Skills for Life Conferences 2008
Building on Success: Meeting New Challenges
The National Skills for Life Conferences 2008 are to be held in London, Birmingham and York in October and November. The theme of this year's conferences is Building on Success: Meeting New Challenges . This reflects the exceptional achievements made by people working in Skills for Life since 2001, and the challenge ahead to improve the skills of even more adults.
This year's conferences will focus on how we can work together to deliver the UK skills agenda as set out in the Government’s World Class Skills report, including how Skills for Life is the foundation of the Government’s skills strategy. The creation of an integrated employment and skills service, including skills accounts and a new adult advancement and careers service, will help to encourage more adults than ever to improve their literacy, language and numeracy skills. If Britain is to become a world leader in skills, it is crucial we use the opportunities available to us to engage more learners and provide high quality learning experiences which enable people to get on in work and life.
As well as the usual focus on literacy and ESOL, there will be a particular focus on the step change required in numeracy, new research and practice in teaching and learning, and the developments in policy since last year’s events. These conferences will therefore seek to consolidate, strengthen and celebrate the Skills for Life community's collaborative efforts to improve the learning and skills achievements and life chances of the millions of learners it serves.
The conferences, chaired by Maggie Semple OBE of The Experience Corps and Chair of NRDC Advisory Group, will be addressed by a number of speakers. Among the speakers will be employer-champions of the Skills for Life programme, trade union leaders and authors of the hugely successful Quick Reads series for adults.
The conferences will also:
• provide a forum for practitioners to discuss and contribute to the future direction of the strategy;
• share the good practice that many providers have developed;
• showcase some of the most successful Skills for Life projects; and
• highlight key messages from research for policy and practice.
This year's conferences will be held on the following dates:
• Friday, October 31, QEII Conference Centre, London
• Wednesday, November 12, ICC, Birmingham
• Tuesday, November 25, The Royal York Hotel, York
Workshops on a number of key topics will be staged at each conference.
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