of ‘slave labour’ is excessive, it does seem likely that current work placements are too short-term, and also poor in quality, with feeble requirements for employers to invest significantly in real upskilling. We also know that younger claimants are the most likely to leave JSA quickly, which begs the question of what needs to be done for older unemployed claimants. The recent debate has focused on the young, and particularly on the young NEET group. From a policy perspective, it seems that ageism begins at 25! For adult educators, this poses three big challenges. The first is how to bring the adult unemployed back into the policy frame. The argument cannot be a matter of robbing the under-25 Peter to pay the over- 25 Paul, but about how to combine economic recovery with social justice and cohesion. Second, how can we best support unemployed adults back into work? Evidence from longitudinal studies suggests that training tied to work, or education tied to other life interests, are most likely to deliver results. And this is reinforced by the experience of the REPLAN programme during the 1980s recession. Last, but not at all least, should employment be the only valuable outcome? Can new combinations of work and learning help us share employment more equitably between those who want and need it? What kinds of work – paid and unpaid – should we require and value, in what remains the seventh richest economy in the world? On balance, European societies like ours consume far too much; poverty, scarcity and want are more the result of current social and political arrangements than unavoidable economic imperatives. It is the task of an open and democratic approach to adult learning to explore long- term questions about the purpose and nature of work as we grapple with the continuing immediate crisis of the recession.
John Field is Professor of Lifelong Learning and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning, University of Stirling
SPRING 2012 ADULTS LEARNING 29
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