4.1 At the centre of our advice, and informing all the proposals in this report, is our view that the publication of a White Paper on lifelong learning represents a major opportunity for the Government to set out its vision of a culture of lifelong learning for all. Beginning with the White Paper, it should seek to change the terms of the existing debate, such as it is in our country. This will enable the Government and other key agencies to instigate policies and take practical initiatives, based upon a clear vision and values, whose unequivocal purpose is systematically and substantially to improve opportunities for learning throughout life in this country, for all of its people.

4.2 As we have already indicated in Section One of our report, it is our view that the Government should now seek to construct a popular and coherent vision of a nation-wide learning culture for the many and not the few, with shared responsibility for its achievement. For such a vision to be genuinely popular, enlisting public support and driving policy, it needs to be widely understood and properly inclusive in its scope. The vision should look forward to what it would feel like for the people of this country to live, study, work and engage in leisure in a learning society, characterised by opportunities for all to participate according to their own varied preferences and priorities. It should inspire people throughout our society at all levels, engage their enthusiasm and underpin a range of diverse and practical initiatives to make lifelong learning a real opportunity for all.

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