Lifelong learning
16 September 2025
Building a qualifications system for the future
Adult Learners’ Week offers an opportunity to think about how the system works for adults. I suggest that in the context of the qualifications system – at least in Wales – there needs to be a 2-stage approach: a pre-16 model centred on the new Curriculum and intended to build core competencies ahead of ‘specialisation’ post-16, and a flexible post-16 model that allows for diverse routes of specialisation and an ability to change tracks as economic opportunities open up.
16 September 2025
New skills, new connections, new opportunities: why lifelong learning is so important
Adult Learners’ Week is a timely reminder of just how transformative learning can be, and this year’s theme – ‘Never Stop Learning’ – highlights why lifelong learning is so important. And with groups across Wales providing a wide range of formal and informal learning for older people, there are lots of opportunities to get involved and try something new.
16 September 2025
More to Learn from Appalachia to Wales: Coal, Community and Culture Appalachian-Welsh Exchange
In honour of Adult Learners’ Week in Wales, I’m reflecting on my connection with the DOVE Workshop, a powerful experience that transformed my understanding of community education.
15 September 2025
Adult Learners’ Week
Adult Learners' Week is an annual campaign that inspires adults to take a step back into learning to improve their confidence and wellbeing, switch careers and progress in work, discover new hobbies and connect with other people or to seek advice and guidance on the existing pathways available to them.
12 June 2025
Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton delivers annual Raymond Williams lecture
This year’s Raymond Williams lecture was delivered by Open University graduate and honorary graduate Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton.
1 June 2025
Empowering learner ambassadors
Engaging and motivating more adults to have the confidence to join adult learning and listening to learners about what works is essential to drive up the skills levels across Wales. The Medr Strategic Plan identifies learner voice and learner engagement as key priorities.
21 May 2025
Amplifying Learner Voices: Insights from International Collaboration
Peer influence and lived experience are valuable for increasing participation in lifelong learning. This principle underpins the Learner Ambassador programme, an initiative developed by the Learning and Work Institute (L&W) in collaboration with members of the Adult Learning Partnership Wales. The programme focuses on empowering learners and ensuring their perspectives are heard through international collaboration for personal and professional development.
10 December 2024
Time for an Adult Curriculum for Wales?
One of the most pleasing aspects of Medr’s draft strategic plan was its focus on ‘the needs of the learner—their experience, achievement and well-being— ensuring they are involved in decision-making and encouraging participation in learning at all stages in life’.
22 October 2024
Equity in Tertiary Education in Wales: an adult learning perspective
The introduction of Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research has the potential to dramatically reshape approaches to promoting equity in tertiary education in Wales. There are several reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the new body and how it could transform the post-compulsory landscape.
18 September 2024
Adult Community Learning Partnerships: Tool for Effective Practice and Delivery
The Adult Community Learning Partnerships tool has been commissioned by the Welsh Government and co-produced by Learning and Work Institute and local ACL Partnerships, with input from national stakeholders including Welsh Government, Estyn, Adult Learning Wales, ColegauCymru, Careers Wales and Holex.
