We suggest a number of other typologies, categories and frameworks, for instance for
skills in relation to social capital (see pp. 44-46). This is a deliberate part of building
analytical capacity in the field, and we hope to see at least some of them taken up,
utilised and critiqued.
12.1.1 Policy conclusion 1
The sustaining effect of education on personal lives and the social fabric demands
much fuller recognition. Education transforms people’s lives, but it also, less
spectacularly, enables them to cope with the multifarious stresses of daily life as well
as continuous and discontinuous social change; and to contribute to others’ well-being
by maintaining community and collective life. This sustaining effect is particularly
significant in underpinning rationales for more intersectoral policy-making, especially
between education and health.
12.2 Initial education and lifelong learning
We put forward a number of conclusions relating to people’s initial education,
whether this was confined to the minimum period of schooling or continued on into
further or higher education.
Like other educational institutions, school is a vital socialising force. It often brings
together children of different backgrounds, and enables them to understand that there
are different perspectives, habits and values. The extent to which this beneficial
socialising occurs is variable - not all schools facilitate it - and strengthening it is a
major issue for policy.
The connection between enjoying school and achievement is not straightforward.
Some people got no qualifications at all, but still appreciated their education. Others
were successful in conventional terms, but do not carry a happy memory of education
with them. We raise the question whether younger generations, who on average
achieve more highly than their elders, will necessarily regard learning as a
correspondingly more pleasurable experience. The relationship between a more
extensive period of initial education on the one hand, and a system of lifelong learning
on the other, needs careful analysis.
Relatedly, the issue of equity, and especially intergenerational equity, emerges
strongly. Many older respondents describe how they were excluded from potential
benefits because their families could not afford to keep them at school, or in other
cases to send them to university. Often the outlay involved was in absolute terms very
small, perhaps the price of a uniform. This raises quite fundamental policy questions.
It is heartening to be able to report that good teaching has an enduring effect. This is
shown by the number of respondents who had not achieved well at school, but who
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