Positive Feedback

"Well Organised- good range of short presentations with plenty of time given for discussion and networking"

"It's important the ECA responds to the consultation in some way to the government, voicing the corporate concerns of this group, this conference"

"Food and event were excellent- thank you!"

"A very thought provoking event"

"I was cheered by the BBC presentation, and learnt from all the presentations and discussions"

"It was great to listen and reflect on the issues, and to hear other people's concerns"

"A good opportunity to discuss and formulate consultation responses. Very useful in sharing experitise in sustainablity issues"

"The whole conference was really creative and inspirational"

"From the conference I took encouragement that informal adult environmental education is taking place, and the confidence to take this forward"

Conference- The Environment as an Informal Adult Learning Issue

The ECA's latest conference, entitled The Environment as an Informal Adult Learning Issue, was held Tuesday May 6th, Central Hall, Westminster. The conference was held as a part of the ECA's response to the DIUS Consultation: Informal Adult Learning: Shaping the Way Ahead.

David Lammy's Address:

The keynote speaker, David Lammy addressed the audience for 15 minutes, discussing the governments changing approach to Adult Education. He opened his speech with a Chinese proverb that If you want one year of prosperity, plant corn. If you want ten years of prosperity, plant trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, educate people.This immediately linked the 2 key themes of education and the environment firmly together. Lammy acknowledges that environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to individuals, communities, and the country as a whole, and that this importance has a pivotal role to play in education. He emphasises that the point of education should be to develop capabilities rather than simply amass knowledge. And as some academics have highlighted, the most important capability is the one which traditional education is worst at creating, is the desire to carry on learning indefinitely. The speech is followed by a lively and active question and answer session which elicited some firmer answers from the minister, and which seemed very well received.

Hopefully Mr Lammy will be around long enough for the ECA and, indeed, other organisations represented at the conference, to follow up many of the points that could only be dealt with quite superficially in this half hour exchange of views.

To read a full copy of David Lammy's speech on the DIUS website, click here.

Wish you had been there to hear what everyone had to say? Simply click on each contributors image to hear a soundbite from their speech.

Contributors included:

	Professor Shirley Ali Khan is a leading thinker in the field of sustainable development education. She is currently the Education Director for the Bulmer Foundation, a sustainable development education charity based in Herefordshire, where she is modelling a sustainable form of higher learning. She has written numerous publications in the field of 'greening further and higher education' and has served on a variety of national advisory groups, including the Government's Sustainable Education Development Panel and Ken Livingston's Sustainable Development Commission for London.
	Sophie Duncan is a Learning Executive at the BBC, and is responsible for their 5 year campaign Breathing Places. The campaign brings together broadcast, audiences and partner opportunities to inspire people to do one thing to help wildlife where they live – from simple garden based activities to creating a community breathing place. Sophie has worked in BBC Learning for 5 years, and has worked on a number of different projects including People’s War – aimed at encouraging older people to record their memories in an online archive, and Making Sense of the Mind, which sought to engage audiences with the science of their brains. Originally trained as a physicist, Sophie has spent much of her career engaging the public in science – having worked at the Science Museum in London, and as a programme manager for Science Year – a government initiative to engage young people with science.
	Professor R.H. (Bob) Fryer CBE is Chief Learning Advisor to the Department of Health. Prior to that, he was National Director for Widening Participation in Learning in the Department of Health responsible for devising, leading and supporting the implementation of a strategy to open up access to learning and employment in the NHS. He was the founding Chief Executive of NHSU from February 2002 to February 2005 providing learning opportunities and support to 100,000 NHS staff in its first year. Bob was Assistant Vice Chancellor at the University of Southampton and Director of New College. He was Principal of the Northern College for Residential Adult Education for 15 years. Between 1999 and 2001 he was on secondment to Ufi Ltd as an Executive Director and Board member. Bob is currently a Director of Investors in People UK and Chair of the Learning and Skills Council’s Distributed and Electronic Learning Group. He is also Chair of the Defense Education and Skills Advisory Board. Bob was, for four years, a founder member of the national Learning & Skills Council. He chaired the government’s National Advisory Group for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. He was a member of the ‘Moser’ Committee on Adult Basic Skills and of the Policy Action Team on Skills for Neighbourhood Renewal he is a former Chair of the Board of Careers England. Bob was awarded a CBE for services to Community Education in the 1999 New Years Honours.
	Joy Greasley is the National Federation of Women's Institutes Vice-Chair and Chair of the Training Committee. Joy joined the WI 'a long time ago'. Heralding originally from Essex, she moved to Surrey together with 2 very young sons and husband when his job was relocated in the 1980s. She joined the WI because a well intentioned neighbour told her it would be 'good for her'. That description however was somewhat underselling the organisation that has been not only extremely good for her but has also offered her a number of life changing opportunities and some fascinating challenges along the way.
	David Lammy, MP, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Skills is currently the Minister for Skills at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills with responsibility for the Commission for Employment and Skills, Leitch implementation, Train to Gain, Skills academies, Skills for Life and apprenticeships. David Lammy was appointed as Minister for Culture at The Department of Culture Media and Sport in May 2005 with responsibility for arts, galleries, museums, libraries, heritage and cultural proprieties. He was previously appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Constitutional Affairs on 13 June 2003. He was elected Member of Parliament for Tottenham in June 2000 following the death of Bernie Grant. Before being appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, David Lammy was Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, appointed on 29 May 2002. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary for Rt Hon Estelle Morris at the Department of Education and a member of the Greater London Authority with a portfolio for Culture and Arts. David Lammy studied Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the University of London and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1995. He achieved a Masters degree in Law at the Harvard Law School in 1997. He has practised in both England and the USA.
	Mark Walton is the Head of Every Action Counts. The programme promotes sustainable practice and community based action on sustainable development across the voluntary and community sector. It is delivered by a consortium of leading national voluntary and community sector organisations and is funded by Defra. Mark has a background in biological sciences and environmental protection. From 2001-2006 he worked as a development officer, manager and trustee for a number of community waste sector organisations including The Recycling Consortium which developed and delivered a range of community and school based waste awareness programmes. He has experience of developing community sector networks and partnerships at a local, regional and national level.
	Alan Tuckett OBE is Director of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, having worked previously as an adult education organiser in Brighton and as a Principal in inner London. He started Adult Learners’ Week in the UK in 1992, and supported its adoption by UNESCO, and its spread to more than 50 countries. He is a Special Professor in Continuing Education at the University of Nottingham and an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Lifelong Learning at Leicester University. He is treasurer of the International Council for Adult Education. He was Vice-Chair of the National Advisory Group for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning 1997-9, President of the International League for Social Commitment in Adult Education in 1986-7, and President of the Pre-School Learning Alliance from 1999-2003. He advises UNESCO on adult learning. Alan was a member of the Adult Learning Committee of the Learning and Skills Council 2000 to 2007, and of the Government’s Skills Alliance 1997-2003. He has seven honorary doctorates, is a Fellow of City & Guilds, and was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Adult Education in 2006. He was awarded the OBE in 1995.
	Peter Templeton is the Director of Education, Quality & Strategy for the Workers’ Educational Association, Britain’s largest provider of adult education. The WEA in England covers all nine regions and operates in every LSC area with over 85,000 learners in the last year. The WEA is a charity established in 1903 based on principles of educational democracy. Students and volunteers have a very significant influence on the direction, planning and organising of the Association’s work. Peter joined the WEA in 1980 as a student through his union attending a course: ‘Will the microchip change our lives?’. He became a volunteer and, later, a sessional tutor for the Association until 1989 when he became a tutor organiser in the Black Country and Telford. Over a number of years he increased his work for the national Association and in January 2004 he became Director of Education, Quality & Strategy. He is based in the WEA’s Bristol office.