WEA Education Blog

WEA ICT provision on Channel 4 News

WEA computing classes in the East Midlands were features on  Channel 4 News recently. The item looked at the decline in places for adult learners on ICT (Information, Communication, Technology) and the difficulty this presents for learners and providers.

The video is just over three minutes and puts the case for growth in ICT in the interests of learners very effectively.

Well-being and happiness through learning

The ongoing Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning has published another Thematic paper. This one, written by John Field from the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning at the University of Stirling. It is a really timely case for standing back and asking more about what education is for.

You can get the full report from the IFFL website click here.

The report ends with 13 key points. In summary, (with author's italics) these are:

1. Well-being is of growing significance in policy circles and in wider public debate, and adult learning makes a small but significant, measurable positive contribution to well-being.

2. adult learning is likely to be particularly effective in enhancing the wellbeing of our most vulnerable citizens.
   

3. Professionals in adult learning may need to align themselves with other services and campaigning bodies that are concerned with well-being.

4. We need to tackle the persistent gap between medical and other approaches to  wellbeing and we need much closer alignment between interventions designed to cure or limit the damages of mental ill-health, and those designed to promote positive flourishing throughout life
   

5. There are important examples of public health bodies that acknowledge the important role of learning in improving health outcomes, including mental health outcomes.

6. Organisations providing adult learning should consider how to promote well-being more effectively.
   

7. Teaching approaches should actively seek to promote well-being. While this may involve therapeutic interventions for those who are most vulnerable to poor mental  health, it must also involve taking account of the ways in which adults’ biographies interact with learning environments.

8. Work plays a central role in most people’s lives, and is critical to their well-being. The entire workforce requires skills, resilience and flexibility to cope and thrive in the changing landscape of work.

9. there is a strong case for looking at a new learning life balance for employees
   

10. Organisations providing adult learning also need to consider the well-being of their workers.

11. Learning providers and policy-makers need to develop agreed approaches to Measurement of well being

12. a lifelong learning system that takes well-being as its primarypurpose is likely to differ significantly from present models.
    

13. Governments, employers and public institutions on their own can make individual action possible, but individual behaviour is also required – and indeed can, if duplicated across entire societies, help to shift the priorities and goals of the other actors.

WEA Education & Strategy Conference - sharing experience and ideas

The first Education and Strategy Conference successfully brought together over 40 WEA tutor organisers and tutors from across the English regions and Scotland to share their views on the operation and future direction of the WEA. The conference was held on held 20 and 21 May in Sheffield.

This is Claire Nussey's note of the event that also appears in 'WEA News'.

The opening speech 'What is to be done?' was given by Professor Frank Coffield, Emeritus Professor of Education at the Institute of Education at the University of London.

Professor Coffield gave a lively and provocative talk on ways to develop and improve learning and teaching and provided his thoughts on what action needs to be taken by the government, senior managers in further education, tutors and students to help achieve this.

A key point of the speech was that that these are not separate groups - they must work together to improve teaching and learning. Professor Coffield used examples from his experience of teaching in FE where senior managers in FE, tutors and learners regularly sit round a table to discuss key issues together. Professor Coffield also talked about developing a partnership between tutors and learners - that they learn should from each other. For example, feedback on work should help the learner know what they have done well and where they could improve but should also help the tutor plan what they teach next.

The speech was a fantastic opening for the rest of the conference, which focused on some of the WEA’s new strategic priorities. Workshops over the two days included Sustainability and Climate Change where tutors and tutor organisers shared interesting examples of how issues around sustainability are being introduced into many different subjects.

Other workshops included looked at what is happening in the classroom – how to develop effective learning relationships between tutors and learners; how field staff support and work with tutors; time-management and how do we meet the needs of students with mental health issues.

As key themes throughout the workshops were communication and sharing ideas This has always been a complex matter in the WEA with its dispersed provision. A workshop on the development of Moodle was very relevant. Moodle is like an internet site with a password where WEA tutors can download WEA documents and information and share ideas with each other for teaching.

The conference provided a great opportunity for tutor organisers and tutors to meet colleagues from other regions and share their experience of what helps to develop good learning and teaching and how improvements could be made.

The conference generated lots of suggestions for improvement around communication, engagement and ideas for the classroom between tutor organisers and tutors. Many agreed to keep in contact with each other by e-mail and phone. Those attending agreed that the conference should become an annual event, with a clear focus on looking at the progress which has been made on the actions and issues that were raised at the previous conference.

DIUS becomes BIS - so will the Learning Revolution continue?

The Cabinet reshuffle led to the move of John Denham from the Department of Innovation Universities & Skills to the Department of Communities & Local Government. In a less publicised development, DIUS itself has been merged with BERR (The Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform). This places Lord Mandelson, a pivotal figure in the current cabinet, in charge of post 19 education in England (see 'Guardian' article).

DIUS was short lived and a number of people had anticipated that it might change or be closer linked with industry after the next election. This move indicates the government's view that skills and training and the role of universities are important to the recovery of the economy.

One question arising is around the implementation of 'The Learning Revolution' white paper recently published by DIUS. As Secretary of State, John Denham had taken a close personal interest in the development of this policy and the debates and definitions around 'Informal Adult Learning'. This policy has moved the argument around the purposes of education for adults and the role of all government departments in its promotion. It may be that his move to DCLG will allow him to continue his interest in this area. Either way, it will be important that the progress made over the year in articulating a wider vision than the Leitch report and one which sees education as key to developing individuals, communities and resilience in the face of change. The future as seen by Leitch preceded the financial crisis, the government is currently saying how important FE will be in getting people through the recession. The cross government agenda set out in the Learning Revolution needs to continue after John Denham's move.