A hushed oil painting class by the riverside in Norwich will be broadcast to three million South Korean living rooms.

A hushed oil painting class by the riverside in Norwich will be broadcast to three million South Korean living rooms.

A television crew from the Korean channel EBS arrived in the city yesterday to investigate how adult education is dealt with in the UK for an upcoming documentary.

They visited Wensum Lodge on King Street where Norfolk County Council runs arts and crafts classes to film oil painting, pottery and piano tutorials.

Seon-Ju Choi, from the state-run Seoul broadcaster, said that the programme was called Wonderful Education and would be broadcast next month.

The three-person team chose to come to Norfolk because it offers far more learning options for older people than their home country.

"In Korea it's really quite different. A lot of people want to return to education, but it's not really systemised yet. It's not really widely available," she said.

"In South Korea there are a lot of professional development classes and most of them you've got to pay," she said.

"Here we've met a lot of people of a similar age and in similar circumstances and they help each other and develop their skills."

"It's really nice to see. Hopefully we can learn."

She said that the idea behind the show was that it would take ideas back from Norwich to Korea and encourage politicians to follow suit.

"Hopefully, local government will get some good ideas," she said.

A further three episodes on education will be filmed in the UK, with one focusing on school food and another on a Steiner-Waldorf school.

Judy Young, assistant head of services at Norfolk County Council, was interviewed by the crew.

"It's quite unique to the UK, the importance of evening classes," she said. "I don't think it happens in other countries in quite the same way."

"We try to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to take part in learning through every stage of their life."

"In the UK we believe that lifelong learning is a human right."

Next week Norfolk County Council is holding its annual Adult Learners' Week to give people the chance to try taster sessions at its various centres.

The event will run from May 15 to 22 and many of the courses on offer throughout the year can be tried for free.

� For more information on adult education classes in Norfolk visit www.norfolk.gov.uk/ adulteducation

� The Evening News is backing Norwich's bid to become UK City of culture - for more visit www.eveningnews24.co.uk/culture