Swansea

Swansea on the learning net

The very latest Information Technology has provided the people of Swansea with an exciting new learning resource. Housed in its own building, the Learning Network, as it is known, links to the Internet. There are plans to make this the hub of a network which will spread the learning concept out to the city's disadvantaged communities. The University of Wales Swansea is also developing facilities for networking between organisations in the community.

The Learning Network, which was set up with European Social Fund (ESF) money, has been masterminded by the new Unitary Authority, the City and County of Swansea. Following the reorganisation of local government in Wales, the new Chief Executive was keen to develop an integrated approach to service delivery. A group was set up to look at economic and social development in the new authority and their connection with education and training.

The group turned its attention to the Learning City idea and considered two papers - the first on the Learning Network and the second on the concept of the City and County of Learning.

This second paper looked at the sort of actions the local authority could take to develop the Learning City. These could embrace a range of options from school improvement and adult participation in learning to the development of tourism and economic regeneration. It was felt that there were connections between all the authority's functions and the lifelong learning agenda.

The next stage was to hold meetings of the main players in education and training to consider how they could co-operate and use available resources most effectively. As a result, policy documents on the City and County of Learning are being produced and interest in the idea has been generated throughout the local authority.

The local authority is now developing its strategic role in adult education. Education providers are working together to produce an integrated prospectus which will cover all learning opportunities open to the public within the City and County of Swansea.

The partners

The main partners in the Swansea initiative are:

• The Local Authority - all departments
• The West Wales Training and Enterprise Council
• Educational providers.

Target setting and action planning

Baseline data on the social and economic profile of the new local authority includes information on educational attainment. Four wards are near the bottom of the table of social indices for Wales.

The new authority has a service plan which sets targets for all departments. An action plan for the City and County of Learning expects partners to set targets for their own institutions. The plan has been drawn up according to sector groups such as 14-19 education, school improvement and family learning. To date, the targets set relate mainly to local authority activity.

Problems encountered

Local government reorganisation can cause problems in that there is an inevitable period of uncertainty and readjustment. The fresh perspective brought by a new authority can, however, as here, provide a new vision.

Collaboration and the founding of partnerships is never easy, especially in the competitive environment of Further Education. Swansea, in common with other Learning City initiatives, has found this to be the case.

Progress so far

Swansea's City and, County of Learning initiative is:

• producing a strategic plan
• developing a shared understanding of the concept.

Another major initiative in the city has helped to foster creative partnership. The East Side Initiative is in its second year of operation and involves:

• Swansea College
• The Community Education Service
• University of Wales Swansea
• Six secondary schools

It is targeted at recruiting non-traditional students and is funded by the Welsh Further Education Funding Council and the local authority. The success of this project (O -3,500 students in one year) has fostered belief in the usefulness of partnership activity.

Funding

The partners have provided funding for developing and planning the City and County of Learning. External funding has been sought and obtained for projects, largely from EU funds.