The secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills faced a hostile reception when he addressed a meeting at the lobby of parliament organized by CALL (the Campaigning Alliance for Lifelong Learning), reports The Guardian.

The government's policy of seeking to target employment-related skills has meant severe cuts to many courses and a large decline in the number of adults participating in education classes.  The Guardian reports that the minister, John Denham, received an "explosion of boos and jeers" when he referred to "holiday Spanish".  The suggestion that certain courses are frivolous was not well received!

By contrast, the former education secretary David Blunkett received an enthusiastic reception.  He quoted from the 1998 green paper on education, for which he was principally responsible:

"As well as securing our economic future, learning has a wider contribution. It helps make ours a civilised society, develops the spiritual side of our lives and promotes active citizenship. Learning enables people to play a full part in their community. It strengthens the family, the neighbourhood and consequently the nation. It helps us fulfil our potential and opens doors to a love of music, art and literature. That is why we value learning for its own sake as well as for the equality of opportunity it brings."

Mr Blunkett followed this up with a letter to TES in which he called for adult education to be "back up in lights where it belongs".

The Freire Institute believes that adult education and community-based learning are central to the well-being of our society.  Further, people need a variety of routes through which they can get back into education and it is sometimes informal or recreational courses that give people the confidence to go on to study employment-related skills.  Achieving the goals of getting people into employment-related courses may ultimately depend upon the provision of courses like "holiday Spanish", however much such things may be derided.