Friday 29 May 2009

The End is Nigh...

As we near the end of new Labour, a handy new initiative hoves into view to sum their 12 years up; the Learning Transformation Revolution is, apparently, upon us. Launched by Secretary of State John Denham, and contrary to the generally accepted usage of the word 'revolution' - which might normally relate to the Bolsheviks in 1917 or the French at the Bastille - this one is going to offer 'opportunities to signpost and connect different experiences' and 'opportunities to learn in a much wider variety of ways'. It is a new strategy, following a White Paper, which is supposed to encourage funding applications from organisations who offer adult education courses and training.

The application document sums up, in so many ways, what new Labour is about; over-bureaucratic - think of all those thousands of laws (see earlier post) which gum up police time and fill up the prisons - fussy, excruciatingly overbearing, and prone to linguistic complexity in order to a) create a language that only a political and administrative class can understand and respond to and b) hide the banality of what they are (not) achieving.

Bear in mind as you read this document that the organisations that need this funding are already overstretched, and that the vast majority are delivering very effective training, in difficult financial and social circumstances; and, crucially, that they are generally staffed by people of far greater capability than the politicians and civil servants that invent this garbage.

The Introduction by Mr Denham himself is almost worth the read alone, but the full horror only reveals itself as one scrolls down and sees the ridiculous hoops that the poor applicant has to jump through, right down to 'signposting', 'overarching principles' and 'The Pledge'.

Go on, treat yourself, then weep, and don't forget to vote... http://www.dius.gov.uk/~/media/publications/L/learningrev_prospectus