Power of Adult Learning​
Changing lives, transforming communities
Wednesday, 23rd October, 2013
John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh University
#poweroflearning
Check out the presentations and resources from the day
​MEET HENRY B. TAM
Henry Benedict Tam has over 20 years’ experience as policy advisor, programme director and political theorist in support of the development of inclusive communities. He has written extensively on the subject and led government initiatives on delivering wider democratic empowerment, promoting civil renewal, and improving community-based regeneration.
He is currently Director of Cambridge University’s Forum for Youth Participation & Democracy.
His on-line journal ‘Question the Powerful’ can be found at http://henry-tam.blogspot.com/
or you can follow him on Twitter.
Enlightened Learning & the Cooperative Gestalt
Dr. Henry Tam
One of the greatest legacies of the Enlightenment is progressive lifelong learning. Yet this very ethos has been under attack.
Henry Tam will explain why this form of learning is so critical to the advancement of human wellbeing with reference to its role in nurturing what he has termed the ‘Cooperative Gestalt’. By learning to interpret and respond to experiences through this gestalt, people become better able to live in terms of their moral, intellectual, and collective decision-making dispositions.
He will set out the main types of opposition directed at Enlightened Learning and how they threaten to undermine the development of inclusive community life. His talk will conclude with three suggestions on how we can engage the head (thinking), the hands (doing), and the heart (feeling) in giving new impetus to education that focuses on the sustained cultivation of the Cooperative Gestalt.
​MEET AILEEN CAMPBELL
Aileen Campbell is the Scottish Government Minister for Children and Young People and is a Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Clydesdale.
Aileen was first elected to the Scottish Parliament on 3rd May 2007 as a list member for the South of Scotland. She was re-elected as the MSP for Clydesdale at the 5th May 2011 election. For more information on Aileen, please check out her website or her facebook page
​MEET PAUL McNEILL
Paul McNeill was identified as being dyslexic at the age of 13 and was
given very little support to overcome the difficulties. However he has has worked for the Scottish Football Association for since 2006 as the West Region Manager and is the Ambassador for Dyslexia Scotland. He is responsible for the delivery of the 'One National Football' plan and oversees the development of the game in the region. Paul left school at 15 years old with limited qualification and work as an electrician before returning to full time education. The challenge of dyslexia has always been there for Paul but he now says he has a bigger challenge dealing with his two young children.
