The Learning Revolution Transformation Fund
NEWS RELEASE
30th September 2009
The Raymond Williams Foundation wins Government funding bid to help kickstart The Learning Revolution in North Staffordshire,
The Raymond Williams Foundation – ‘Learning Revolution Discussion Circles’ - is celebrating securing £9,800 from the Government as part of a ‘learning for pleasure’ innovation spearheaded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
The Raymond Williams Foundation (visit www.raymondwilliamsfoundation.org.uk for information) - one of over 213 winning projects, will be running a scheme to extend Open Democracy Discussion (ODD) Circles which have been running in Leek and District pubs to other areas of North Staffordshire and beyond. The themes for discussion have been on big issues across social, political, philosophic, cultural and international affairs. The Blue Mugge meetings have been held weekly for over four years. Sessions at The Lazy Trout have been more recent fortnightly meetings but they share a common approach - free, open to all, non-party and unsectarian with notes provided (visit www.oddc.org.uk for details on programmes and notes).
Our pub discussion circles have never failed to be viable and we average 12 participants, mostly older adults with a good gender balance.
We find we are not alone in this ‘learning revolution’ - friendly contact was made earlier this year with PiPs - Philosophy in Pubs in Liverpool. Discussion groups (similar to our North Staffs. Groups) have been running in that City for ten years and with a larger network of up to 15 pubs. Now, with this Government funding we aim to explore and research the range and volume of similar activities elsewhere, nationally and even internationally. We know from internet contacts that there is a genuine learning revolution occurring not just in pubs but in coffee houses (café philosophique in nearby Cromford as well as Leeds and Bristol)
and other informal settings.
A key feature of our project is to work with partners, the WEA and the Wedgwood Memorial College, Barlaston to support further residential courses at that fine institution.. A week-end has been booked for 19-21st February 2010 to enable groups as above to share experience and to promote New Citizenship education for the future.
Our North Staffs pubs have used Melvyn Bragg’s BBC ‘In our Time’ programmes as a resource for background notes. Melvyn has expressed strong support for our project and we now plan to base open residential education week-ends on IoT themes with experts from the BBC series, lecturing and leading sessions on the week-ends at Barlaston and elsewhere. So, a feather in the cap for Leek and North Staffordshire. Watch this space for developments….
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Across the nation, a diverse array of informal adult learning projects will be getting underway, ranging from creative music master classes for people out of work or education, learning adventures for isolated older people and reading opportunities for the over 60s.
This grant is from the £20 million Transformation Fund, launched by Government to offer funding for to innovative informal adult learning projects in England. This brings to life The Learning Revolution, a White Paper presented to Parliament in March 2009.
The projects, many spearheaded by partnerships between public, private and third sector organisations, will help improve mental health, physical well-being, active citizenship and community cohesion, as well as providing a stepping stone towards further learning, qualifications and employment for many people.
Projects include:
- An initiative to engage more than 2,000 adults who are not currently in training, employment or education, through celebrity-led creative music and media tasters, master classes and workshops, led by a partnership which includes Global Radio, the parent group of Heart FM, LBC and Galaxy stations.
- A partnership between Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, Merseytravel, Urbis and a National Trust property which will create ‘learning journeys’ for young people 19-25, older people living in isolation and people recovering from substance abuse. Each learner will use a free bus pass to take journeys around travel ‘lines’, including the Engineering Line, the Football Line and the Mersey Beat Line.
- A project at Tyneside Cinema, in partnership with Newcastle University, to use the cinema’s new spaces and facilities to deliver digital technology, moving image, communications and IT learning to a wide range of people from different social backgrounds and develop online learning tools for others to share.
- A massive campaign, led by Booktrust and delivered through GP surgeries, libraries and Adult Education centres, to inspire thousands of over-60s to take up reading or writing for pleasure.
Kevin Brennan, Minister for Further Education, Skills and Consumer Affairs, said:
“We’re happy to announce 213 successful recipients of our Transformation Fund grants, awarded in the face of stiff competition from a field of 1,400 applications. With projects ranging from creative writing and music to reading and art, it’s encouraging to see so many imaginative ideas for giving adults more opportunities to learn for the love of it.”
“The benefits of learning for pleasure in an informal setting are wide-ranging, and they benefit the community as well as the individual. I hope that many people will develop the confidence and the local connections to take a big step towards a brighter future.”
The announcement about the latest Transformation Fund grants follows the award of £1 million worth of ‘early bird’ funding in July.
Alan Tuckett, Chief Executive of NIACE, added:
“NIACE is proud to have the role of supporting the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in managing the Transformation Fund. We argued in our response to the Informal Adult Learning consultation that there is no better stimulus for local adult learning providers than the creation of a fund to trigger innovation and new partnerships.”
“There’s already evidence from the ‘early bird’ bids of how creative and imaginative community-based adult learning can be when given the funding to put ideas into practice.”
Informal adult learning encompasses a wide variety of activities and can range from a self-organised reading group in a village hall to a guided visit to nature reserve or stately home. Other Learning Revolution activities include The Learning Revolution Festival: a month-long celebration of informal adult learning that kicks off in October 2009.
To find out more about The Learning Revolution, visit: www.bis.gov.uk/learningrevolution.
Notes to editors:
- To find out what the Transformation Fund grants are for, download the Learning Revolution Transformation Fund prospectus at www.transformationfund.org.uk/about-transformation-fund.
- To find out more about The Raymond Williams Foundation – Learning Revolution Discussion Circles go to Dr. Derek Tatton, Project Co-ordinator > derektatton@btinternet.com
01538 370067 visit www.raymondwilliamsfourndation.org.uk and www.oddc.org.uk
- Through the Transformation Fund grants, partnerships of public, private and third sector organisations in England are creating projects to:
- Encourage more and different people into informal learning, particularly people from disadvantaged groups;
- Open up access to learning in new places, in new ways and at more flexible times;
- Support people to set up self-organised groups and learning clubs;
- Widen choice, by developing and sharing innovative content;
- Build partnerships and strengthen the capacity of informal adult learning organisations;
- Improve connections and progression between different kinds of learning; and
- Make better use of broadcasting and technology to stimulate and support learning.
- The Transformation Fund adds to the £210 million which the Government has already ring-fenced to support informal adult learning. The Government also invests £360 million each year in museums and galleries, £10 million in UK online centres, libraries and other community venues and £21.5 million in union learning.