Backing for informal learning

WARRINGTON Borough Council is backing the government’s ‘Informal Learning Pledge,’ along with many other organisations ranging from the National Trust to Microsoft and BUPA.
Organisations signing up to the pledge agree to support the core principles of informal learning and encourage others to sign up.
They also agree to champion wider participation, especially for those who have benefited least from learning, find flexible ways of using existing spaces or opening up new spaces for learning, encourage and support learning organised by people for themselves, embrace new ways of learning using new technology and work with new partners to increase learning opportunities celebrating successes.
The recently published white paper, The Learning Revolution, outlines what can be done to support learning for pleasure, including funding innovative new ideas and projects, helping to broker access to learning and build a culture of learning across society.
The idea behind this learning revolution is to engage those adults who may not under normal circumstances want to enter formal education, but who have skills or interests to share.
Coun Bob Timmis, the borough council’s executive member for leisure and skills said: “Learning shouldn’t stop when you leave school or college. It should be a natural part of everyone’s life, throughout their whole life. Informal learning often goes unnoticed and unrecognised when it deserves to be acknowledged, celebrated and supported. It essentially creates a sense of community.”