• Time of day – many vocational courses run only in the evenings. • Time of year – courses at different times of year may be a deterrent. Winter may make travelling less attractive, summer may be difficult for seasonal workers [24].
4.4 Range of Provision and Information
Low population density may make it difficult to create the critical mass for a course to run in rural areas, or to ensure that one is financially viable. This can be a barrier even if extension services are attempted within rural communities (see below). One result can be that the different providers for a rural area may end up running only a few, quite similar courses, as these are the only ones for which they can guarantee numbers or finance. This limits paths to progress and development onto other topics or areas of interest [25].
Also, learners from a variety of rural contexts identified a lack of information about what was available and what might be useful [26]. Although improvements might have been expected here with increased online access, it was suggested that this often brought more confusion, with too much (or irrelevant) information being provided.
4.5 Extension Services
The existence and location of suitable venues for educational extension services can be a barrier to rural learning or participation. Traditionally local schools, community or church halls and pubs have been used. Four factors potentially contribute to barriers. • Centralised financial constraints mean that supplying staff to run extension services increases the opportunity costs for the provider and those staff. “Individuals in rural areas can no longer look to government action to secure learning for their own individual purposes. What safeguarded funds there are in the future will almost certainly be allocated to towns and cities where such learning can be provided and supported more efficiently in colleges and adult education centres.” [27].
• Both learners and providers recognised the barrier of lack of suitable tutors. This in itself is a generic problem, but the symptoms were rural-specific. It was more difficult to recruit or persuade tutors to engage in extension studies in rural areas. [28]
• Where local community facilities exist, they are increasingly found not to meet basic requirements, e.g. for health and safety or IT. [29]
•
Fewer such locations are available, as more and more community facilities and service outlets in rural communities are closed for economic reasons.
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