Published on:
25
February 2005
Clackmannanshire Adult learning Providers Forum celebrated its 50th meeting on Tuesday 22nd of February in the Harviestoun Inn in Tillicoultry.
CALPF has been around since 1996 and is arguably Scotland's first Local Lifelong Learning Partnership. CALPF was formed around a vision shared by local adult learning providers to provide high quality adult learning opportunities based on sound planning, good guidance, quality management and delivery.
It has helped break down barriers to information about adult learning by providing a high quality glossy annual brochure which lists all adult learning opportunities available locally.The guide is posted through the door of every household in Clackmannanshire.
Clackmananshire has a proud tradition of adult learning which CALPF has nurtured and developed.Many innovations and new resources have been developed by partners.
Tillicoultry Local Lifelong Learning Base, in Tillicoultry Community centre, was developed by CALPF partners in 200.1 The base has been continually upgraded and developed and recently had a complete replacement of its PC network. This had Broadband connectivity added in August last year and continues to attract new groups of learners.
Clackmannan College has developed first class modern facilities and resources for Adult Learning and Literacies and has continued to offer community based Adult Learning opportunities in partnership with Clackmannanshire Council.
Clackmannanshire Councilmoved its literacies base to a better resourced and equipped base atMiller Court next to the Whins Road Business Centre last year, where a complete overhaul of its PC network is planned to develop better facilities for local literacies learners.
Guest Speaker Jim Rooney from Her Majesties Inspectorate for Education, who was a founder member of CALPF spoke about the value of partnership working and the expanding role of the HMIE in continuing to support the improvement of services in our local communities.
Vince Moore from Communities Scotland Learning Connections reflected on the recent history of literacies provision in Scotland and the importance of engaging committed professionals in the process of delivering Literacies Learning.
CALP is continuing to help expand partnership working and Sandie Luti of Clackmananshire Council pointed out at the meeting that partnership working has been strengthened by the inclusion of the Literacies partnership business in the CALPF agenda.Sandie stated that this has helped literacies work to involve new partners such as Triage and Job Centre Plus.Triage had in fact since joined CALPF and were represented at the 50th meeting.
Fred Smith the local Careers Scotland Office Manager reflected on how CALPF's role had changed over the years and how since his early involvement in CALPF the industrial landscape of Clackmananshire had changed dramatically. Textiles and Brewing no longer employed the thousands of workers it did when CALPF started and the plight of young people trying to find jobs locally gave CALPF a major concern to address at future meetings.
Ross Paterson of Clackmananshire's CVS discussed the growing need for for a such as CALPF to address Community Learning Strategy planning issues and how the voluntary sector was about to take a more proactive role in this.
He spoke of the positive development of Voluntary sector involvement in Literacies through a project being delivered by Learning Link Scotland in conjunction with the Alloa Citizens Advice Bureaux.The Links to Literacies project sought to link the voluntary sector to CALPF and is one of eight national pathfinder projects funded by Communities Scotland's 'Learning Connections'.
Anne Fowler from Clackmanan College rounded the meeting off by involving partners in an exercise aimed at developing partners awareness of the components of partnership and assessing how effective participants thought CALPF had been.
There was general agreement that CALPF should reassess its role in order to continue to contribute effectively to adult learning and Literacies developments and that CALPF could continue to harness the "collective will of committed professionals".
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