Podcasts

To download the podcast, click the link below. If it does not automatically start playing, save the file onto your computer and then play it back through your usual media player. Where indicated, transcripts of the podcasts have also been provided for users with hearing impairments.

• Qualifications and Credit Framework - Podcast - [1 MB]2009-06-19 14:14

  The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has introduced the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). This podcast illustrates how the QCF embraces the culture of lifelong learning and the impact its flexibility will have on learners.

• Young care-leavers podcast - [1 MB]2009-01-21 11:18

  Dean Maguire left home when he was 15. His school attendance was very poor, he was using drugs and alcohol and was arrested on a number of occasions. But the support he got from the Depaul Trust is an example of how young care-leavers can get their lives back on track.

• Next Generation Learning podcast - [2 MB]2008-11-08 14:40

  Technology has had a positive impact in many areas of adult learning – as Becta’s Next Generation Learning campaign says, “In the classroom and at home, technology can excite learners, offer new ways to do things and make learning fun.” Ed Melia, Press Officer at NIACE visited a French class in Middlesbrough to see how they had been using new opportunities afforded by technology. Listen to views from learners, tutors and Jane Williams - Becta Executive Director Further Education, Skills and Regeneration - explaining the Next Generation Learning campaign.

• The impact of LLN in The Army - [2 MB]2008-10-10 01:00

  A podcast about the impact of Literacy, Language and Numeracy in The Army.

• Improving skills for life for grandparents and grandchildren - [1 MB]2008-09-26 10:51

  A podcast featuring family learning at Lawford Mead Infant and Nursery School in Chelmsford.

• The impact of LLN at Transport for London - [3 MB]2008-09-10 01:00

  A podcast about how Literacy, Langauge and Numeracy has had an impact for staff at Transport for London.

• Can read - can write - [1 MB]2008-08-15 10:55

  The Channel 4 programme 'Can't read, Can't write', showed the journey of adult learners who are learning to read and write. One of the learners - Linda Worden - speaks to NIACE Press Officer, Ed Melia, about her experiences at school, her frustration in trying to access courses and what her life is like now she can read and write.

• Technology and informal learning - [2 MB]2008-05-05 11:12

  The government consultation paper - ‘Informal Learning - shaping the future' covers a broad spectrum of learning activities including "structured and unstructured adult learning for enjoyment, personal fulfilment and intellectual, creative and physical stimulation."

  Communications technology is given a high profile in the paper so Becta teamed up with NIACE to run a national seminar on the use of technology for informal learning.

  This podcast captures some of the thoughts from participants as they emerged from the seminar.

• Interview with Sarah Housden - [987 KB]Transcript2007-06-22 12:48

  "People tend to see older people as a burden to society", says Sarah Housden author of the new NIACE publication Reminiscence and Lifelong Learning. Drawing on her experiences working in nursing homes in Norwich, Sarah tells the remarkable story about how reminiscence work has had a dramatic effect on older people and their families and illustrates the immense resource that older people are to society and especially to any learning environment.

• Skills for Life - [1 MB]2007-05-24 12:51
  NIACE Press Officer Ed Melia, takes a look at Skills for Life and discovers the enormous impact confidence and qualifications in literacy, language and numeracy can have on individuals, families and workplaces.
• NIACE Participation Survey 2007 - [999 KB]2007-05-18 12:59

  NIACE Director, Alan Tuckett, speaks about the findings of the 2007 survey on adult participation in learning.

• ESOL Update 2007 - [2 MB]Transcript2007-03-16 13:02

  Ed Melia speaks to Alan Tuckett (NIACE), Helen Casey (NRDC), Roger Kline (UCU), Irene Austin (Co-Chair NATECLA) about Bill Rammell's recent announcement on the changes to the proposals on ESOL provision.

• Leitch Review of Skills - [2 MB]Transcript2006-12-07 13:07

  Five speakers from NIACE's recent Annual Policy Conference - Skills, Demography and the British Economy - discuss the publication of the Leitch Review of Skills.

• The Big Converstaion 2006 - [1 MB]Transcript2006-09-07 13:10

  In the first podcast from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE, talks about the Big Conversation and the challenges ahead at this crucial time for adult learning. He sets out the NIACE viewpoint on the need for a coherent settlement for adults but stresses that he also wants to hear what others think.

• ESOL Inquiry 2006 - [2 MB]2006-10-07 13:08

  Speaking at the launch in Westminster of More than a language - the final report of the NIACE-led Committee of Inquiry on ESOL, Peter Lavender, Alan Tuckett and Derek Grover (Chair of the Inquiry) set out the challenges and changing landscape currently facing the provision of ESOL and the Committee's proposals to enhance that provision.