Blair's 'feeble' dream

TONY BLAIR's dream for a truly learning society is based on "incomplete, one-sided and feeble theory", says one of the UK's leading educationalists.

Frank Coffield, who delivered the King's College Fourth Annual Education Lecture yesterday, said that simply throwing more money at education and training would not, by itself, improve competitiveness and economic performance.

Professor Coffield, director of the Learning Society Programme at Newcastle University, said that the Government lacked a coherent strategy on education. He called for a balance between education, training and economic performance and said this could not be left to the vagaries of the market. "There is little point in upgrading the skills of graduates and workers if British industry continues to require unskilled labour. Ministers need to jettison the one-sided arguments which will produce a continuation of lop-sided policies."

Professor Coffield criticised plans to place the onus for learning on individuals. A learning society was possible only if changes in individuals' priorities accompanied structural and institutional change. He suggested the UK could learn from Singapore which co-ordinated education with trade and industry policies.