It has been ten years since David Blunkett's Green Paper: The Learning Age: A renaissance for a New Britain (DfEE 1998) with its famous preface which included:
“As well as securing our economic future, learning has a wider contribution. It helps make ours a civilised society, develops the spiritual side of our lives and promotes active citizenship. Learning enables people to play a full part in their community. It strengthens the family, the neighbourhood and consequently the nation. It helps us fulfil our potential and opens doors to a love of music, art and literature. That is why we value learning for its own sake as well as for the equality of opportunity it brings."
Lucia Quintero and Alan Tuckett (the Director of NIACE) have produced a short article summarising English Adult Education policy over the last decade. The article has been produced for CONFINTEA VI, the sixth International Conference on Adult Education, which will take place from 19 to 22 May 2009 in Belém, Brazil. It's attached here: Download 08-Quintero
The article concludes by saying:
"Overall, warm aspirations of the early years of a Labour Government have given way to a more narrow utilitarianism – which is of course of benefit to those people whose needs are met by Government programmes. However, the spirit of CONFINTEA V, so warmly embraced by the Government’s early programmes, now seems a lifetime away. This of course leads to a new challenge for non-government agencies and adult educators: to advocate for adult and lifelong learning in the context of changing priorities for public funding."
I'd recommend this as a quick updated for anyone involved in that advocacy of adult and lifelong learning.
Recent Comments