National Skills for Life Conferences 2006

Thank you to all colleagues who attended and contributed to the 2006 national Skills for Life conferences. We have received many requests for materials relating to the conferences - these are set out below. Please contact us if you have any further queries or feedback.

Speeches

Phil Hope's (Minister for Skills) speech at the London conference: click here

Bill Rammell's (Minister for Lifelong Learning, FE and HE) speech at the Birmingham conference: click here

David Way's (Director of Skills at the LSC) speech at the Birmingham conference: coming soon

David Bell (DfES Permanent Secretary) speech at the York conference: click here

Presentations

Clare Hannah's (Learning & Development Director at First Group) presentation on the employer benefits of Skills for Life: coming soon

Skills for Life policy briefing: coming soon

Further information

The conferences covered many issues but several were of particular interest to participants.

Quick Reads - see www.quickreads.org.uk

ICT as a Skill for Life - see www.ictsfl.org.uk

ESOL - for further detail on the ESOL proposals, see the LSCs Priorities for Success document (page 25.)

Conference Background

The national Skills for Life conferences were held in three locations across the country this autumn. The conferences were aimed at all people working in Skills for Life and offered the opportunity to find out the latest about Skills for Life, participate in workshops and discussions, and feedback views and opinions relating to Skills for Life. There was no charge for attending the conferences.

Theme

Working in Partnership was the theme of this year’s conferences. The partnership that the Government has forged with the wide range of local, regional and national organisations involved in the Skills for Life programme has proved hugely successful over the past five years. But the major challenges that remain will require even greater collaboration between policy-makers, practitioners, managers and researchers in the next phase of Skills for Life.

Aims

• To consolidate, strengthen and celebrate the Skills for Life community’s collaborative efforts to improve the life chances of the millions of learners it serves.
• To provide a forum for practitioners to discuss and contribute to the future direction of the strategy.
• To showcase some of the most successful Skills for Life projects.
• To share the good practice that many providers have developed.
• To highlight the key messages from research for policy and practice.

Principal audiences

Skills for Life practitioners, managers and researchers.

Dates

This year’s conferences were held on the following dates:

• Friday, November 3, London
• Tuesday, November 21, Birmingham
• Monday, November 27, York

Programme

The conferences were addressed by Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning (Birmingham), Phil Hope, Skills Minister (London), and David Bell, Permanent Secretary, DfES (York). Among the other speakers were employer-champions of the Skills for Life programme, trade union leaders and authors of the hugely successful Quick Reads series for adults.

Workshops

The conference workshops included the following topics:

• Functional skills and Skills for Life
• Entry level learning
• Embedded learning
• Progression from Skills for Life to Level 2
• ICT and Skills for Life
• ESOL (funding, qualifications and citizenship)
• Skills for Life teacher and support workforce
• Frontline workers: engaging new learners
• Young offenders and young people at risk
• Quick Reads and reading for pleasure
• Whole organisation approach to Skills for Life
• Skills for Life quality improvement programme
• Skills for Life policy briefing