Southampton

Even better learning for all

By the year 2000, 15% of the working population of Southampton should have an RSA Information Technology qualification - thanks to “Computing for All” one of the Learning City initiatives.

The impetus for the development of Southampton as a Learning City came with the 1995 European Year of Lifelong Learning (ELLI). The city held a conference on lifelong learning and, since then, the initiative has been led by a steering group comprising representatives from a wide range of agencies across the city.

Southampton has a long history of collaboration with education providers and other partners which the Learning City initiative has inherited. Some of these early partnerships involved:

• IT centres on housing estates involving co-operation between the City College and the City Council
• Drop-in centres in local communities
• Partnerships between colleges and schools
• Cruise ship crew training involving colleges and the private sector.

During the European Year of Lifelong Learning the various partners met to consider strategic ways forward. A conference was held in November 1996 to exchange experiences with other cities in Britain and Europe. Delegates explored the condition necessary for becoming a Learning City. Subsequently, the new unitary authority declared its support for the concept of “The Learning City”. A study visit was organised to Derby to explore the experience of another learning city. Southampton is now the British representative on the European Learning Cities steering group and held a major international Learning Cities conference in June 1998. “Building a City Agenda for Learning” targeted the “Top 100 Learning Cities in Europe”.

In October 1997, the University opened New College, a college committed to lifelong learning with a particular emphasis on local access. Professor Bob Fryer has recently been appointed as Director of the College and of Lifelong Learning at the University, bringing a powerful national advocate of lifelong learning to the city. Representatives of the different partners involved meet regularly as a Steering Group. The Steering Group has been developing projects on learning shops, the learning Organisation, an Investors in Learning accreditation, the learning card, parents as learners and, most recently, the Learning Net. The initiative is now supported strategically by the Southampton Lifelong Learning Alliance, comprising of the partners shown next. Some of the first initiatives that will be supported by the Alliance will be the development of employability, Action for Skills and National Year of Reading.

Draft Terms of Reference

Mission

Working together the private and public sectors recognise the critical importance of education and training in influencing local economic prosperity. The Alliance will pursue Southampton's aim to be The City of Learning. This will promote and develop Lifelong Learning to enhance both its economic prosperity and the potential of the people, making it a better place in which to live and work.

Terms of Reference

To provide a strategic framework for the co-ordination, promotion and delivery of Lifelong Learning and employability initiatives in the Southampton area, by:

1. Fostering, developing, maintaining and 'broadening' the range of joint initiatives for Lifelong Learning;
2. Providing a forum for the exchange of strategic information on needs and opportunities for the provision of Lifelong Learning;
3. Increasing the awareness of employers and the potential workforce of relevant opportunities;
4. Acting as a focus for attracting resources to the area to support Lifelong Learning and employability initiatives; and
5. Sharing best practice.

LIFELONG LEARNING is defined as a continuously supportive process which stimulates and empowers individuals to acquire all the knowledge, values, skills and understanding they will require throughout their lifetimes and to apply them with confidence, creativity and enjoyment in all roles, circumstances and environments.

The Partners

• Five of Southampton's leading and largest employers
• Southampton City Council
• The City's three FE colleges: City College, Itchen College, Taunton's College
• Southampton Institute
• University of Southampton and New College
• Hampshire TEC.
• Action for Skills
• Open College Network
• Diocesan authorities
• Major employers
• Chamber of Commerce
• Schools
• Southampton Voluntary Services
• Trade Unions

Target-setting and action planning

The Partners aim to:

• increase the amount of formal and
• informal learning at all ages
• raise awareness of, and celebrate the amount of learning already taking place
• enhance the learning experience for all
• help Southampton become The City of Learning.

The Steering Group's initial strategies have been:

• to understand learning needs
• review provision against learning needs
• develop programmes to support learning needs * promote early learning
• develop learning skills
• provide support for Lifelong Learning
• promote longer-term activities.

In 1996, the Steering Group developed the "Computing for All" project with the objective that 15% of the working population would hold an RSA Computer Literacy and Access to Information Technology Level One qualification by the year 2000. The City Council and eight educational institutions are all working to achieve this target.

Problems encountered

The business of establishing a new unitary authority in Southampton inevitably slowed the development of the Learning City initiative - although this restructuring created a positive ethos and also provided the opportunity to cement new partnerships, look at situations afresh and set challenging targets for the City.

The initiative has been focused more on providers rather than employers until recently and, thus far, further and higher education providers have been more involved than schools. However, the partnership between providers is particularly strong and the recent formation of the Learning Alliance has brought employers centre-stage. The momentum of the City Council's Strategic Education Plan is encouraging schools and pre-school providers from the voluntary, private and maintained sectors to join the initiative.

Effective consultation with all of the different communities in the city is still the main challenge for the initiative.

Progress so far

• The main outputs of the initiative to date have been:
• the 1946 conference
• the establishment of Southampton on the steering group of European Learning Cities
• the opening of New College - with a core commitment to lifelong learning
• the appointment of Professor Bob Fryer as Director of New College
• projects on learning shops, the learning Organisation, an Investor in Learning accreditation, the learning card
• the involvement of the Basic Skills Agency in a consultancy on parental involvement in learning
• the Learning Net established in the city's libraries
• the establishment of the Learning Alliance, comprising the FE colleges, the University, the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce and the City's five leading employers
• the development of the 'Computing for All' project
• the development of a Charter for Learning Cities with ELLI which will be launched at the European Conference

Funding

Increasingly, the Partners are building the initiative into their budget planning. However, the main support comes from the time and effort of the people involved. A bid has been made to UFI/Adapt to support the work of the Alliance.