| Path: Home > Advocacy > Valuing People > Review |
Review of Valuing People
Published: December 2004
Valuing People and post-16 Education
Valuing People says that people with learning disabilities should have the same opportunities for post-16 education and lifelong learning as everyone else. Education is part of objective 7 of Valuing People:
"To enable people with learning disabilities to lead full and purposeful lives within their community and to develop a range of friendships, activities and relationships."
What is helping things to get better?
The Valuing People Support Team (VPST) made work on post-16 education a particular priority in the year 2003/2004. The main focus of this work has been to:
 | develop at a national level a strategic partnership and programme of joint work between the LSC and the VPST. |
| support joint working between Learning Disability Partnership Boards, local Learning and Skill Councils and post-16 Education providers. |
November 2004 sees the publication by the VPST and LSC of Valuing People and Post-16 Education: Information and guidelines for Learning Disability Partnership Boards, Learning and Skills Councils and others, to improve access to education and training for adults with learning disabilities.
Local LSCs, education providers, Connexions and partnership boards were invited to nine regional events jointly run by the VPST and the LSC. The events were an opportunity for people to be introduced to the guidelines and to develop local networks for joint working. The national LSC and VPST have agreed to develop a joint programme of work following the publication of the guidelines.
The LSC is currently undertaking a strategic review of the funding and planning of provision for learners with learning difficulties and/or learning difficulties across the post-16 sector. The VPST were consulted prior to the first meeting of the review group but are not included in the actual review group. There are plans, however, to consult the VPST further in January.
Rob Grieg gave a presentation on person-centred planning and the implications for post-16 education to the LSC Inclusive Learning Forum earlier this year. Research by NIACE shows that few in post-education provision have heard of person-centred planning and even fewer understand what it is. The LSC have asked NIACE to carry out a survey on person-centred planning and post-16 education.
What is getting in the way?
There is a lack of staff development opportunities for staff in post-16 education working with people with learning difficulties. Inspections of FE and Adult and Community Learning consistently find provision for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to be the weakest of all areas of provision.
Presentations at each of the regional events by self-advocates highlighted what people with learning difficulties think is important about learning. They want
| to be treated with respect. |
| to have real choice of all courses on offer. |
| to have good support. |
| to enjoy learning and having opportunities to make friends and being included in college activities. |
| to have good access. |
| not to be bullied. |
| to have clear, accessible information. |
| high quality teaching. |
| vocational training and courses. |
| opportunities for progression. |
Duties that providers have under DDA part 4 may go part of the way to addressing some of the issues above. There also needs to be a change in attitude about what it is that post-16 education offers people with learning difficulties. This should be led by the principles of person-centred planning where the individual is central to the planning process.
The results of a VPST survey in July 2003 of all partnership boards and local LSCs show that examples of joint working with post-16 education are happening but they are few and unevenly spread across the country. There was no evidence at all of joint working on developing provision for people with learning difficulties from minority ethnic groups and very little evidence of work on provision for people with high support needs. Previous research, Inclusive Learning (FEFC, 1996) and All Things Being Equal? (NIACE, 1998) show that these groups of learners are underrepresented in post-16 education, as are older people with learning difficulties.
At the LSC/VPST regional events, delegates from the education sector regularly cited funding as a barrier to developing or indeed maintaining current provision. Concerns were also expressed that the current emphasis on Literacy, Language and Numeracy and the funding that goes with it, is having the effect of narrowing the curriculum.
The lack of progression to employment from vocational courses and training has been highlighted in the Making the Jump project (NIACE, 2002) and this year’s DWP/DoH report Working Lives. The involvement of education in partnership board employment subgroups is key to developing work in this area.
What needs to happen next?
We want to see the development of a joint programme of work on a regional and national level between the LSC and VPST with a particular focus on:
| planning and developing provision to that includes people from minority ethnic communities and people with high support needs. |
| Person-centred planning and post-16 education (staff to attend the person-centred planning training that is available). |
| Transition to work. |
| Promoting the guidelines. |
About you
The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education works to encourage more and different adults to engage in learning of all kinds. NIACE’s aim is to improve opportunities for adult learners across all sectors, with a particular focus on those adults who have not had successful access to education and training in their initial education. We are please to have the opportunity to take part in the review of Valuing People.
