The TES reported on a pledge by the Government to spend more on community and neighbourhood adult education, after three years of spending cuts. John Denham, secretary of state for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is reallocating funds for ESOL classes, schemes to help people back to work and those for adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. The DIUS’s budget is set to rise by 2.2% following the comprehensive spending review, with funding committed to Train to Gain.

(TES, 19 October 2007)

No evidence for decline in reading

The BBC reported on a three-year study by the University of Manchester which found that British people spent more time reading in 2007 than in the 1970s. In the US reading has declined in a similar period. The number of Britons reading newspapers and magazines has declined but those who do read them devote more time to them.

The School of Social Sciences compared the records of thousands of people between 1975 and 2000. They looked at data from France, Holland, Norway, the UK and the USA amid rising concerns about the state of British literacy. They examined 10-15,000 records from each country and found that:

• In 2000, Brits read on average for five more minutes each day than they did in 1975.
• In 1998 Americans read on average for nine minutes less each day than they did in 1975.
• The increase in the UK was greater for women than it was for men.
• Of those Brits that read, a greater number read for one hour or more than did in 1975.

Dr Dale Southerton from the research team, said that our increasingly busy diaries meant that Britons had many ‘gaps’ in their day- waiting for trains, a partner or friends. Reading is ideal to fill these gaps up.

(BBC, 10 July 2007)

Adult places fall by 675,000

Cuts to adult education have proved to be more than three times as severe as officials predicted, with nearly 700,000 places disappearing in 2006. In fact, the number of places in adult and community learning, further education and work-based learning fell by 674,700. Colleges said core vocational subjects had been hit, along with leisure courses. Alistair Thomson, the senior policy officer of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, blamed the unexpectedly high fall in numbers on failure to properly market test the effect of funding changes. He said: "We are extremely disappointed that a Government that spent so long widening participation is presiding over such a precipitous decline," he said.

(TES, 12 January 2007)

Learndirect to cut costs for online learning

The organisation behind the Government's flagship online learning courses says it will bounce back following a critical report from MPs. The Commons public accounts committee says learndirect still needs to be more efficient, despite having made some progress in cutting costs. It spends a third of its budget on marketing and administration.

However, UFI, formerly known as the University for Industry, which runs learndirect, says it will slash £10 million a year from costs by measures, including scrapping its 26 'hubs', which distribute funding to training organisations including colleges.

Clients take courses using computers with software and online support provided by learndirect, backed up in many cases by classroom work. The report said the benefits of learndirect were being lost on the majority of firms. It said just 4% of small and medium-sized businesses used the service. Only 37% of firms were aware that learndirect is intended to support them with staff training. The report says: "UFI's rationale is to boost employability and productivity, but it has done limited work directly with employers."

(TES, 10 March 2006)

Further education should continue focus on vocational roots

Eight in Ten: Adult learners in further education, a report written by people with experience of colleges and sponsored by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE).

The report proposes that colleges should concentrate on:

• Access to employability
• Workforce development
• Creating and sustaining cultural value

NIACE surveyed 100 senior college managers and found that they saw the business of further education as being primarily the support of individuals. One in four saw the key issue as the health of their communities and just one-tenth the prosperity of the economy.

The report calls for further education to strike new roots into its vocational history, not to look backwards towards a long-gone national economy based on local manufacturing, but to secure its place in the skills strategy. The "eight in ten" are the predominant adult population of the colleges, most of whom learn with at least a sidelong glance at their work.

This report suggests that funding for adults should be a matter of right and should not depend on other priorities. It suggests that meeting the ever-shifting needs of adults properly demands that a minimum of 20% of a college's funding should be spent at its own discretion and accounted for to the Learning and Skills Council.

(TES, 13 January 2006)

Fees for millions of adults to study at further education colleges will double as government subsidies are withdrawn. Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, told college principals that they faced "really tough choices" in trying to improve employment skills in Britain to the level of other industrialised countries.

Public funding for adult education and training would be concentrated on those "who most need help" to improve their job prospects. Colleges would have to raise charges for everybody else by 40% within two years and by almost 100% soon after.

Most of the 3.5 million adult students in FE colleges pay about 27% of the cost of their courses. Ms Kelly said that the Government wanted this proportion to rise to 37.5% by 2007-08 and to "up to 50% longer term" as part of "rebalancing" of contributions by the State and individuals and employers.

(The Times, 17 November 2005)

Adult learning needs to increase achievement by 100,000

Colleges and training providers need to double the number of adults achieving GCSE-level qualifications every year in order to meet government targets for the workforce. A study for the Learning and Skills Development Agency has revealed that the targets will require an extra 100,000 adults to meet the level 2 standard each year.

The Government pledged to increase the number of adults in the workforce with five good GCSEs, or equivalent qualifications, by 3.6 million between 2001 and 2010. At present, an estimated 7 million adults in England and Wales lack them.

Pam Vaughan, the Learning and Skill Council's director of skills for employment, said it was more than doubling the size of the national employer training programme, which allows people to study at their place of work. With 50% of unemployed people lacking level 2 qualifications, the LSC also wants to collaborate with Jobcentre Plus.

The report points out that the largest group of people without level 2 qualifications are skilled workers, who are also more likely to respond to efforts to bring them back into education. Mr Fletcher said that, while these people may not have reached level 2 at school, they are not "languishing in unemployment".

Mr Fletcher said: "If they are doing a skilled job without level 2, they're not likely to have a strong need for further qualifications. There is a dilemma. The easiest way to meet the target may be to go for this group, but it may not be the best thing for the individuals or for the economy."

(TES, 7 October 2005)

NIACE leads Learning for Living

NIACE are leading the Learning for Living Consortium working with learners who experience a range of difficulties and barriers in learning literacy, language and numeracy. The aim of the project is to research and develop guidance for teachers, practitioners, carers, support workers and employers. Each set of guidance focuses on a particular development area including: Access to Employment; Pre-Entry and Entry Levels; Bilingual Learners; ESOL and Learning Difficulties; Teacher Training Modules; Family Learning; and training in the use of the Pre-Entry Curriculum Framework for those working in health and social care settings.

For more information visit www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus/learningforliving/

(NIACE press release, October 2005)

Fairer funding campaign

The Fairer Funding campaign is being launched by NIACE in England to stimulate public debate on fairer funding arrangements for adult learning. The campaign briefing sets out practical steps that those committed to adult learning, individuals as well as organisations, can take to protect and promote it in ways that allow local, as well as national, needs to be considered when allocating funds for adult learning. Emphasis has been placed on highlighting the benefits of adult learning to local communities and the consequent impact of funding decisions on course closures and increases in course fees. For further information a campaign briefing pack is available to download free of charge at www.niace.org.uk/fairerfunding.

(www.niace.org.uk, July 2005)

Thousands of evening classes and part-time courses are being scrapped because of a cut in government funding, further education colleges have said. More than 200,000 adult education and training places on courses ranging from A-level English to painting and decorating will disappear in September, with more closures expected in 2006, principals warned. The Association of Colleges said fees for many of the remaining courses will soar as colleges try to make up budget shortfalls.

The association's chief executive, John Brennan, said the closures follow a 3% cut in funding for adult learning announced by the Learning and Skills Council last week. Mr Brennan said: "We had expected a 5% rise in adult provision and we actually got a 3% cut." About 15,000 courses have been affected.

Bill Rammell, the Minister for Lifelong Learning, said: "Over the past three years, we have increased the cash going into the sector by £1bn [25% in cash terms] … nearly three-quarters of colleges will be getting at least 2.5% more than last year." But principals say the cuts have hit some of the most vulnerable people, including those with learning difficulties and pensioners. Hampstead Garden Suburb Institute, in north London, is axing 50% of its provision for people with severe learning difficulties.

A spokesman for the DfES said the government had targeted its funding at those with the greatest need.

(Guardian, 14 June 2005)

A study has revealed that thousands of adults miss out on university places because those who control admissions do not recognise the value of their qualifications. Repeated efforts by Governments to raise the status of vocational education have failed to make a significant dent in the elitist higher education (HE) system, the study suggested. Lack of knowledge about alternative routes into HE was prevalent among teachers, university admissions tutors, professional bodies, employers and the Connexions advice service for 13 to 19-year-olds, the study found.

Maggie Greenwood of the Learning and Skills Development Agency, which commissioned the study, said, "We are still stuck in the groove of thinking that the practical, vocational courses are inferior to more academic studies." The BMW apprenticeship scheme, run jointly with the university and city college in Coventry, was cited as a successful example of moving people into HE. But such schemes are the exception rather than the rule, the report suggests. Of 600,000 adults who started level 3 studies last year, only 42,000 (7%) were doing A-Levels. More than 500,000 were on work-related courses and apprenticeships, but only 1% of apprentices made it to higher education, the report shows.

(TES, 11 March 2005)

The learning centre in Gloucester is the latest in a series of learning centres opened by the BBC in partnership with the further education sector. The centre is in a deprived multicultural part of the city where potential learners are among the most difficult to reach. Yet executives are confident that the BBC brand will lure them in.

Andy Griffee, controller of BBC English regions said: "People will come in because they feel they have ownership of it, They feel they almost have a right to it because they pay the licence fee. And let's face it, broadcasting is a sexy and glamorous industry and that in turn appeals to youngsters."

The new centre is run in partnership with Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology (Gloscat) with £1.6 million from Gloucestershire Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and £800,000 from the European Social Fund. The BBC has opened similar centres in Blackburn, Sheffield, Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent, with others soon to open in Coventry and Leicester.

The BBC also runs a fleet of mobile learning centres in remote rural areas. The latest venture is part of a deliberate policy to bring the local radio station closer to its community of listeners, said Mark Hurrell, managing editor of BBC Radio Gloucestershire. He set up the new centre with Gloscat and the local LSC after overseeing a similar operation in Stoke. Mr Hurrell said: "This is the original Reithian vision of educate, entertain and inform."

In its first week the Gloucester centre had 150 people through the door, of whom just under half signed up for courses. They can access free lessons in IT as well as a range of other general interest subjects. The centre also has a studio aimed at giving the public more involvement in radio programmes. Greg Smith, principal of Gloscat, said that learners will also be referred on to other courses at his and other colleges.

(TES, 28 January 2005)

Chief Inspector reports on adult education

The Chief Inspector's annual report on the state of adult education is as much a verdict on the performance of the Government as on colleges and training organisations under their gaze. David Sherlock's report echoes the concerns of those, including the Association of Colleges, who have complained of the difficulties caused by the ever-changing demands of ministers. He says: "To achieve a sense of excellence and well-being, further education colleges need greater stability and clarity in the expectations placed upon them, and to learn to say no."

Mr Sherlock, head of the Adult Learning Inspectorate, also warns that the focus on basic skills and level 2 qualifications - equivalent to GCSE grades A-C - should not be allowed to distract attention from level 3 (equivalent to A-level). The report accepts the urgency of helping the seven million adults said to lack functional literacy and numeracy, and expresses concern at the lack of qualified lecturers in adult basic skills. "We need to take care not to exaggerate the problems we face with literacy and numeracy, however, lest investment in learning be skewed too far towards the lowest and the highest levels. There is a danger of neglecting level 3 in the middle, where Britain compares least well with our industrial competitors."

The Inspectorate wants a more sophisticated understanding of the benefits of adult and community education, largely provided by local education authorities.

(TES, 26 November 2004)

Fewer people are now going to evening classes than when Labour came to power, despite the Government's commitment to education and lifelong learning, according to a report published by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) in May 2004. Fewer than a fifth of adults say they are doing some sort of learning, the lowest figure since before Labour took office in 1997.

Just 14% of 65 to 74-year-olds say they have participated in education in the past three years, compared with 19% in 1996. This decline seems to reflect the Government's priorities to concentrate on particular groups, says Alan Tuckett, NIACE's director. He urges the Government not to ease off from its policy initiatives linking work, welfare and learning. Mr Tuckett said: "The relentless focus of funders on achievement targets is narrowing the curriculum offer to adults, as expansion of provision for young people is brought at the expense of their elders."

The picture is not entirely gloomy, though. Separate data from the Learning and Skills Council suggests that since 2001 there has been a sharp increase in participation among learners aged 60 and above.

Social class appears to be a significant factor in the trend. The survey indicates that the decline in participation has been marked among people from the poorest backgrounds, in socio-economic groups D and E, from 26% to 23%.

One statistic "makes clear that the learning divide is as powerful as ever", comments NIACE's report, Business as Usual. More than twice the proportion (53%) of adults with internet access are current or recent learners, compared with those with no internet access (21%).

The survey, carried out by Research Surveys of Great Britain, interviewed nearly 5,000 people aged 17 and over across the UK during February 2004 using a broad definition of learning.

(Guardian, 18 May 2004)

Business as usual...? The NIACE survey on adult participation in learning is available from www.niace.org.uk.

Adult learning has positive impact on parenting

A study has shown that adult learning can help people become better parents, regardless of whether their courses involve parenting skills. Older students said doing courses made them more confident in their parenting abilities, better able to communicate and more understanding and patient with their children.

Adult learning can also improve relations with partners and parents, the study found. Researchers from the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning at the Institute of Education, University of London, looked at 145 case studies of people aged 16+ in three UK locations to find out how learning affects well-being and social and family relationships.

The research also drew on the British birth cohort studies, involving the analysis of the lives of 10,000 people. The interviewees said they acquired skills that helped them in a practical way, such as inventing good games, and became more open to other people's approaches to parenting.

They found it easier to see things from a child's point of view and to understand the child as a member of a peer group. Taking parents of young children out of the home and their daily routines also alleviated stress and depression, led to more tolerance and understanding and made participants more willing to compromise at home, the study found. One parent spoke of her relief at getting out of the "Postman Pat mentality", which lacks adult conversation and stimulation. But adult learning may also place a strain on family relationships, for example where family members are seen as obstructive or negative.

The Benefits of Learning: the impact of education on health, family life and social capital, Institute of Education: ISBN 0415 328 012.

(TES, 12 March 2004)

Squeeze on adult learning

Colleges are bracing themselves for slumps in the number of adults enrolling for courses, because most of their students over the age of 19 don't fit the Government's criteria for full funding.

Up to 90% of a typical general further education college's adult students could now find themselves paying between £500 and £1,000 a year for their courses. Only about 10% of a typical college's adult learners are pursuing courses that fall into the priority categories laid out in the Government's White Paper on adult skills.

College principals say that warnings received from their funders, the local Learning and Skills Councils have made it clear that funding will be concentrated first on the Government's priorities: the 16 to 19 age group, and work-based learning and basic skills for adults, in that order.

A spokesman for the LSC said it was currently trying to introduce a funding formula for the adult and community learning for which t has taken responsibility. This would involve converging different levels of funding that existed across the country to a common stream that would involve winners and losers. "We want to reassure colleges that nobody will lose more than 10% of their budget and nobody is going to gain more than 5%," he said. "And we won't introduce it until we find a satisfactory solution."

(Guardian, 23 September 2003)

Most colleges have action plans to help improve deprived areas

Most colleges and adult education services have created action plans to help lift people in deprived areas out of poverty, according to a study commissioned by the Government.

Eight out of 10 colleges have taken lessons to local people by creating outreach and neighbourhood learning centres. Six out of 10 employ people as community development workers to reach people in deprived communities and involve 'local regeneration workers' when designing courses. However, the study by the Learning and Skills Development Agency shows only "patchy evidence" of the more specific sort of training for local people that the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit identified as essential.

More needs to be done to give people the interpersonal and community leadership skills that well-heeled communities take for granted.

Breathing life into communities is available at www.lsda.org.uk/pubs

(TES, 22 August 2003)

Ministers hope foundation degrees will be popular and accessible enough to bring 7000,000 people into further and higher education by 2002 - the target the Government has set itself. It is hoped that the two-year foundation degree modelled on the American associate degree will provide the winning formula of academic knowledge and applied skills. 

(TES, 18 February 2000)

Open University helping adults enter higher education

The Open University is launching a new returners' route, called the Openings Programme, starting well below the level of the long-established foundation courses. Its bite-sized taster courses start in the spring for those uncertain about returning to study. The scheme offers three short courses which students can take at their own pace, with two hours of telephone support from a personal tutor. The courses involve 100 hours of learning over 14 weeks. The aim is to be as flexible as possible and every learner will have a tutor with whom they can negotiate submission dates for written work. The tutor will advise initially on the suitability of the course and, if necessary, suggest other routes. The idea is not to set people up to fail. 

(Independent, 13 January 2000)