Transforming Lives Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 10:22

In his speech at the NIACE event to celebrate the end of the Transformation Fund -held in London on Tuesday 7 September 2010 - John Hayes said:

"The transformational power of learning is shown both in how learning spreads opportunity and in how it spreads civilisation. But it's also shown in the element of personal choice, personal responsibility and personal empowerment that learning entails. And that's especially true of the less formal types of learning."

"That is something of which the Transforming Lives report reminds us very forcefully."

He added:

"A little money can achieve a lot, particularly if we are prepared to innovate and to trust people at the front line to organise learning in ways that suit their needs rather than conforming to some centralised model."

"There remains enormous demand for informal learning. And I take comfort from that, because a nation that wants to learn is a nation that is going forward rather than backwards."

"It's a nation that's already, by virtue of its people own free will, taking its future into its own hands. Sometimes the State can play a useful role in that, but most often the impetus comes from individuals."

"Transforming Lives reminds us of all this and of the essential role that adult and community learning must play in creating a better, more inclusive, more content, more confident and, indeed, bigger society."

Read the full speech here.