J. Continuing Education in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Continuing Education impacts on all aspects of people’s lives outside school.
The service we deliver includes family learning and out-of-school activities
and play schemes, working with a range of young people (both engaged in
school and disaffected and at our Environmental Centre at Glyncornel) and a
wide range of activities with adults – in community settings, returning to work
and learning for all sorts of other reasons – whatever their previous learning
or skills. We encourage partnership working across all sectors within the
County Borough to bring a coherent and inclusive approach to the delivery of
lifelong learning.
Continuing Education has the responsibility for promoting and developing
children’s play within the County Borough. It does this by providing a network
of play areas and by providing financial support to a wide range of community
groups who organise and run holiday play schemes. Children’s play gives a
wonderful opportunity for young children to learn new skills through play.
Each week around five thousand young people attend youth centres directly
provided by the Council through the Youth Service or by voluntary youth
organisations that receive financial support from the Council. A team of
detached youth workers engage by day, evening and weekend with young
people who congregate on street corners and outside shopping areas.
The youth service offers challenges to suit the most adventurous of young
people. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is for young people who want to learn
practical skills, gain experience and earn a valuable qualification. The Award
is organised on three levels. Beginners start with the bronze level and then
advance to the silver and, finally, the gold award. Young people participating
in the Award learn about new skills, physical recreation, community service
and expeditions and – most importantly – have fun whilst they are learning.
The Youth Service is currently reviewing how it organises its services to
provide the most effective and efficient service for young people in the
Borough Council. This recognises that we need to address to challenges
posed by legislation from the Welsh Assembly Government (in particular
Extending Entitlement) and provide a range of ways of engaging young
people.
Environmental education, too, is another important service provided by
Continuing Education. The residential Glyncornel Environmental Centre plays
host each year to thousands of school children from Rhondda Cynon Taf and
from other parts of the U.K. Built in the early 1900’s as a mine manager’s
home, Glyncornel is set in a local nature reserve, part of which is a site of
Special Scientific Interest.
Continuing Education also provides a variety of services to adults, working in
partnership with the University of Glamorgan, the colleges of Aberdare and
Pontypridd, Education and Learning Wales (ELWa) and the Employment
Service. Thousands of adults each day take part in adult education courses,
family learning programmes, neighbourhood development activities and New
Deal projects (which help unemployed adults to find secure employment.)
Continuing Education also makes an important contribution to the Glamorgan
Summer School, which is held each year at the Treforrest campus of the
University of Glamorgan. The Summer School has been running since the
early years of the last century and is the longest running summer school in the
U.K. Each year hundreds of people come from all over the world to learn in a
residential setting about activities such as jazz, photography and watercolour
painting.
With such a wide-ranging portfolio of services, Continuing Education does
much to support the Council’s aim of supporting learning for everyone
throughout their lives and of improving the quality of life for residents.
Useful Telephone Numbers
For general information about Continuing Education Services: 01443 744106
Glyncornel Environmental Centre: 01443 431727
Glamorgan Summer School: 01443 482828.