Celebrating Older Learners Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Lifelong Learning NB: Mr Wicks began his speech with some personal, unscripted observations about ageing and made some spontaneous points as he spoke. The following represents the core text of his speech. Introduction I'd like to offer you a couple of quotations about age: 'I grow old ever learning many things.'; 'I'd like my old age to be my best performance'. Those are quotes from Solon, the Athenian statesman who lived in 6th Century BC, and from Maurice Chevalier. How about that for a diverse start! Though Monsieur Chevalier also went on to admit 'I prefer old age to the alternative'. I'd like to add one final quote: 'I shall probably be a student forever.' So Chekhov has one of his characters say in 'The Cherry Orchard'. And that's the business we're all in, and why we're here today – to help older people to 'be students forever'. In other words, providing accessible, flexible, learning opportunities. Whether we work in a local authority, a college, a voluntary organisation, or in Government. Specifically, we're here to explore how we can do what we do better. We'll hear later from project leaders who are running a range of innovative activities. They may offer a perspective which sheds light on the activities we're involved with. We may be able to solve a problem, or offer an alternative approach to help them. Above all, it's an opportunity to talk – and listen – to others who are committed to ensuring that lifelong learning really is available right through life. And I include Government, and myself, in that. Celebrating older learners Most of you are probably aware of my Learning in Later Life Campaign which ran last year. I've described it before as a piece of 'serious fun'. Serious because of its key aim – to highlight the many benefits of learning later in life. Increased self-confidence and self esteem. Increased motivation. Increased feeling of participation in society. And fun because that's what all the winners, indeed all the entrants, were having. Fred Moore, for example. Our oldest learner – now aged 108 – who has been attending art classes for the past quarter of a century. And Emily May Butterfield, aged 94, who has tackled her lack of basic skills and is now researching Captain Cook via the Internet. Inspirational quotes from the Campaign's application forms could quite easily fill up the rest of my time today. I'll restrain myself to just a handful: 'My life has blossomed since taking up learning'. 'Learning has kept me independent, active and mobile'. 'I've made many wonderful friends'. 'If you want to stay mentally alert, take part in learning'. Success stories So there are plenty of success stories. Plenty of older people who know the benefits learning brings to their lives. And who don't let a day go by without learning something new. But for every one of those success stories there's someone else who thinks they're too old to learn. Who had a bad experience at school. Who wants to learn but can't find the right course or topic. Who simply feels that learning isn't for them. We need to reach those people. Help them tackle the barriers to learning they face. Show them the range of learning opportunities open to them. Encourage them to get involved. Cross-Government activity Government has introduced many initiatives aimed at doing just that. Encouraging participation. Increasing access. But before I talk about specific initiatives, I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about cross-Government activity. Because Government really is committed to better serving the needs of older people. The Better Government for Older People programme, for example. You probably all know as much as I do about BGOP. Suffice to say, it's a unique partnership between central government, local government, the voluntary sector, the academic world and, importantly, older people themselves . And its played a vital role in improving public services for older people. And most of you will be aware of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Older People. The IMG aims to improve the quality of life for older people and enable them to have an effective voice. I chair the IMG sub-group on lifelong learning and leisure. Working with colleagues in Cabinet Office, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department of Health and the Department of Social Security, we're taking forward a programme to promote and widen participation in learning and leisure activities by older people. Many of the initiatives I'll be talking about today are open to adults of all ages. But the IMG is specifically working to ensure that older people take full advantage of those initiatives. Learning and Skills Council So, let's move on to talk about the specifics. You'll be hearing more about the Learning and Skills Council from John Sharman. But no discussion of lifelong learning is complete without at least one reference to it. Because the Learning and Skills Council will be the major catalyst for change in learning. It will sweep away much of the complexity which has surrounded our post-compulsory education system. It will break down the barriers between vocational and non-vocational learning. The 47 local Learning and Skills Councils will consult with their local communities – including older people. To ensure that the learning provided locally is what the community actually wants. Local authorities, of course, have a proud tradition of adult learning, reaching almost three million learners every year. They'll continue to play a key role in securing locally accessible, community-based learning opportunities. And we're investing heavily to ensure they can fulfil that role. By 2002 - 03 funding for adult and community learning will be a record £167 million. Also new capital investment – starting with £16 million in 2002 - 03 – in local adult education facilities. Paying for learning Of course paying for learning can be hard. In fact it's one of the major barriers to learning for older people. Our Individual Learning Accounts are open to everyone and help people save especially for education and training. They offer a generous system of discounts too: 20% off the cost of most courses and 80% off some IT training. Over 740,000 Accounts have already been opened. learndirect and UK online What else? Our learndirect centres – now over 800 of them – give people the opportunity to learn in places which offer an alternative to traditional academic settings. Sports and shopping centres, football and rugby clubs, community centres, churches, railway stations and libraries. And UK online centres will ensure that everyone in the UK who wants it, will have access to the Internet and IT skills – and will help make the UK one of the world's leading 'knowledge economies'. We've made sure that older people are one of UK online's key target groups. The UK online centre based in Age Concern, Waltham Forest, for example, provides free ICT access and training to people over 50. And it provides outreach for those who are housebound or in residential care. A broader conception of learning We're also working to broaden people's conception of what we actually mean by lifelong learning – and hopefully stimulate them to take part in it. We're working with museums, galleries and libraries to explore their potential to promote and support lifelong learning. For example, The Yorkshire Museums Council's 'Making Memories' project which uses a variety of approaches – focused round a museum collection, a historic house and a gallery - to reach older learners. We're working with broadcasters like the BBC to help turn passive viewers into active learners. Older people seem to be particularly interested in history: 70 per cent of the over 55s according to a recent BBC survey. So we had a hand in the BBC's History 2000 programmes like Meet The Ancestors and Simon Schama's A History of Britain. We're supporting and encouraging family learning. Which can be informal learning within the family, family members learning together or perhaps learning about family roles, relationships and responsibilities. And by 'family' of course, I don't just mean mums, dads and kids. I'm talking grandparents and other relatives too. And specifically for older learners And specifically for older people? Well, we're encouraging older people to take up learning, whether through the initiatives I've already discussed, or more traditional learning opportunities like further or higher education. I hope you've seen our leaflet to encourage people to do just that. Copies have been distributed to a whole range of organisation – libraries, LEAs, learning partnerships to name just a few. We've also produced a guide for providers which offers a reminder of some of the special issues encountered by older learners. 1 Development work We fund a range of development activities. This year, for example, we've a project with the Community Education Development Centre to develop and pilot a course to give older people the skills – and perhaps more importantly the confidence – to pass on their skills and knowledge to their peers. And we're always keen to find new projects or ideas to develop. You may already have an idea for a project you think will really help engage older people in learning. Or something you hear today may spark off a thought. Either way, my DfEE colleagues and I will be delighted to look at any proposals you might have. Research Running alongside the initiatives and policies is our research programme. Because you can't run the one without the other. Recent research has included the Learning in the Fourth Age report, researched by NIACE on DfEE's behalf, which highlighted the health benefits of learning for older people in care settings. And Learning in Later Life: Motivation and Impact1. explored the benefits – including increased self-esteem and self-confidence – that learning later in life can bring. Questions for today And what about today? As I said earlier, today's an opportunity for discussion. To discover what others are doing. To explore what we can all learn from each other. In your groups, you'll be asked to come up with some key lessons and good practice to benefit us all. Let me give you some questions to consider. How can we be more creative in our approach? How can we be more innovative? How can we better meet the needs of older learners? I look forward to hearing your conclusions. 1. Details of how to obtain copies are available in the 'Further Reading and Useful Websites' section.

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