7. Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: A Second Chance Nation

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:36 pm on 15 November 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 5:36, 15 November 2022

Can I just thank John Griffiths for that? He spoke very movingly at the event in the Senedd about his own journey, as he has here today, and I think it absolutely illustrates the power and the importance of lifelong learning to democratise access to education at every point in your life. I think that the story that John Griffiths has just given is the inspiring story of adult education—it's to begin at one point in the journey, and then that can lead you to—. It's a cumulative journey, isn't it, of learning more and more and extending your qualifications or your learning journey at any point in life. And I do think it's really important that we see this holistically. People will re-engage with learning at whatever point and in whatever setting works for them. For some, that's a community setting. For some, it's university. For others, it'll be in the workplace, and we both heard of the work of two unions that were given awards for their incredible work in identifying workers who might not have thought of themselves as having the opportunity to learn and then developing their opportunities to acquire more and more skills. I think the Government's commitment to the Wales union learning fund is really important, and it's important to see workplace skills development as part of the overall offer that we have.