The Scottish Government

Listen

Life Through Learning; Learning Through Life The Lifelong Learning Strategy for Scotland: Summary This document is also available in pdf format (652k) Did you know? Across Scotland, learning is provided by: further education colleges trade unions employers professional bodies voluntary and community organisations private training firms community learning and development centres secondary schools higher education institutions

Why do we need lifelong learning?

The key challenges facing us are:

• the increasing pace of technological change in the knowledge economy, which means we need a flexible and adaptable workforce that is ready to reskill and retrain to keep pace with the economy's skills needs
• Scotland's changing population, which means we will have fewer young people entering the workforce in the future: by 2022, 42% of the population of Scotland will be aged over 50
• closing the opportunity gap - learning plays an important role in providing a route out of poverty. It also enables people to take an active part in society

In a modern, forward-looking, prosperous Scotland we cannot accept:

• the opportunity gap between people who achieve their full potential and those who do not
• the skills gap between people in work and those who are not - 35% of people not in work do not have any qualifications
• the productivity gap between Scotland and the leading economies of the world

Bridging these gaps is vital if we are to make social justice a reality, if Scottish businesses are to grow and prosper and if we are to help the people of Scotland to help themselves.

What is lifelong learning?

Our lifelong learning policy for Scotland is about personal fulfilment and enterprise, employability and adaptability, active citizenship and social inclusion.

Lifelong learning is mainly about the training and learning that people can achieve after they leave school. We want to make it possible for more young people to stay on at school or college. And we want all pupils and students over 14 to gain work-based vocational learning and enterprise experience.

Lifelong learning covers the whole range of learning. That includes formal and informal learning and workplace learning. It also includes the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that people acquire in their day-to-day experiences.

Why are we investing in lifelong learning?

We believe in investing public money in lifelong learning because investment in knowledge and skills brings direct economic benefits both to individuals and to society as a whole.

But people are not only interested in learning to increase their earnings. Lifelong learning helps people to achieve other goals, such as taking an active part in civic life, leading a more sustainable lifestyle, and improving their health and wellbeing. It also benefits society, by reducing crime and encouraging community activities.

Who will benefit from our lifelong learning strategy?

Our lifelong learning programme caters for the needs of a very wide range of learners. It obviously includes young adults who leave school and enter training or higher or further education, and other people such as postgraduate or mature students, but it also supports:

• young people who might not continue in formal education because of family budget constraints
• experienced adults whose skills have become out of date
• people who want to refresh their skills or change career
• people who have been prevented from taking up learning opportunities because of childcare or other caring responsibilities
• people with particular education support needs, such as people with disabilities

Did you know?

The Executive's spending on lifelong learning in Scotland will total over 1.7 billion in 2003-04. That is set to rise to over 1.9 billion by
2005-06.

We aim to encourage:

• cultural change to stimulate demand for learning and make every Scot ready for tomorrow's jobs, and to close the opportunity gap
• greater collaboration between employers and learning providers at all levels
• flexibility and relevance of learning opportunities to make sure that people get the knowledge and skills they want and need, to improve their prospects

We will take action by intervening, when it's needed, to stimulate demand from individuals and employers for learning, and the supply of learning to both individuals and employers.

All publicly-funded bodies must work together to deliver a joined-up and coherent learning system. That system must be responsive and relevant, matching learning opportunities and funding with the needs of learners and employers. And it must also provide a high quality learning experience for all learners.

Did you know?

People in Scotland spend an estimated 500 million each year on lifelong learning. Employers in Scotland spend around 2.2 billion each year.

"our vision for lifelong learning in Scotland is to provide the best possible match between the learning opportunities open to people and the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that will strengthen Scotland's economy and society."

We have five people-centred goals to realise that vision:

• a Scotland where people have the confidence, enterprise, knowledge, creativity and skills they need to take a full part in economic, social and civic life
• a Scotland where people demand - and learning providers deliver - a high quality learning experience
• a Scotland where people's knowledge and skills are recognised, used and developed to best effect in their workplace
• a Scotland where people are given the information, guidance and support they need to make effective learning decisions and transitions
• a Scotland where people have the chance to learn irrespective of their background or current personal circumstances

Message from the Minister

Learning - gaining new skills and new knowledge - is a lifetime opportunity and a lifetime achievement. Different types of learning help people to develop their potential in different ways; from fostering new interests that enrich their lives to accessing jobs and careers that may have seemed out of their reach.

That's why I want people in Scotland to develop a passion for learning:

• I want people to be eager to learn more about what they already know
• I want them to be curious to learn what they might have only heard about
• I want them to be inspired to achieve what they thought would never be possible
• and I want people to retain that passion for acquiring new skills and new scholarship throughout their lives

I commend our strategy to you. This is still only a beginning. We cannot make these changes without the active support of all involved. I urge you to play your part in engendering a passion for, and a commitment to, learning in all our people, throughout their lives.

Iain Gray
Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning

How will we achieve our goals?

We aim to increase the number of people in learning and improve the skills base, employability and enterprise of the people of Scotland by:

• re-launching Individual Learning Accounts, to widen participation in adult learning
• asking the Enterprise Networks to strengthen Scotland's skills base. We have also asked them to make sure that Futureskills Scotland and Careers Scotland have an increasingly active role in developing people's knowledge and understanding of the needs of the labour market
• merging the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Councils
• promoting the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework to give people a better understanding about how they can build on their qualifications. This will help employers and individuals to see where any qualification sits in relation to another
• improving the quality and consistency of information for learners, by developing learndirect scotland's national database of learning opportunities
• improving the literacy and numeracy skills of 150,000 adults by 2006
• piloting Business Learning Accounts with small businesses, providing them with the tools to link training needs with business growth
• encouraging community-based learning
• increasing the potential for students to transfer from college to university, by greater collaboration between the Scottish Qualifications Authority, colleges and universities when they develop qualifications
• looking at possible financial and practical barriers to learning and how we can overcome them
• using the Scottish Union Learning Fund scheme to help trade unions to promote learning in the workplace
• developing activities to enable young people in school to learn and have experience of business enterprise
• providing additional funds to increase the total number of Modern Apprenticeships

We aim to widen access to further and higher education by:

• assisting up to 500,000 people of all ages to study in further education
• maintaining the increased number of places in higher education institutions and the funding available to support disadvantaged students in higher education
• introducing Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) across Scotland to support around 40,000 young people to stay on at school or college

We also aim to improve the quality of the learning and teaching environment for staff and students in Scotland. We attach great importance to ensuring that every learner has a quality learning experience. We will work towards a new Scottish approach to quality improvement.

What happens next in implementing our lifelong learning strategy?

We want to foster real and genuine partnership in developing lifelong learning across Scotland. We plan to set up:

• a Lifelong Learning Forum with a broad coverage of interested parties, including learners, that will meet annually
• a series of Lifelong Learning Panels of experts and interested parties that will examine particular themes and topics of interest across the lifelong learning agenda, and will report to the Forum

We will also continue to build a better evidence base and take a rigorous approach to measuring success.

Everyone has a role to play

The Executive has an important role in strategy development, implementation and evaluation.

We want the Enterprise Networks, Funding Councils, information providers and other intermediary organisations to work more closely together to deliver integrated, responsive, relevant services to learners.

There are important roles too for:

individuals to:

• commit to pursuing their own learning and development needs
• invest the time, energy and other resources required to develop their own potential
• make use of the routes and pathways, advice and assistance available to support their learning

employers in all sectors to:

• recognise that high quality products and services are delivered by a skilled and motivated workforce
• invest in the training of all their employees to achieve a highly-skilled and
  productive workforce
• work with trade unions to tackle skills gaps in the workplace

trade unions to:

• champion the benefits of updating skills or learning new ones
• work with employers to tackle skills gaps in the workplace
• encourage more direct provision for employees through working with employers

learning providers to:

• make sure that learning provision meets the needs of learners wherever they live
• make that provision of the highest quality
• plan and adapt provision to be relevant to Scotland's economic and social needs

How will we measure the success of our lifelong learning strategy?

Achieving success will be a joint effort on the part of many stakeholders, working together efficiently. As a first step, we have identified six indicators to assess our progress:

• reducing the proportion of 16-19 years old not in education, employment or training
• increasing support to 16-19 year olds from low income families to stay on at school and/or further education college
• increasing the proportion of graduates in the workforce
• reducing the proportion of working age adults whose highest qualification is below SCQF level 5 (SVQ 2)
• reducing the proportion of 18-29 year olds whose highest qualification is below SCQF level 6 (SVQ 3)
• increasing the proportion of people in employment undertaking training

We will also continue to measure Scotland's position in relation to other leading industrialised countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Our watchwords

responsiveness
quality
relevance
coherence

Further information

This is a summary version of 'Life Through Learning; Learning Through Life', Scotland's new lifelong learning strategy. You can access the full document at: www.scotland.gov.uk/publications

If you would like further information please contact:
Eddie Dunn
Skills and Learning Opportunities Division
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department
Scottish Executive
Europa Building
Argyle Street
Glasgow
G2 8LG
t: 0141 242 0218
f: 0141 242 0222
e: lifelonglearning@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

ISBN: 0 7559 0757 4

Further copies are available from The Stationery Office Bookshop
71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ
Tel 0870 606 55 66