Older Learners and the Learning and Skills Council John Sharman, LSC The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is a new organisation – in fact you can sense the anticipation and excitement as we move closer to the start date now just a few days away! The LSC has been carefully designed and developed by the Department for Education and Employment in close conjunction with a range of partners in the post 16 learning sector. The design work has been taking place over the past twelve months or so and in the final phase people like me have been brought in to work on site at the Coventry national office to add our own particular expertise. Putting in place systems, procedures and policy that will help ensure that the organisation is fully operational from day one. My job is to develop the LSC's national equal opportunities strategy and to help the 47 local LSC offices develop and implement their own local strategies and action plans. Learning to Succeed Let me go back a little while to 1999 and the Learning to Succeed White Paper which introduced the concept of a new post 16 learning framework and the LSC. There was to be a bringing together of resources and experience of the Further Education Funding Council and its regional structure and the network of 72 locally based Training and Enterprise Councils covering the whole of England. In simple terms the FEFC remit has been on funding and inspection of colleges and the TECs have operated through a network of work- based learning providers with a business/enterprise remit at local level. In terms of equality of opportunity the FE focus has been on inclusive learning and on widening participation. The TEC model has been strategic as well as locally focused. The challenge for us now is to learn from the good practice developed through both models and apply it to the new structure and the new structure has to be just that and the learner needs to be at the heart of it. Remit letter So what is the LSC expected to do? David Blunkett the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, wrote last November to the Chairman of the LSC, Bryan Sanderson, and described an ambitious vision for the LSC of a learning society in which everyone has the opportunity to go as far as their talents and efforts will take them. The Council's first corporate plan will focus on strategies and plans to achieve the post 16 national learning targets and there is also an expectation that the LSC will draw up an equal opportunities strategy and action plan. This strategy needs to be consulted on widely, including ethnic minority communities and groups representing gender, disability and age diversity interests. The LSC has been asked to increase the demand for learning by adults and to increase the supply of flexible high quality opportunities to meet their needs. This includes provision for the growing proportion of older people. The LSC structure The LSC will be a national organisation and the highest policy making forum is the national council. The 47 local councils have the status of committees. The National Council consists of 16 members representing all the major partner organisations involved in the planning and delivery of post 16 learning and skills. The Council is advised by two statutory committees: the Young People and Learning Committee and the Adult Learning Committee. The Adult Learning Committee (chaired by John Monks of the TUC) advises the Council on the achievement of national targets for adults and for organisations (including Investors in People where the Council intends to monitor performance particularly closely). This will include advice on widening participation, raising attainment levels and improving basic skills among adults. The Committee will also advise on skills and workforce development strategy and on relationships with the Employment Service, NTOs, other sectoral and economic bodies and the Small Business Service. Lifelong learning I want to say a little more about the economic and social benefits of lifelong learning. It is widely recognised that all of us will need to continually update and learn new skills if we are to remain productive and competitive in the labour market. However it is also being increasingly recognised that participation in learning has much wider benefits contributing to the health and social well-being of individuals and communities. The Institute of Employment Studies published last year (Feb 2000) a report into Learning in Later Life: Motivation and Impact. The key findings strike me as very relevant to today's seminar. 80% of learners reported a positive impact of learning on at least one of the following areas: enjoyment of life; their self-confidence; how they felt about themselves; satisfaction with other areas of life and their ability to cope. 42% reported an improvement in their ability to stand up and be heard and their willingness to take responsibility, and 28% reported an increased involvement in social, community and voluntary activities as a result of learning So what are the challenges for the LSC in meeting the needs of older learners? We need to recognise that : attitudes about age are discriminatory and limit adult participation in learning - older people have an equal entitlement to access to learning which the LSC through its local providers must deliver, older women, elders from black and ethnic minority communities, those who are poor or working class and those who are frail or have learning difficulties or disabilities, have even less opportunity to access learning - we need to positively promote wider participation in more and better learning opportunities to include those who have not benefited previously or who are currently excluded, the voice of older learners is often unheard or un-represented – LSC has to ensure that the views of potential older learners are voiced loudly in its consultations, committees and that their views shape policy and practice in the same way as louder more vocal groups, the learning process is currently focussed and funded to deliver formal and vocational provision – learning programmes should come in all shapes, sizes and venues, with equitable funding and equal value placed on informal and formal programmes. Finally I would like to leave you with a plea to get involved in the consultation process at local and national level. Older learners need to make their voices heard. The LSC and local LSCs need to consult on their strategies and to work in partnership to achieve outcomes and objectives. Input into the local participation and learning strategies and not just EO strategies would be welcome. There will also be further consultations in the next few months on issues such as skills/workforce development. I am conscious that the LSC needs to be creative and innovative about learning curricula – and we need to make sure that curricula meets the needs of older learners. The LSC is well aware that all types of learning and not just vocational learning do make a contribution to economic success and social inclusion. I look forward to hearing more about the practical interventions in the rest of the day.

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