and plenty. People who have had a bad prior experience of education, or who have not been adequately exposed to it, often have to be supported, cajoled and incentivised towards adult learning. The fashionable phrase in government circles for this sort of thinking is ‘nudge theory’ – but it’s possible to nudge people away from things as well as towards them. The BIS group responsible for setting up this loans system is only now starting to carry out proper market research for something they wish to introduce in late 2012, and the details of which they want to have set in stone by this summer. Even their initial projections and modelling are based on a frank assumption who may have missed out is of vital importance. Also, despite the warnings of the government’s own Advocate for Access, Simon Hughes, they seem determined to introduce fees for HE access courses – which, as 70 per cent of those enrolled in 2009–10 were female, is likely to hit women hardest. These proposals threaten to mirror the unhappy trend that began with cutbacks in funding for courses for those on inactive benefits, which had a particularly negative impact on ESOL provision, and which affected ethnic-minority learners disproportionately. The excellent roundtable event that NIACE hosted on ESOL last year made clear the false economies involved in cutting this kind of and a vital social future of adult learning and training. The government axed Train to Gain in 2010 and openly encouraged many providers to switch
The power of adult learning is recognised by politicians of all parties. But, as the government’s ill-conceived plans to introduce F E loans demonstrate, we are still some way from getting the balance right between individual, state and employer funding, argues GORDON MARSDENthat at least 20 per cent of existing adult learners on such courses will fall by the wayside as a result of these changes. In addition, so far there has been very little attempt to assess whether the Student Loans Company – which is supposed to take on the administration of this scheme and is only just starting to come to terms with the HE loans system – has the capacity or appetite to handle FE loans. As the contributors to January’s excellent
Adult Learning extra on the subject (http://
shop.niace.org.uk/adults-learning-extra. html) demonstrated, the government has underestimated the differences between the relative homogeneity of HE provision (in terms, for example, of start dates, duration and course fees) with the multitude of options that exist across FE. They have also neglected to ensure that science and maths courses in FE are afforded the same protection as their HE counterparts. If we are looking to improve the science and maths skills base at university, then, surely, protecting provision at FE colleges for those provision. In terms of promoting adult learning,
FE colleges remain a crucial, central hub for vocational provision. But, at a time when colleges are already having to absorb a 25 per cent funding cut from BIS, what is the impact likely to be on their robustness and financial viability if adult learner numbers start to fall off a cliff in the wake of an FE loans system ending fee remission? At the very least, we might see the number and variety of courses sharply cut, with knock-on cuts in the number of college staff. Of course, it is welcome that skills minister John Hayes has so far managed to safeguard the £210 million budget for adult and community learning. But it remains a shrinking pot in real terms and is under permanent threat when budget shortfalls emerge elsewhere. FE loans raise the broader issue of the
SPRING 2012 ADULTS LEARNING 15
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