I would like to think that, in twenty-first century Britain, the case for adult learning was firmly established and no-one was in any doubt of its value. Having spent nearly 20 years before I became an MP working as a part-time lecturer and tutor with the Open University, and seeing the transformation that it could bring to my students, I am certainly not in any doubt. The worldwide success of the Open University, combined with the work of the University of the Third Age, the long-standing contribution of the Workers’ Educational Association – with whom I also cut my teeth as a teacher – and the high reputation of universities’ and further education colleges’ perhaps, for women in middle age, who might want to return to learning but find juggling the household budget, supporting sons and daughters unable to find work, and the need to take on more part-time work, all crowding out their desire to learn. And for older people who find that their own ability to finance learning is diminished while the adult courses offered locally are drying up in the wake of government funding cuts. More broadly, it is clear that, while the current focus on the threat to the futures of younger people is entirely understandable, changing demographics in the UK – not least, increasing longevity and the need to stay active longer – mean it will be more, not less,
An economic necessity and cultural good work with adult learners, all testify to its vibrancy. The 2006 Leitch Report’s stress on the importance of lifelong learning in enabling us to compete in a globalised economy, coupled with the NIACE-inspired Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning and its main report, Learning Through Life, have helped keep the issue at the heart of public policy. Parliamentarians get frequent reminders of its value through the individual success stories they encounter in personal contact with constituents and in their local media. But willing the end is not the same as willing the means. To consolidate the place of lifelong learning at the centre of British society we have to have both. That place remains in jeopardy – not from the frontal assault of philistines, but from the unintended consequences of public policy and the choppy waters of economic crisis. On the individual level, the warning signs are obvious. For the young person whose employer may be reluctant or unable to financially support a course that might develop them at work. For families, and especially, important to have a strong strategy to support lifelong learning and improve adult skills levels. That’s essential not just in responding to our competitors from emerging economies worldwide, but also in starting to catch up with countries like Germany whose ability to reskill at the intermediate levels of adult skills has been a key ingredient in weathering current economic storms.
Further education loans This is why government plans to scrap all state- funded financial support for people over the age of 24 seeking Level 3 qualifications and above, and replace it with a system of further education loans modelled on those currently causing such controversy in higher education, are particularly concerning. There is no real evidence base to suggest that the majority of people will either feel able or willing to take on such loans and plenty to suggest they will not. Introducing a full loan system in a time of dearth and anxiety is a very different matter to introducing one in times of optimism
14 ADULTS LEARNING SPRING 2012
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