It’s great to be asked to write a piece to mark Adult Learners’ Week – particularly on the topic of adult learning and its impact on progression at work. At Cynnal Cymru, our Fair Economy team has two main workstreams. We’re the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner for Wales, so we’re responsible for supporting the real Living Wage movement, and the associated accreditations, across Wales. We do this in partnership with the Welsh Government, who provide funding for this purpose as part of their focus on Fair Work.

Welsh Government has a welcome aspiration to make Wales a nation of second chances; with a policy landscape that supports lifelong learning and in particular adults returning to education. However, translating such a laudable ambition into practical action is no mean feat. We’re all accustomed to an entitlement to education into our early adulthood, but the same entitlement is less apparent as we age.

Building on the VocTech Challenge green and white papers, Ufi VocTech Trust (Ufi) and Learning and Work Institute (L&W) have developed a programme of place-based partnerships.