The Dorset Education for Sustainability Network. Lifelong Learning

	Life-long Learning


'To achieve stable and sustainable growth we will need a well-educated, well-equipped and adaptable labour force…we must ensure that people can return to learning throughout their lives'. Ref. 'The Learning Age - A Renaisance for a New Britain.' D. Blunkett 1998

Dorset Education Authority is committed to lifelong learning and will:

*	Support the three strands of Education for Young people:
	Learning at school
	Learning in organised out-of-school locations
	Learning at home.
*	Extend opportunities for adults to engage in learning in a variety of forms.
*	Promote Lifelong Learning by supporting more places in nurseries and pre-schools, building links with colleges and promoting learning opportunities for all people.

Where should this learning take place?

Community based learning research has concluded that the most effective way of enabling responsible citizenship is through structured, community based learning programmes.

'It's good to ask questions, be inquisitive and learn new things as we go about our daily business…remember: dreams can come true!'

Dame Judi Dench in 'Learning to Live' the newsletter of the Campaign for Learning. Summer 1999

	What should Education for Sustainable Development achieve?

*	Changes in work.
*	Changes in lifestyle.
*	Consumption patterns that are more sustainable.
*	Encourage people to consider alternatives, helping them to make appropriate choices and empower them to bring about change.
*	Encourage and enable people to take part in the decision making process.
*	Enable people to find and use information effectively.
*	Give people opportunities to participate.
*	Help people to understand the links between issues and see connections with their own lives.
*	Encourage principles leading to a fairer society and a more equitable distribution of resources.
*	Enable people to identify practices that are relevant to sustainability and to monitor their own actions.


Who will get the information?
The Dorset Education Service provides equal access to information for all people in Dorset along with training in the skills needed for people to access and use that information throughout their lives.

Adult Education
'The Education system must as a key function prepare all people for their role as well-informed, skilled and experienced participators in determining the quality and structure of the world we all inhabit.' 17

The Dorset Adult and Continuing Education Service exists to:
*	Offer all adults educational opportunities for lifelong learning suited to their varying personal need and aspirations.

*	Empower individuals to make independent, reasoned and rational choices about their own learning and its application.

Further information about courses and training opportunities can be obtained by phoning Ferndown County Office 01202 863933 South and West Area Office 01305 251040 North and East Area Office 01202 875359 Christchurch Area Office 01202 482789 or an Adult Education Centre near you.

Access to information is a key factor in our transition to more sustainable development. The Dorset Education Service is committed to making education for and information about sustainable development a central theme throughout its work.

The Dorset Adult and Continuing Education Service.
-	All adults will be entitled to access a range of learning opportunities, which are responsive to the needs of individuals, local communities and the national agenda.

-	The Adult Education Service continues to develop partnerships with statutory providers, voluntary organisations and locally based community groups to facilitate consultation and the development of 'needs led' provision.


-	Such a collaborative approach helps to maximise resources and ensure that adults have some choice about how they learn and where they learn, as well as what they learn.

-	Adults will be offered clear and accurate information and advice about the learning opportunities available and will be supported in making choices and achieving their learning goals.

The Dorset Library Service.

-	'Libraries are', in the words of Secretary of State for Culture Chris Smith, 'the street corner universities for the citizens of Britain'.

-	Many young people and adults find it hard to get the information, education and training that they need to equip themselves with all that is needed in the modern working and living environment.

-	Libraries have for 150 years provided a resource which is unique in our communities: a place to which anyone can go to access a huge range of information and learning opportunities, and, increasingly, libraries are widening their traditional "gateway" role to encompass access to the information on the Web.

-	As the information explosion continues to build, in both printed and web-based form, more and more people are finding that their library service has the information that they need with staff trained to help them locate it.


Access to information is of key importance in the delivery of Education for Sustainable Development. The library service has an obvious and vital role in the dissemination of information relating to sustainable development.
The Library Service should become a key player in the provision of accurate, up to date and relevant information to all services within education. Contact your local library for details.