Council and democracy

Lifelong learning: the Hertfordshire Learning Partnership

www.hertsdirect.org/hlp

The Hertfordshire Learning Partnership (HLP) seeks to identify and access all those in post 16 and lifelong learning and ensure that they are equipped to participate in, and make their contribution to society. The aim of the HLP is to facilitate lifelong learning for those from all educational backgrounds and bring into learning those not in learning at the moment, including those who feel alienated in some way from learning.

The Hertfordshire Learning Partnership has set a range of clearly defined targets and outputs and a programme to monitor progress.

In order to ensure that needs are being understood and met at a local level the HLP is setting up local Learning Forums in each district/borough area. Contacts are on the next page.

The HLP undertakes to identify all aspects of need and provision for post-16 and lifelong learning at county wide and, most importantly, local level. An essential part of this is listening to what learners, and those not currently in learning, think. The key task of the partnership is to ensure that the main gaps thrown up by this process are filled and standards raised.

Whether the HLP succeeds in its aims will depend entirely on the involvement of the key stakeholders – local education and training providers, employers and community representatives.

There are many partners including: Colleges of Further Education, Hertfordshire County Council, Careers Service, Learning & Skills Council, the voluntary sector.