Jane Davidson Lecture

Guest Lecturer: Jane Davidson: Minister for education, Lifelong learning and skills Lecture

What is education- The Learning Country

           The learning country- vision into action is a programme that began in 2001, due to the previous structured system of education not delivering the correct results. The learning country is an agenda that’s passionate about learning highlighting lifelong learning and describing key objectives and actions that the Assembly Government will be taking to make learning from a young to old age a reality. In 1997 the labour government, repeated “education, education and education. Then, now and in the future.” (2000) the goal of the learning country is to support anyone who wants to learn and progress in education. The Learning country states

“We want Wales to be a learning country, where high quality, lifelong learning provides the skills people need to prosper in the new economy, liberates talent, extends opportunities and empowers communities.” (2001)

 Lifelong learning refers to the fact that all the way through our lives we are continually learning. The learning country wants children to have the best start to their lives; they want children to be able to reach their full potential. The learning country has the aim to improve learning standards, teaching in an inclusive community about change, how to survive, how to communicate, progress and live. Bartlett agrees with the idea of Lifelong Learning stating “Learning is something we do all the time, we learn from birth, through childhood, in the workplace.” (2003) we constantly have the opportunity to learn, not only in school but everywhere, at home, at work, from televisions from the Internet- the possibilities are endless. The learning country has many schemes. Some of the schemes include, providing nursery education to all children of the age of three, as well as making sure all infant classes are no more than thirty. Furthermore these schemes allow breakfast clubs and milk for young children and a capital expenditure programme to help the conditions of schools. The learning country not only encourages children to use their imagination, and prepare them for school more efficiently by helping their literacy and numeracy skills. Their schemes moreover help tackle inequality and support the professional judgement of teachers.

Reference List

Bartlett, S. (2003). Educational studies: essential issues. London: SAGE publications.

Blair, T. (2000, September 26). BBC NEWS. Retrieved from BBC.co.uk:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/943374.stm

Welsh Government (2001,August). The Learning Country vision into action. Retrieved March 22, 2012, from Wales.gov.uk:

http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/publications/guidance/learningcountry/?lang=en