Who we are
Wakefield District Learning Partnership (WDLP) is a non-statutory, voluntary body which brings together a range of local learning providers (ranging from voluntary sector and schools to Further and Higher education) and other bodies. These include local government, Connexions/Careers Service, trade unions, JobCentre Plus and employers, to co-ordinate strategic planning in pursuit of greater coherence, flexibility and cost effectiveness. Established in February 1999, it was created to ensure that organisations involved in education and lifelong learning work effectively together, to improve the quality of people’s lives, through education and training.

Our Aims
Through our joint efforts, we aim to develop the economic and social well being of local communities by promoting a culture of Lifelong Learning, which will:
• Encourage a higher quality of experience, provision and achievement and raise aspirations.
• Provide accessible provision for all, particularly through the use of new technology.

Activities during 2005
We continue to play a very proactive role as the Education Wellbeing theme group to the Wakefield District Partnership (WDP). The WDP, an overarching multi-sector partnership, aims to engage key organisations and agencies to work together to improve quality of life. Last year, 2005, was again, a very busy year and here are just some examples of what we’ve been doing and the variety of work we are involved in:
• Developing a series of projects that will:
– Engage more people into learning and once in learning, progress to achieve higher level qualifications.
– Provide training in areas where we have district skills gaps, in particular construction and healthcare, where we know there will be future employment opportunities.
– Address issues for young people who are disaffected from the traditional school system at the age of 14.
These programmes will be implemented during 2006 via West Yorkshire Economic Partnership and Yorkshire Forward Investment Funds.
• Run networking and briefing workshops to encourage partnership working around bid writing skills, information sharing and progression models for adult learners.
• Pilot of new innovative learning models around construction, warehousing & distribution and leadership and management.
• Promote the benefits of lifelong learning, particularly during Adult Learners Week, summer galas and the Vision On weekend.
• A range of training programmes in relation to Skills for Life to ensure that we have a range of local trainers qualified to meet the needs of learners.
• Partnership working with the Primary Care Trust to tackle health inequalities, health literacy and chronic disease management, with the aim of self care and promoting “choosing health” along with pilot projects in GP surgeries.
• Promotion and bidding support to a number of funding streams to ensure that learning activities are funded in the Wakefield District.
• A range of research has taken place and includes:
– Looking at transport options across the district for young people and how transport influences post 16 education decisions.
– The bi-annual Household Survey.
– Local adult participation data which helps providers to plan effectively future learning opportunities.
– Research and action plans into the future learning needs of the voluntary and community sector and BME networks and forums across the district. The priorities within the action plans will be taken forward via successful funding applications to the LSC Working Together theme.

Priorities for 2006
Although there are a lot of excellent education and training opportunities across the Wakefield District, we still have key areas that we need to progress during 2006 and these include:
• Strengthening further the links between education and training with the needs of the local economy and planned future regeneration activities for the district.
• Reducing the number of citizens with high literacy and numeracy problems.
• Increase the number of young people continuing in education and training post 16.
• Addressing the skills gaps in key sectors across the district including construction, healthcare, logistics, customer service and leadership and management.
• Raising aspirations of citizens across the Wakefield district including developing enterprise and entrepreneurial skills.
• Always striving to engage more partnership working in our broad agenda.
More information can be found about the Learning Partnership on their website: www.wdlp.co.uk