Cymorth Cymru – Working with providers, partners and policy makers to improve the lives of people who need support.
TDG
Forward
By Jane Davidson AM
Minister for Education & Lifelong Learning National Assembly for Wales
Learning is a process which continues throughout our lives. It begins with the acquisition of simple skills which enables us to tackle the essential tasks of independent living. And on these foundations we build a more complex range of abilities which equip us for an equally diverse range of challenges in adolescent and adult life; for education and employment, social relationships and parenthood, physical and mental health.
For most of us, this process of lifelong learning is guided by those who care for us, and managed by those who take responsibility for our education and training. The various phases through which we pass, and the transitions which mark their division, from home to school, school to further and higher education and training, and thence to employment, each represent new challenges to overcome. And in so doing, we pass onwards and sometimes upwards, to the next phase.
Not everyone will aspire to or attain the same levels of achievement along this path. But there are two key considerations in the whole process of learning which are relevant in the present context. The first is that progression is dependant on the acquisition of those essential skills, and the second is that some people, through no fault of their own, lack the right support at the right time to engage properly with learning.
Although standards of learning continue to rise in Wales, a significant number of people still fail to achieve their potential because socially excluded as a result of this, and may ultimately find themselves without a place to call home. And then the process of progression may become reversed, so that doors are closed rather than opened.
Projects which seek to tackle this problem face a complex task of putting right key elements which have gone wrong with people’s lives, sometimes in the distant past. And in preparing people to engage again with mainstream learning and employment opportunities, they must deliver a programme of services which address basic skills against a background of personal support needs.
I regard this work as a very important part of the provision of learning services; different from, but no less important than any other part of mainstream education and training. It demands the same professional levels of service delivery, the same attention to quality control and monitoring as any other. I therefore welcome this guide as an important contribution to those essential elements for this specialised area of learning provision in Wales.
Contact details
Contact details
Address: Cymorth Cymru, Norbury House, Norbury Road, Fairwater, Cardiff, CF5 3AS
Telephone: 029 2055 3687
Fax: 029 2056 4165
Email: info@cymorthcymru.org.uk