The event to launch the Sector Skills Agreement for Wales will took place on Wednesday, 28 February at the International Pavilion, Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells with Carwyn Jones AM, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside as the keynote speaker.
 Representatives from industry, trade associations, training providers and other key partners were there to celebrate this milestone.
Julie was asked to speak on the importance of life long learning, and delivered a strong message on the importance and recognition of informal learning such as that received in the YFC movement.
The draft of her speech follows...
Minister, L& G,
Training and education have always been important to me, especially now I am a Lantra Awards Training Provider and Trainer in my own right.
So I have been on both sides of the training room, and I need to ask-
"Is it better to GIVE than RECEIVE?"
If I deal with receiving first- up until my early 20's I had received a good formal EDUCATION, resulting in very many qualifications, but during this time I experienced some of the best informal training - probably the most valuable I had: through the young Farmers movement of Wales. I have no doubt that this training, particularly in public speaking and debate, assisted me greatly in achieving the formal qualifications.
 In my early 20’s I became a fully qualified Farmers wife, a job spec which covers a diverse range of skills, from cooking to calving. I should have done a risk assessment, because during my 20’s and 30’s , without any training or qualifications, I became a mother, which of course gives you a degree in self doubt and guilt, and a Masters in Psycology.
At this time as a sales manager with Tupperware I learned a tremendous amount about people management, motivation, and personal development, by hands-on experiential learning.
Lately I have formalised this knowledge into an MBA at the University of glam, where my daughter is now a student.
My receiving experiences have influenced me greatly in my role now as provider, or GIVER of training, albeit with a price tag attached.
I work hard to ensure that negative perceptions and even fear of training, encapsulated in the frequently heard:
"I am only doing the course cos I have to, it’s the law."
... is offset by the learning experience and consequent enjoyment of the course. We structure all our communications and interaction to turn negative into positive perceptions, and to eliminate fear and turn it to anticipation.
I enjoy seeing trainees achieve small successes and build in confidence as the fear is swept away by a perceptive and enabling trainer.
Lantra's skills training project under Farming Connect has been a great success in this way. Farmers tend to be highly skilled, capable, practical and adaptable individuals, mainly through informal training handed down over the generations by their fathers and grandfathers, and the YFC movement.
They are drivers, builders, mechanics, welders, fabricators as well as stockmen, but naturally fearful of "a course", so it has been a pleasure to watch these people formalise their knowledge and experiences into formal qualifications, which give them a real sense of achievement.
Many have developed a thirst for more training, which can only be good for the industry long term, as it struggles with massive changes.
 Training was once seen as a TRANSMITER and receiver scenario, with the emphasis on the transmitter, and the receiver could either receive, or not. I am so glad to see the use of the word Learner , and the learning situation, where the focus in squarely on the receiver .
My mother was a teacher and when faced with confusion over verbs- such as "Can you learn me this Miss?"
She would quip ..
I teach
You learn
.. so she too would be pleased with focus on the learner as receiver, not the transmitter at the blackboard.
The challenge is for us as providers of learning, and as delivery channels for learning, is to make the learning experience enticing, fulfilling and enabling, to assist a person to grow in skills, confidence and ability, so my aspiration is to be thought of as someone who facilitates a learning experience tailored to the individual.
And yes, I intend to continue RECEIVING as well, both from the University of life and the school of experience, as learning is always a life long process.
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