NIACE welcomes Vince Cable’s speech Thursday, June 3, 2010 - 16:30

In his speech to business leaders, at the Cass Business School in London, Vince Cable - Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - highlighted the long-term benefits that learning for its own sake can have on the economy:

"Education and learning are of course desirable in their own right. Education for education's sake - learning how to learn - benefits the economy in the long term. Philistinism is bad economics. It is also fundamentally unacceptable."

"A story from own life makes the point. My mother and father left school at fifteen to work in factories. My father eventually taught building trades in the local technical college: we need more people like him. My mother was a housewife and when I was ten she had a major nervous breakdown and spent time in a mental hospital. When she recovered she saved her mind through adult education - learning for the first time about history, literature, philosophy and art. We need more people like her too."

Peter Lavender, Deputy Chief Executive at NIACE, said:

"NIACE is delighted by the new Secretary of State's commitment to lifelong learning and his conviction that 'philistinism is bad economics' and 'fundamentally unacceptable'. We also welcome the commitment of the whole ministerial team to the importance of learning for its own sake. This recognition will be critical in the years to come as we struggle to grow and develop the country's economy, to develop and sustain communities, and help individuals become all that they are capable of becoming. There is a connection between economic regeneration and the personal confidence of adults and young people. New learning is one of the best recipes for recovery. We welcome this early recognition and public commitment by the Secretary of State."