Archive - The Environment as an Informal Adult Learning Issue - 6 May 2008, London

Date(s)

This conference was held on the following date(s)
06/05/2008

Supplemental Material:

Conference Brochure
ECA Chair & CEO gives an initial response to the DIUS Consultation in Adults Learning, February 2008

David Lammy MP - Keynote Speaker

To View a Full Report of the event, including images and highlights from David Lammy's speech, click here.

Costs:

£150 Commercial and Government Bodies

£120 Local Authorities

£75 Third Sector

Deadline for Applications now 2nd May

Preparing to Respond - The Environment as an Informal Adult Learning Issue

The aim of this conference was:

To ensure that climate change and sustainable lifestyles are made core issues in national policy for adult education.

This event aimed to:

bring together stakeholders and key influencers in the post-16 education, third and environmental sectors
identify possibilities for securing attitudinal & behavioural change, relating to sustainability, through informal education
consider which adult education strategies will elicit the greatest combined personal, social & environmental benefits
inform the responses of delegates and their associates to the DIUS formal consultation which ended on 12 June 2008. Programme

The day comprised a series of short presentations on linked themes. After each group of inputs there was table discussions by delegates who addressing issues raised. A brief feedback from each group ensured that no important topic was overlooked. As a result of the event delegates were expected to have a better understanding of the relationships between adult learning and environmental issues. This should both inform their current practice and contribute to their thinking concerning submissions to Government in response to the consultation.

The Opportunity to Influence Policy

Across Government there is a deep concern regarding environmental and sustainability issues; a concern which is increasingly expressed by much of the population. There is a diversity of excellent practice in terms of adult learning and the environment across a range of organisations in the public, private and third sectors. But these lack effective co-ordination or support from Government and other funding bodies. Regrettably environmental issues are not mentioned at all in the consultation paper. This event provided the opportunity to ensure that environmental issues feature clearly in the debate. John Denham does however acknowledge that, “If the public do not have the capacity to understand scientific evidence and risk, they face being unable to make the best decisions for themselves and their families, or, in a democracy, to put the most appropriate pressure on politicians.”

Speech “Science and Society”, delivered at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce,16 January 2008

This has a strong bearing on a wide range of personal and public issues, from obesity to climate change. Without strategies that incorporate elements of science education within Informal Adult Learning, another generation will pass before there can be any hope that these concerns will be addressed.

Consistant with the ECA Mission the Association has played a strong role in the DEFRA funded "Every Action Counts" initiative promoting 5 themes (save energy, travel wisely, shop ethically, save our resources and care for your area) of environmental sustainability within Third Sector organisations.

John Denham launched the Government’s consultation on the future of informal adult learning on 15 January 2008. The consultation period runs until the 12 June 2008

The conference brought together stakeholders from the post-16 education, third and environmental sectors to share perspectives. Amongst these are representatives from Local Authorities, Colleges, Environmental Bodies, the Third Sector, RDAs, Empowerment Partnerships, Local Strategic Partnerships and Government Offices

Contributors included:

Professor Shirley Ali Khan	Professor Shirley Ali Khan is a leading thinker in the field of sustainable developmnet 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	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 Fryer CBE (Chair)	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	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	David Lammy 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	Mark Walton is the Head of Stronger Communities at the Community Development Foundation. The Stronger Communities team aims to support the development of stronger and more sustainable communities and community sector, and of a skilled and recognised community development workforce. From 2006 to 2009 Mark was the Head of the Every Action Counts programme, an innovative partnership between 29 community sector organisations and Defra to engage the voluntary and community sector on the issues of sustainable development.
Alan Tuckett	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	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.