Stormont Hotel, Newtownards Road, Belfast June 9^th 2010 

Introduction

Learning can make a real difference to the quality of life and work for older people.  It can help them stay longer in work, improve their health and wellbeing and support them in facing the challenges of retirement and late old age.  Despite this later life learning is facing challenges on many fronts, an increasingly youth centred education system, the promotion of skill based qualifications and a tough economic backdrop.

This conference will give participants the chance to look at the future of lifelong learning, how it will be resourced but also how older people and the organisations that work with them can build a culture of learning self help.

The conference is timely as it follows the publication of the most in depth report into education in recent years.  The report is called Learning Through Life and it was produced by NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) www.niace.org.uk

Conference purpose

The purpose of the conference will be to examine the future of learning in later life with a view to building a self help learning culture and shaping the policy context.

Conference Aims

• To raise awareness of the importance and impact of later life learning.
• To understand the current position of later life learning in Northern Ireland.
• To examine models of sustainable learning in Northern Ireland and from Europe.
• To raise awareness of the recommendations from the Learning Through Life report relevant to later life learning.
• To highlight different approaches to resourcing later life learning in other parts of the UK and Ireland.
• To make policy recommendations to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Conference Content

The programme of the conference and list speakers has yet to be finalised but will contain the following elements:

• Input from NIACE on their policy recommendations for work with older people.
• Input from Aontas (Irish National Adult Learning Organisation).
• Input from European partners on their work with older learners.
• Input from older learners on their experiences of learning and the impact it has had on them.
• Input from politicians and policy makers on their analysis of the current situation and future trends.

Who the conference is for?

• Older learners and the organisations that work with them.
• Age sector organisations.
• Education sector organisations.
• Politicians and policy makers with an interest in the impact of later life learning.
• Academics and researchers interested in later life learning.

Conference workshops

The conference workshops will be led by practioners and researchers in the field of later life learning.  They will give an opportunity for more interaction with a smaller number of participants.

Please indicate your first and second preference workshops: unfortunately we cannot guarantee your first choice.