Learning is good for you
01/07/2009
Learning opens our minds and enriches our lives - so why have educational opportunities for older people been cut back? Wayne Bennett, manager of the lifelong learning centre Dillington House, sets out the case for a change of policy.
Towards the end of last year, a government think-tank produced a wide- ranging study concerning mental health and wellbeing. The conclusions were astonishing in claiming that one of the most powerful activities any individual could do to stave off the misery of depression and anxiety – especially in older age - was to keep learning.
Indeed, learning throughout life is wonderfully good for us in all sorts of ways. Learning allows for an engagement with the world and the great issues that confront us all. It obviously improves our knowledge and widens our horizons in the process. It brings us into contact with other like-minded people and it challenges our own beliefs and opinions. Learning can also give us a deep sense of achievement and this improves our self-esteem and sense of well-being.
When interviewed on Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir John Beddington – the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor – said that the most important single thing we can do to maintain a quality of life in older age is to keep learning. Wow!
However, the news comes as the provision of government-supported adult education programmes across the country are in a state of collapse. Councils and colleges, driven by the need to follow the money, have abandoned much of what they used to do in favour of delivering courses in basic skills – literacy and numeracy etc. – and courses leading to recognised qualifications.
Nobody is saying that these are not important too. But why did we have to close down a great tradition of courses in village halls and local schools in the process? The provision of adult education programmes was a simple public service that transformed individual lives and families. Above all though, learning for learning’s sake is a deeply civilising concept and one that ultimately adds value to communities and society in general. The decline has to be reversed and a renaissance in adult education begun.
The irony of the present state of affairs is that New Labour came to power on the mantra of ‘education, education, education’ and David Blunkett had a visionary mission of creating a culture of lifelong learning!
Of course, the loss of adult education classes is only part of a larger picture in which the notion of public service and collective responsibility is replaced by private provision and narrow economic objectives. That said, there are still some organisations doing their best to keep things going. Notable among them are the WI, the WEA and the U3A. There is also a scattering of residential colleges and hotels offering weekend courses in a social setting; and we mustn’t forget art centres, museums, clubs and societies who often provide a vibrant programme of talks and activities. The Open University remains open although this involves academic study at a high level and at a price which many people may find off-putting.
So what’s to be done? Well, the government have been stung by public criticism of what has happened to adult education and the recently moved former Secretary of State, John Denham, indicated that something had to be done. The big problem is that, thanks to the disgraceful behaviour of the banks, the financial cupboard is bare and a general election will probably make no difference – adult education has never been high on the political agenda. The reality is that we are probably on our own.
Don’t despair, let’s get down to the library (if we still have one) or online and search out the opportunities that do exist and sign up now. Find out what is going on in your area and take those tentative first steps…the science says that it will be seriously good for us.