PM and Skills Minister - 'adult learning crucial' Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - 11:51

In an interview in May's Adults Learning, the Prime Minister, David Cameron MP, considers adult learning to be crucial, saying:

"Learning isn't just about consuming chunks of knowledge in order to be able to do a job. It's about broadening the mind, giving people self-belief, strengthening the bonds of community."

"Over the past 13 years so many learning places have been lost because they haven't been deemed useful. And simply focusing on workplace training...often means funding something that employers would be willing to pay for anyway. The National Audit Office has said that Train to Gain represents poor value for money, so we will refocus it, committing an extra £100 million to learning chosen by people themselves."

"Adult learning has a really important role to play in encouraging active citizenship. I'm not just talking about what people learn about specifically, but how that learning makes them feel. Going along to college means meeting people, discussing what's going on in the world and boosting your belief in what you can do. It's that self-belief that leads people to get involved in their communities and become more active citizens."

"Given that my vision for this country is for all of us to get involved and play our part in national renewal, I believe adult learning, and the way it inspires people, is crucially important."

Speaking at the Adult Learners' Week Policy Conference (Prospects for Lifelong Learning in Challenging Times) - on Wednesday 19 May 2010 - John Hayes MP, the Minister for Further Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, said:

"Adult education - make no mistake - brings hope and the promise of a better society founded on social mobility, social justice and social cohesion."

"It both enriches the lives of individuals and the communities of which they are a part."

"Adult learning is not a luxury, it is an essential component of our education system - a point well made by the new Prime Minister in the published interview which you recently had with him, and I know you have been reading and enjoying."

"Unless everyone - rich or poor, young or old - is offered the chance to learn and to carry on learning though their lives then these ideals that will not be realised. They are ideals that should be part and parcel of all education, all life experience."

The conference focused on re-framing the priorities for adult learning in the new Parliament at a time of economic downturn and was shaped by the recommendations of Learning Through Life; the final report from the two year NIACE-sponsored Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning.

Discussions centred around re-balancing funding for adult learning to restore opportunities lost in further, higher and community education in recent years, to effectively support and re-engage individuals and communities affected by the recession.

Prospects for Lifelong Learning in Challenging Times was chaired by Brenda Gourley, former Vice Chancellor of the Open University and Chair of NIACE's Policy and Strategy Committee, and other contributors included:

• Professor Tom Schuller, Director of Longview;
• Jane Vass, Policy and Programme Manager for Employment and Learning, Age UK;
• Natasha Innocent, Senior Policy Adviser, Learning and Skills, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council;
• Tom Wilson, Director of Unionlearn, TUC;
• Ceri Williams, Principal, Mary Ward Centre;
• Fiona Blacke, Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency;
• Shane Chowan, Vice President (FE), National Union of Students;
• Pam Tatlow, Director, Million +;
• Lynne Sedgmore CBE, Chief Executive, 157 Group;
• Robert Raven, Head of Adult Learning and Skills, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham;
• Michael Davis, Director of Strategy and Performance, UK Commission for Employment and Skills;
• Cheryl Turner, Programme Director, NIACE;
• Professor Stephen McNair, Associate Director, NIACE; and
• Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive, NIACE.

Image by Alastair Grant/AP/Press Association.