This month sees a national celebration of lifelong learning in the form of the Festival of Learning 2016 (previously Adult Learners’ Week). Organisations across England hold events and ‘have-a-go’ activities from 1 May – 30 June to inspire people of any age and background to embrace learning and its power to affect positive change in their lives.
“Whether you already love to learn, would like to have a go and learn something new, or are involved in helping others learn, Festival of Learning is for you.” (National Learning and Work Institute, 2016)
Not only is it a chance for you to develop a new skill or talent, the Festival of Learning is a great opportunity to promote the benefits of information literacy and to showcase your IL service or learning support. Information literacy provides a strong foundation for lifelong learning. The educational opportunities provided by IL practitioners enable and empower people to direct their own learning and to participate more effectively in all learning environments, at all levels of education, at any stage of life. The Festival of Learning provides a platform for publicising avenues for learning and, via taster sessions or mini-learning activities, encourages ‘first-steps’ or ‘next steps’ into more prolonged or formal educational programmes.
The Festival is active across social media and encourages you or your learners to Facebook, Instagram or Tweet them with a declaration of what you would #lovetolearn:
If you’d like to list your own learning activity, taster session or open day, you can register events that meet the following criteria:
- The event/s need to take place in England
- They need to be related to learning
- They need to cost £20 or less per person
They also provide a Partner Hub packed with resources to help you with planning and promoting your own Festival of Learning event, including image libraries, a branding toolkit, posters and press advice.