THEMES | Lifelong Learning

Introduction

“Through partnership we will have created a culture in which people will want to learn, will have the opportunity to learn, and enjoy learning”

Education and training are at the heart of community development. High quality education and training are essential to a vibrant economy and an outward looking, well-informed society. The link between economy and education and training is two-way. Just as economic health and growth depend on a well-educated workforce so educational aspirations are depressed by a declining economy. The disappearance of the mining and steel industries have served to lower expectations of what people could achieve and for a time threatened to establish a cycle of under-expectation and associated low levels of attainment.

Education and training is about more than just jobs and we have a duty to help people make sense of, and contribute to, the rapidly-changing world in which they live. Therefore education changes, adapts and evolves, and this process must take place through a carefully planned strategic framework to ensure that everyone benefits. In the district there is an Education and Training Forum overseeing this process and representing the full range of partners. The Forum co-ordinates and plans developments in education and training to provide an integrated
approach whilst recognising the legitimate self-interest of individual providers. Recently the forum commissioned research into the educational “state of play” in Derwentside and the subsequent priorities for future action specific to the district.

These priorities are the key issues which inform this plan, and which we believe will support us in ensuring that the educational opportunities and outcomes in Derwentside, support the growth and re-generation of the community, and are as good as across the rest of the country.