Groundwork West Midlands to change the lives of young, homeless people in Coventry. The first Community Learning Champion to be registered in 2011, Richard Higgins, was also presented with his badge at the event.

Other key speakers at the event included:

• Marie Sigsworth, Group Director of Corporate Responsibility, Aviva;
• Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive, NIACE; and
• Liz Cousins, NIACE Project Manager, Community Learning Champions Support Programme.