Aim: Equality of opportunity and access to learning for all.

Learning is something for everyone which goes before and beyond the 'compulsory' learning undertaken by children and young people, so we must look at learning in its broadest sense. We must also recognise that people's ability and motivation to learn are influenced by many factors - their background, social circumstances, gender or culture, for example - which may create barriers to their learning. We must aim to remove (or at the very least reduce) these barriers.

Important Issues to address

• Use of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructures to support lifelong learning.
• Awareness about the opportunities and facilities that already exist.
• Access to information, advice and guidance.
• Availability and choice of further and higher education locally.
• Limited university presence in the immediate area.
• Whether the existing infrastructure can cope with the required expansion in provision, and if not, identify additional/alternative ways of meeting those needs.
• Lower than average educational attainment levels of looked after children and children living within pockets of deprivation.
• Partnership working - not just within the public sector, but also with the voluntary and private sectors and with the community.
• Use of wider learning resources e.g. those in museums, the records office and in libraries.
• Access to experiential learning.
• Choice and availability of pre-school and out-of-school learning and activity programmes.
• Co-ordination of volunteer training across the Borough.
• Opportunities for adult learners who missed out on formal education the first time around.
• Choice and availability of adult education programmes.
• Barriers to learning.
• Inflexibility in the way learning opportunities are delivered - community-based activities, family and intergenerational learning opportunities may be appropriate.
• Lack of conference facilities within the Borough.

Key Objectives

• To develop and maintain broadband ICT networks.
• To improve access to information, advice and guidance for 13 to 19 year olds and for adults on opportunities in learning and work.
• To increase the number of people entering further and higher education.
• To extend the range of further and higher education options available locally.
• To expand the university presence in the area.
• To identify whether the existing infrastructure can cope with the required expansion in provision.
• To improve basic skills levels.
• To raise standards (continuously) and improve educational attainments.
• To work in partnership to address the wider social issues that impact on learning.
• To improve access to the wider learning resources within the Borough and ensure that these assets are protected, and where possible, enhanced.
• To examine innovative ways to enhance learning opportunities - learning should not be confined to the classroom.
• To develop further pre-school and out-of-school learning and activity programmes.
• To co-ordinate and rationalise volunteer training across the Borough.
• To further develop learning opportunities for adults, particularly those who missed out on education the first time around.
• To highlight the need to extend and further develop conference facilities within the Borough.

Actions

• Support the development of broadband ICT networks in a way which ensures their sustainability to be in place by 2005.
• Develop a co-ordinated marketing strategy to publicise the learning opportunities available and the benefits to be gained from participating in them by the end of 2002. Volunteering (including paid volunteering) will be used as a pilot to evaluate whether this is a worthwhile approach.
• Support Shropshire and Telford Information Advice and Guidance Partnership (STIAG) to develop a co-ordinated local network of information, advice and guidance on opportunities in learning and work by 2002.
• Improve access to higher education in the Borough. This will include improved marketing and information, better co-ordination of courses available and examining ways in which a 'campus experience' can be developed.
• Increase the number of people entering further and higher education by 6% by the end of 2004 (from 84% in 1999 to 90% in 2004).
• Undertake an audit of buildings and facilities suitable to be used for educational purposes within the Borough, including those which may not currently be used for such purposes e.g. village halls, community centres and churches.
• Develop a partnership approach to improving educational attainment in schools. This will include the input of agencies and activities that are not educationally based in the traditional sense e.g. sports and arts. Initially this approach will be piloted in North Shrewsbury, with roll-out across the Borough if successful.
• Improve access to wider learning resources e.g. make better use of the museums service, the Borough's cultural heritage etc., in order to broaden people's learning experiences.
• Support Shropshire Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership to help achieve its aims within the Borough, particularly in reducing the deficiency of childcare places available in rural areas. Free part-time nursery education places should be available for all 3 year olds whose parents want one by September 2004.

Future Community Involvement

Although we have tried to involve as many people as possible in putting this strategy together, it is unlikely that we have managed to reach everybody. Over the coming year we will involve the community in further development of the strategy

Monitoring

To include:

Links to other strands of the strategy

• The economy.
• Health.
• Social inclusion.
• Vibrant Communities.
• The environment.

Partners in Delivery

• Connexions Youth Support Service
• English Heritage
• Fields Studies Council
• Gateway Arts and Education Centre
• Learning and Skills Council
• Local Businesses
• Music Hall
• National Trust
• Professional Institutes offering Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
• Schools and Colleges
• Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council
• Shrewsbury Museums Service
• Shrewsbury Partnership for Education and Training
• Shropshire and Telford Information Advice and Guidance Partnership
• Shropshire Early Years Childcare and Development Partnership
• Shropshire Libraries Service
• Shropshire Local Education Authority Shropshire Records and Research
• Shropshire Social Services
• Shropshire Wildlife Trust
• Shropshire Youth Service
• Students' Unions
• Through the Doorway Healthy Living Partnership
• Universities, including the Open University and the University of the Third Age
• Voluntary Action Shrewsbury
• Voluntary Groups and Organisations
• Workers' Educational Association
• Youth Groups and Associations