Confintea VI

10th February 2008

Scotland's Learning Partnership is gathering the views of learners and providers to feed into Confintea VI and we want to hear your views on how to get the best out of the process.

Þ    Learning can provide an important route out of poverty for individuals, their families and their communities.

Policy developments have put learning centre stage for the social and economic future of Scotland.  Adult learning is seen as crucial to this agenda, in meeting basic needs, stimulating change and developing the skills and knowledge base of the Scottish workforce.  Lifelong learning will provide the ingredients to create a skilled workforce for 21 century.  One of the keys to delivering social inclusion is to promote inclusion that will ‘enable individuals and communities to take up new opportunities and to take control of their own situations’.  Adult learning also has a role in supporting and stimulating active communities, providing opportunities for people to improve their quality of life, individually and within communities, and to expand their social networks.  Community based learning will provide the basis of an integrated approach to personal development, community capacity building and accessing resources at community level. Participation, social inclusion and equality are essential motivating factors for ensuring learning opportunities are available at all levels of Scottish society. 

 

The Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning identified adult education as ‘a consequence of active citizenship and a condition for full participation in society.’[1] 

 

Whether it is seen as a way out of poverty or a primary mechanism for, and requirement of, active citizenship policy aspirations around the role of learning are extremely diverse.   Some of the polices and strategies are directly linked to community provision of learning opportunities, particularly community focused activities, others have less specific connections, for instance aiming to support and encourage learning in the workforce.  These can be linked to the learning agenda but also raise questions about defining community as part of understanding the distinctiveness of community based adult learning (CBAL).  Community based adult learning is an essential ingredient of approaches that contribute to these aspirations. 

 

Deirdre Elrick, Scottish Council Foundation

 

 

See all news in February 2008 or the whole of 2008.