WEA Education Blog

WEA Education & Strategy Conference first day

Here in Sheffield the first day of the annual WEA Education & Strategy Conference is closing ahead of dinner. I'm attaching a pdf of Prof. Bob Fryer's excellent opening presentation is attached: 'Promises and Problems of Adult and Lifelong Learning  Download Promises & problems of lifelong learning May 2011.

Lively discussion amongst participants continued when we considered a WEA approach to teaching and learning through examples from NW region on integrating ideas from the 'Spirit Level' into Art classes.

WEA Education & Strategy Conference in Adult Learners' Week

Looking foward to next week's Education & Strategy Conference. This is the third year in a row we've brought WEA tutors and field staff to Sheffield to meet and share ideas around the WEA's work. Each time we start off with a provocative keynote speaker. This time Prof. Bob Fryer.

We've had a pre-conf survey running for those coming and the views of those who attended earlier ones. Interesting points coming out to help break the ice really fast.

Transactional or Transformational education?

The last edition of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed covered issues of class and social mobility. In particular, it focused on access to higher education and the experience of a number of academics who came from a working class background. "The middle classes still make up the majority of University students. Does education provide a means to social mobility? Has society ignored class barriers in favour of focussing on identity politics?". Towards the end of the recording (which you can access at the moment here) was a brief comment on whether education is transactional or transformative. Ideally both, you would hope. However, given the last few year's emphasis on the transactional side by state policy it's probably well past time for a bit more transformative. Given the state of the climate, the financial and economic system and the revelations that MPs view of a transaction was largely around creative expense claims, it's likely that the drive for transformational learning will have to come from people themselves.

At the same time, there is interesting information available around these issues from government. The Department of Communities and Local Government's Places Database is very useful in showing patterns of disadvantage by place - down to very local levels. For example, you can see the percentage of people with a higher education qualification down to ward level. So, in the WEA, we can see where we would want to prioritise our work. There are probably few surprises in this and an adult education organisation that is well established within communities will know this anyway. It does confirm that the introduction of disadvantage uplift based on postcodes in the mid-90s FEFC made sense and that places are as important in education as individuals.

10:10, Sustainability and the WEA

The WEA's nine strategic priorities include one on 'Promoting Sustainability'. When the 10:10 campaign was announced many in the WEA wanted the Association to sign up straight away. We didn't then, partly because reducing 10% of emissions in 2010 is going to be pretty hard and mostly because hardly anyone involved in the WEA would have been involved in that decision.

We were lucky because we were just about to have a one month placement of a Masters student from Forum for the Future to help us sharpen up our plans for this priority. Steven Bland worked with us for a month and talked with many people across the WEA. In particular, he led an online survey of the views of WEA staff, tutors and members - the biggest survey we've ever done. Out of over 13,000 people we e-mailed we had a high response rate and over 600 respondents agreed to continuing to stay in touch on this issue in the WEA. It also gave us a clear mandate to sign up to 10:10 with over 56% of members, 63% of tutors and 61% of staff in favour and no more than 8% against in any of these groups.

So, we are asking WEA Trustees to sign the Association up to 10:10 and all it involves.

If you'd like to read Steven's report of his placement you can get it here: Download Forum for the Future placement report. 

WEA Conference 2009, Skills for Social Justice

The WEA's conference at the beginning of October was a success. The Friday event, open to many, covered items around Skills for Social Justice and emphasised, to me, how this seems a more real issue in Scotland than it often does in England.

The Saturday was the WEA's business conference and this was greatly speeded up by effective electronic voting. However, as I've felt in previous conferences, the issues being raised were often not fully discussed because of the traditional structure of conference proceedings. Many motions raised issues around older learners, engaging with issues of disadvantage through the downturn, campaigning for lifelong learning as we move towards a UK General Election, the need to reduce paperwork and bureaucracy faced by students, tutors and volunteers and the work of the WEA internationally. However, we didn't manage to group these into the effective debates and discussions that would do credit to the issues raised.

Hopefully, we can look at how other organisations, like the Women's Institute, manage their conferences to develop strategy out of issues raised throughout the organisation at grass routes level.

The Raymond Williams Foundation

I've written a number of times on Raymond Williams and whether his influence on the WEA has application in the 21st Century. The Raymond Williams Foundation is a new initiative that will be of interest to anyone wanting to explore this further. The Raymond Williams Foundation (RWF) was launched in November 2008, following 20 years as the much smaller Raymond Williams Memorial Fund (RWMF). RWMF helped organise annual WEA Raymond Williams residential courses at the Wedgwood Memorial College. This year's course in May on Keywords will again fill the College.

The RWF has substantial funds and a growing membership committed to adult education, especially WEA social and political education.

For more information on the Foundation click here  

 

Does membership matter?

The WEA is a membership organisation. Since last September, our new scheme has brought us over 20,000 members. We see membership as key to democracy in the WEA and that democracy (in all ways) is vital to education. But it isn't easy. Does our membership reflect our students or our provision? Is it well distributed across the country? Does it deliver the WEA's mission locally?

Matthew Taylor, the Chief Executive of the RSA, has written on this issue in his blog (click here) and this shows the WEA is not alone in seeing this as an important and tricky issue.  

It has to be a key issue for the WEA. We know the level of concern about the loss of individual choice and influence in adult education and the disappearance of community learning opportunities. We need our members to feel confident about acting on this in all parts of the country. Some of them fear the WEA is 'captured' by the government and its funding policies, others are weary of the bureaucracy required to put on provision that is planned and organised by volunteers in partnership with tutors and staff. Equally, as Matthew Taylor says, how can we have a democratic membership without 'activist capture, cumbersome governance and stuffy inward looking cultures'?

We need to find a way that allows people to align themselves through membership to the WEA's commitment to adult education and addressing disadvantage. That needs to be something that can help them help the WEA make a difference to people's lives in many localities and communities and to continue to enjoy opportunities for serious informal education themselves. It isn't going to be easy but a refreshed membership cohort, the communication opportunities of the age and a determination around the WEA's reason to exist must be key to this work.

Two new jobs in Bristol with the WEA

We have two new strategy officer jobs being advertised at the moment. Here's the ad text:

Are you ready to influence policy development and make a positive contribution to the work of England's largest adult education provider?

Could you work closely with the Director of Education & Strategy to drive improvement, build relationships and promote innovation across the country? We are looking for two creative and skilled individuals who will work collaboratively to develop our work and continue our mission.

 

The Workers’ Educational Association is a national adult education charity working in all nine English Regions and Scotland with over 70,000

part-time learners a year. It is committed to promoting and delivering education for adults throughout their lives as part of an educated democracy.

 

Strategic Policy Officer (Education & Strategy),

Bristol

Starting Salary £30,946

 

With

• Excellent skills in research and policy development/management
  
• Current knowledge and experience of developing and managing policy implementation within the fields of post-16 Education or Social Policy

To provide a policy development, coordination and research service to support quality improvement in the WEA across England.

 

Strategic Relationships Officer (Education & Strategy),

Bristol

Starting Salary £30,946

• With current knowledge and experience of Client, Relationship and Partnership management
• Excellent quantitative and qualitative social science research skills, including questionnaire design and analysis, interview and focus group skills
• Experience and imagination in using Web 2.0 for networking

To lead the coordination, development and operation of the WEA’s Stakeholder Involvement Strategy and provide a high quality service to maintain and develop external relationships and national/multi-regional partnerships across England.

We recognise continuing inequalities in education and welcome applications from groups under-represented in our workforce and from diverse backgrounds.

 

More information click here  or call 0117-916-6504

 

Closing date for applications 18th February. Interviews in week of 2nd March

 

Charity No. 1112775

WEA News - December 2008

The latest edition of WEA News has been published with a wide range of short articles on the Association:

The new Omega Centre in Portsmouth

Culture of Fashion in Liverpool

The Tandrusti project in Dudley

Black History month in London

Various anniversaries and an article from the Shadow spokesperson on Innovation, Universities and Skills.

One of the biggest pieces of news is that we have had over 16,000 new members since September as part of the new scheme. 

If you haven't had it from any other route you can download it here: Download WEA News 19

From Tawney to Tandrusti

It's 100 years since Richard Tawney began his historic Tutorial Classes in Longton and Rochdale and, last month, there was an excellent event in Stoke Museum and Art Gallery to celebrate. I was struck by the idea that the WEA has been working in these communities for over 100 years and that, although what we do now is different to what we did then, there are some important common themes. In the case of our work now and then, partnership is key - whether with a university, a local authority or a primary care trust. Moreover, its a true partnership where the WEA works with communities to articulate a need and where the communities themselves are partners in shaping the provision involved. Secondly, good tutors and staff who understand their subject and the needs, issues and aspirations of adults coping with inequality and disadvantage and are at ease working in these situations.

 The West Midlands Region of the WEA has been transferring lessons drawn from its Tandrusti work in Dudley  to its work in communities in Stoke on Trent. These characteristics are strongly evident in this approach and in some research work undertaken that arose from it (Download Tandrusti Research).

Since the completion of the Informal Adult Learning consultation, the Department of Innovation Universities & Skills has been exploring the potential of self-organised learning. You can look at that idea in two ways: one as a cheap and cheerful solution; the second as an important way to build social cohesion and re-connect with adults enthusiasm to use education to change their lives and improve things for their families and communities. That needs more than a commissioning approach and a set of contract focussed providers - it needs a commitment to engaging with  communities and forging alliances with progressive elements (often individuals) in education and public services that respect people and wants them to shape change.

We need to find a way to persuade government of the value of this second approach to self organised learning.