34. Guidance for young people, e.g. through Connexions, should stress that even if
they choose not to continue directly with their education they should always be
conscious that there are opportunities to return to learning.
35. Education can have a large effect on ill health, especially mental health.
Initiatives such as Prescriptions for Learning point the way to creative
collaboration between education and health services. In addition to specific
measures designed to improve ill health, education has a major sustaining or
preventative role, which deserves far greater support.
36. There is much scope for exploring cost-effective learning-based provision with
positive health impacts. This may require new or refined methodologies to
compare the impact of learning on health with that of clinical or other
professional health services.
37. Family learning involves more than generating parental involvement in their
children’s education, though this is a central element. Many different sets of
relationships are potentially affected, within and across generations; in every
case, learning can play a significant role in sustaining and strengthening these
relationships, notably by improving communication skills and mutual respect.
More support for initiatives and policies that promote family members learning
together in a variety of ways will have multiple benefits for educational
achievement and more widely for family relationships.
38. The virtuous cycle of learning and volunteering can be fostered in a number of
ways. Certain stages in the life cycle are particular appropriate for offering
opportunities for people to engage in voluntary activity: for example, parents of
young children through their primary school, especially in relation to school-
related roles such as classroom assistant; or older people preparing for
retirement and after retirement. Retirees are a vast, largely untapped resource
for civic roles and responsibilities, and learning can be the trigger to mobilise
them.
39. The dynamic of participation in civic or community activity means that it
generates further learning needs; it also offers people the opportunity to gain
skills and confidence, which can open up other avenues. Community
development and neighbourhood renewal initiatives could include clear links to
educational progression routes.
40. Our findings confirm the well-known importance of non-accredited and local
courses as often the first route for those with low confidence, whether or not
they have been successful in initial education.
41. Access to computer skills is an excellent way of encouraging people from very
varied backgrounds to take part in organised learning. Often the outcomes go
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