Lifelong Learning Strategy

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Paul Davies (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the potential merits of a national lifelong learning strategy.

This debate is well timed, as we are midway through Get the Nation Learning Week, a national campaign co-ordinated by the Learning and Work Institute. The campaign, backed by more than 230 organisations, marks a rare opportunity for adult learning to be pushed to the forefront, and for employers, community organisations, learning providers and Parliament to highlight the importance of the issue. What is more, today is the Get the Nation Learning awards ceremony, one of the biggest celebrations of lifelong learning in England.

In our fast-changing digital world, there has never been a time in history when the need to learn continuously throughout life has been greater. Many Governments have used education as an enabler for national renewal, a policy to call upon when the country requires radical social change. Today, we see the Government highlighting the need to radically rewire the state, foster true cross-departmental working and shake up Whitehall for good. However, there is, I believe, a gap in this plan. National renewal as lifelong learning needs to be incorporated across Government agendas within a national lifelong learning strategy.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward this issue; I spoke to him before the debate. His proposal is something that I have been seeking as well. Does he agree that a successful national lifelong learning strategy must include all regions across the United Kingdom, including my Strangford constituency, where local colleges and community groups do phenomenal work retraining older workers? Continued adult education keeps the mind sharp, tackles isolation and directly reduces pressure on our health services. Does he agree that modular training should be shared equally across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland so that no worker is ever left behind?

[Paul Davies]

The hon. Member must have been reading my speech. I will get on to some of his comments, but I totally agree with them; they were very well put.

Across the country, including in my constituency, people desperately want to see good growth in every postcode. I believe that that cannot be achieved without access to lifelong learning in every postcode. Lifelong learning has been an instrumental driver of social change at key periods in our history. In 1919, the Ministry of Reconstruction’s landmark report on adult education provided the foundations to make lifelong education a permanent national necessity. In the 1970s, the Right to Read campaign raised the profile of adult literacy across the nation. Lifelong learning has been a catalyst for social progression throughout our history, and there are important lessons to be learned. I encourage the Minister to reflect on the Ministry of Reconstruction’s foundational principle from more than 100 years ago, which is just as important now as it was then:

“adult education is a permanent national necessity, an inseparable aspect of citizenship, and therefore should be both universal and lifelong”.

An institution that helped to shape the report was the Workers’ Educational Association, which is still the largest provider of community adult education. Its history shows us how the course of working-class lives can be changed for the better when people have access to lifelong learning. The WEA shaped and was part of the history of workers’ education throughout the last century and continues to do so in this century. As one of the largest lifelong learning charities in the country, the WEA campaigns to bring learning within the reach of every adult, no matter what their circumstances are.

Learning has multiple cross-cutting outcomes. Participating in learning is shown to improve wellbeing and health. It improves connections, brings people together and reduces social isolation. It increases understanding and empathy for people from different backgrounds or cultures. It ripples out to strengthen whole communities. Furthermore, the WEA has found that more than 84% of people with pre-existing mental health conditions say that taking part in adult learning improves their wellbeing, signalling the extent to which learning helps one to lead a happier, healthier life. The WEA knows at first hand how lifelong learning brings communities closer together and helps to build confidence and agency for individuals.

Just as the evidence base for health and wellbeing is strong, the link between lifelong learning and connecting communities is powerful. Learning helps people to become more active and combats isolation and loneliness: 80% of learners say that they meet people on their courses they would not otherwise meet.