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| The Recommendations |
The RecommendationsWe turn now to the detailed recommendations of Empowering the Learning Community and to the specific actions which we propose to take in response to those recommendations. An action plan is set out in Annex D. Recommendation 1
Libraries have a key role to play in underpinning learning in its broadest sense. The information they supply promotes a wider understanding of the world, offers individuals of all ages the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills and gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy a rich and varied cultural life. At their best they are a focal point for the local community, improving self-confidence and stimulating learning at all levels. At the heart of this recommendation lies the concern, which we share with the Task Group, to see greater collaboration between library and information services in delivering services to support lifelong learning. Local Learning Partnerships can play a key role in facilitating the collaborative process by linking the education and public library sectors, and providing national co-ordination. There is also scope to develop the role of public libraries in widening participation in learning through the co-ordination of the Learning Partnership learning plans2 and Local Authority Annual Library Plans3. The Task Group reported in March 2000 and great strides have been made in the past 12 months in creating the necessary pre-conditions for taking this recommendation forward. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) became a legal entity on 1 September 2000 and becomes operational on 1 April 2001. It is a unitary body, with a national office in Coventry, and will operate through 47 local LSCs which have been organised to reflect travel-to-work and travel-to-learn areas. The role of the 101 existing Learning Partnerships has been further developed. Government is investing considerable resources – for example £365m extra in further education for 2001-2002 and £74m on the development of the Ufi in 2000-2001 - to make ours a nation of learners. The LSC will play a key role in opening up access to learning, by providing a much wider range of learning opportunities. Many of these will be available in a wide range of settings, including libraries, shopping malls, sports centres, and through the greater use of on-line learning facilities. As well as pursuing their own local objectives, Learning Partnerships will also have a distinct role to work alongside local LSCs to maximise the learning opportunities available to communities. They will:
Working in partnership will be key to the effective performance of the LSC, and partners in public and educational libraries will have an important part to play in this process. The next few years will see the rapid expansion of on-line learning provision, particularly through the Ufi, and the network of learning centres in which libraries play a key role. The LSC will be responsible for developing a co-ordinated strategy for securing delivery of this new form of learning at local, regional and national level, and it will work closely with the Ufi and other partners to achieve this. They will map and analyse provision of learning centres locally and nationally to ensure that it is accessible to disadvantaged communities and it helps meet skill needs eg of small business. At the same time, Ufi and libraries are strengthening their links through the establishment of a 'Ufi Libraries Cluster', to be administered by representatives from all library sectors, Resource and Ufi. Its first activity will be to carry out a mapping exercise of library-based learndirect provision, in order to identify examples of good practice and to identify any trends which might inform their future agenda. The 75 Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) partnerships deliver high quality information, advice and guidance to adults. Libraries are key members of these partnerships and play a crucial role in the delivery of information. There are already a number of good practices being undertaken by libraries in supporting and delivering information services relating to learning and work. As full members of IAG partnerships, libraries do have access to funds for specific activities and initiatives, through the funding made available to the partnership by the DfEE. An additional £52 million over current planned expenditure will be made available over the next 3 years for IAG services, including £5 million allocated to the piloting of free in-depth guidance services to help the most disadvantaged. Local authorities are developing Local Cultural Strategies which seek to draw together the synergy between the various local authority services to ensure that they can play a full role in contributing to the economic, social and environmental well being of the community. Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Neighbourhood Strategies present an important opportunity for library and education services to combine with other services to achieve maximum benefit for communities. Alongside and linked to these activities, DfEE will fund a small number of more broadly focused demonstration projects between libraries, learning providers and others, to develop co-operative arrangements and to improve and expand their services to users (including both learners and potential learners). DCMS will be involved in developing strategy here. This follows work carried out during 00-01 with the museums and galleries sector. Learning Partnerships, local authorities, the LSC at national and local level, Ufi, the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the library authorities will be among those invited to participate. As part of this exercise, consideration will be given to the practicality and value of bringing together and co-ordinating the various library and learning related plans produced by local partners, including the learning plans of Learning Partnership and Local Authority Annual Library Plans. The exercise will also inform the further consideration of what might be done to encourage providers of library services to establish co-ordinated purchasing arrangements within a community. The overall demonstration projects initiative will be developed and steered by a group led by DfEE and DCMS and including representatives of both the library and learning sectors. Recommendation 2
Driving this recommendation was the Task Group's wish to see a greater opening up of libraries in all sectors so that individuals of all ages and levels of learning could make effective use of them in their locality. They recognised that increasing access could place a heavy demand on library services. Greater co-operation and co-ordination between libraries and learning institutions could, however, help make for more effective use of resources, as the Task Group acknowledged. For example, the British Library has set up a 3 year £1.25m Co-operation and Partnership Programme to support co-ordinated action amongst research libraries (including public libraries and others). This programme will fund cross-sectoral projects that aim to streamline collection development and access provision and will simplify research routes for all users. But it was also felt the various funding streams through which libraries and learning institutions were funded should be looked at to see what scope existed to remove the barriers to joint working and to encourage greater flexibility in responding to learners' needs. From April 2001, the new Learning and Skills Council will take responsibility for funding all post-16 learning, up to higher education level, including further education, and adult and community education. The vast bulk of the LSC's funding will be routed through its 47 local LSCs, for them to determine how resources can best be used to raise participation and attainment, in learning within the areas they serve. In addition to the traditional academic and vocational learning routes, the LSC will work with learning providers to develop a wide range of new and flexible opportunities, which will be available at a place and time to suit the lifestyle of each individual. In parallel with the development of the LSC, we have seen the national rollout of Individual Learning Accounts. Accounts are part of the government's strategy to create a more skilled workforce by encouraging people to take more responsibility for their own development and make them more aware of the benefits of learning. The big advantage of Accounts, which route public support for learning through individuals rather than through institutions, is that they help people overcome one of the most significant barriers to learning - the financial barrier - by making it easier for them to manage, plan and invest in their own learning. Over 750,000 Individual Learning Accounts have been opened so far, well on the way to achieving the objective of 1 million accounts by April 2002. The discounts and incentives available under the national framework of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) offer a new way to help people pay for their learning. They provide financial support to people whom the Government most wants to help into learning, helping them improve their work prospects, earning power and quality of life. Although anyone aged 19 or over can open an ILA, they can be of particular benefit to people who have been out of learning for some time. Particular target groups therefore include young people with low skills or qualifications, women seeking to return to work and small firm owner managers/self-employed people. These discounts and incentives include:
Our aim is to build on the successful introduction of Individual Learning Accounts by ensuring that they become mainstreamed across the entire workforce, and by developing new and innovative ways of encouraging employers, unions and individuals to contribute towards the cost of learning purchased using Accounts so that all who receive the benefits of learning can take more responsibility in terms of purchasing it. We will also consider the National Skills Task Force's recommendation that there should be an extension in the entitlement for young people and adults to free education and skills training. This recommendation builds on the existing right to study for 16 and 17 year olds, as well as lessons learned from the Education Maintenance Allowance pilots, which measured the extent to which young people from lower-income families were encouraged to stay on in education if they were given additional financial support. These key developments take us some way towards an effective response to the Task Group recommendations in terms of the funding of learning provision. But we recognise that more needs to be done if we are to achieve greater flexibility in the funding of the library and learning sectors. DfEE and DCMS will therefore invite representatives of Local Authorities, the LSC at national and local level, UfI, the Higher Education Funding Council, the library authorities and others to participate in a working group. The group's purpose will be to consider appropriate flexibility of funding, taking into account the financial regime within which the library community operates and the new framework for post-16 learning encompassing, for example, the Learning and Skills Council and Individual Learning Accounts. It will also look at establishing co-ordinated purchasing arrangements between providers of library service within a community. Recommendation 3
This recommendation continues the key Task Group theme of seeking to increase access and improve quality of service to library users and learners through greater co-ordination and co-operation between local partners. It was thought that the `access maps' for a locality should include an overview of the sources and services available through, for example:
Again, we have good progress to report in taking this recommendation forward. Our aim is to build on the excellent work on mapping services that is already being taken forward by partners in a number of localities, and to link with Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, and their partners who are already looking at the impact of increasing access on library services. As the Task Group has suggested, alongside library and learning services, we propose to include the wider cultural sector in these mapping exercises. We shall achieve this by including mapping activity as a part of the DfEE funded demonstration projects mentioned in relation to earlier recommendations. Their purpose will be to build on and develop existing good practice in increasing access and improving quality of service through the establishment of co-operative arrangements between local and other partners concerned with learning. Some of the mapping might be focused, initially at least, on a single sector, while others might look across sectors or concentrate specifically on issues such as family or work place learning. The demonstration project working group will advise on the criteria for the projects and help select the areas in which they would be based. In relation to school libraries, we do recognise the important role played by high quality school library services in supporting teaching and learning within schools. In this recommendation the Task Force was aware of the discrepancy that local authorities are under a statutory duty to provide public libraries but no such requirement exists, in England, in respect of school library services. Most schools do have library provision of some sort; this may be supported by a non-statutory LEA School Library Service. At their best school libraries are an invaluable asset to teachers and a source of great enjoyment, and learning, for children. Frequently, librarians working in a school are amongst the most competent staff in terms of ICT and the library is seen as a powerful resource centre for the whole school. Whilst the Library Association and School Library Association do publish guidelines for school libraries, the quality of provision between schools is variable. The Task Force felt greater consistency would be achieved if the provision of school library services was a statutory requirement. Whilst we recognise the value of centrally managed learning resources, we are not convinced that introducing a new statutory burden on schools or local authorities would be the best way to raise standards. It is also counter to our policy of devolving responsibility for spending to local level. We want to investigate ways of sharing good practice between school libraries, so that overall standards rise and demand from teachers is stimulated. As a first step, we will review what UK-based research exists on the links between educational attainment and school library use. Secondly, working with key partners like OFSTED, the Library Association, the School Library Association and the Association of Senior Children's and Educational Librarians, we will consider what levers exist to support the development of school libraries; for example, a quality assurance framework linked to peer review, and models of co-operative working between school libraries and LEA School Library Services. Subject to resources becoming available, we will fund some pilots to raise awareness of what works best. Recommendation 4
While there is no shortage of training courses and informal learning opportunities for those who wish to pursue them, there is very little cross disciplinary training to allow people from different professions to learn alongside one another and to exchange skills. There are, of course, a number of formal training courses available to individuals working within the library and information field which focus on information handling and assisting people to learn. The Library Association (LA) and the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS) are the two largest professional bodies for information professionals and have a shared responsibility for professional education and training. The two bodies jointly administer accreditation procedures for courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level and some 57 programmes from 17 institutions within the UK are accredited at present. Recently steps have been taken to incorporate archives, records management, science and electronic communication within the benchmark for Librarianship and Information Management thereby extending the links across the cultural heritage sectors. The Society of Archivists runs courses leading to the Diploma in Archive Administration and the Certificate in Archive Conservation and also organises short courses, lectures and seminars on matters of interest to the profession. While most of these activities are open to individuals who work outside the archive profession, the level of take-up is low. At present there is no specific provision for individuals entering the teaching profession to be given training on information handling. Over the past year, however, the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has been reviewing DfEE Circular 4/98 which sets out the requirements for Initial Teacher Training (ITT). DCMS and several of its sponsored bodies have contributed to the review and suggested that trainee teachers should spend some time outside the classroom working with children in a library, museum, gallery or historic property. The TTA is actively considering this proposal and if it is taken forward, it would help to open up some of the issues surrounding information handling skills in the teacher training agenda. A consultation document on ITT will be issued in June 2001 and the intention is to promulgate new requirements and key guidance by February 2002. We know that cross-sectoral learning has an important role to play in this area. The SAILS Project (Staff development for Access to Information and Learning in Sunderland) looked at the experience gained from the development of the Libraries Access Sunderland Scheme (LASh), which formalised cross-sectoral co-operation between the City of Sunderland's three major providers of library services in order to offer enhanced support for lifelong learning. The SAILS research looked at staff development and training and found that cross-sectoral co-operative staff training and development can increase the availability, quality and timeliness of training within a region. It can also reduce costs and reduce the time staff spend away from their work in order to participate. The Task Group's recommendation that training programmes for librarians, resource managers and teachers should be co-ordinated and include ways of developing mutual support is warmly welcomed. We believe however, that the recommendation may be too narrowly focussed and that there could be merit in developing training programmes which extend beyond the library and teaching communities to encompass individuals working within the museums and archives sectors. We propose that a working group should be established to define the nature of the training that is required, and to explore the scope for developing common training modules and skills sharing arrangements both at initial entry level and as part of career development planning. The working group should have regard to the work which Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries is undertaking to develop a cross-sectoral education and access standard. Work on education and training will be carried out in liaison with Cultural Heritage NTO and Information Services NTO. Should the working group conclude that common training modules represent the way forward, a system would need to be established to provide quality assurance and steps would be taken to identify a suitable vehicle for delivering the training programmes on the ground. One possibility here might be to use the Regional Learning Development Units which Resource is proposing to develop in each English region from 2002-3.
We accept the Task Group's recommendation that objective and quantifiable performance measures should be set for all collaborative strategies. Performance measures will be looked at as part of the mapping exercise. We expect best practice information to flow from this work and hope to be able to develop methodologies for establishing benchmarks based on this information.
3.LEA Annual Library Plans consist of 2 sections: a) the Planning Platform which is produced every three years and contains standing information about the Local Authority, its community and its Library Service; b) a Review produced annually containing an action plan for the immediate future and a review of local performance against targets. |
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