More, Different and Better

Part-time proposals welcome but could go further

The IPPR Commission on the Future of Higher Education’s report, A Critical Path: Securing the Future of Higher Education in England, includes welcome recognition of the current ‘crisis’ in part-time recruitment to higher education, and calls for a partial extension of loan eligibility for part-time students, echoing recommendations made by NIACE ahead of the government’s spending review.

The report, which was published today, recognises that ‘higher education has been transformed from an elite system to one in which nearly half of all young people and more than a million mature students participate’ and acknowledges that intervention is required to turn around the sharp decline in part-time recruitment to HE.

The recommendations include:

• the partial relaxation of the ELQ (equivalent or lower qualifications) rule which means that the majority of part-time students are currently not eligible for tuition fee loans;

• the provision of low-cost £5,000 fee degrees, ‘focused on vocational learning and offered to local students who are eligible for fee loans but not maintenance support’;

• the strengthening of systems of vocational provision, with further education colleges given the ability to award degrees and granted the ‘renewed title of Polytechnic’;

• the introduction of a £1,000 premium for students from low-participation areas ‘to create an incentive to recruit such students and to recognise the additional learning support some students need’; and

• more widespread use of contextual data to improve participation from students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

There are some useful recommendations here, but the proposed extension of eligibility to part-time loans in strategically important subjects is particularly interesting and timely, given the increased profile given to these issues by the Part-Time Matters campaign – a response to the crisis in participation which has seen part-time numbers fall by 40 per cent since 2010 – and the hints made by Universities Minister David Willetts at NIACE’s recent parliamentary reception that he was interested in revisiting the issue of ELQs.

Increasing participation by part-time and mature students is critical, not only to the quality and versatility of the HE system, but to the health of our democracy and the resilience of our economy. Extending loan eligibility would undoubtedly help, but, as the poor take-up of part-time loans suggests, it can only be part of the answer.

As the report acknowledges, far too little is understood currently about the barriers part-time students face, but it is clear that some combination of increased costs (as they affect both prospective students and employer sponsors), debt aversion, and poor understanding of what is on offer all play a part, alongside restricted eligibility to loans. And while some of these issues are recognised, the recommendations do not address them. This seems to me something of a missed opportunity.

The report also includes welcome recognition of the importance of vocational learning and high-level apprenticeships and some of the proposals will be useful in supporting the growth of this area of provision and raising its prestige – a long-term concern in this country, where those who follow a vocational route have, traditionally, had to deal with being labeled second-rate. This is a persistent irritation for those who work in the vocational education sector, as it must be for those who follow this path and recognise its equal claim for esteem with academic study. It needs to change, for economic reasons as well as for reasons of equity.

The introduction of fee-only degrees for local students is another positive proposal, and represents a useful opportunity for colleges to play an enhanced role in higher education. The role of further education in widening participation and developing vocational opportunities deserves to be better recognised, though the jury is out on whether the renewed use of the term “polytechnic” will support this – as well as on what appetite there will be in the FE sector for such a rebranding. The government’s considered response to the report should be interesting.

A vision for adult learning in Europe

Today NIACE publishes a special issue of our Adults Learning journal reflecting on the European Agenda for Adult Learning. It considers the need for a European vision for lifelong learning, and examines the main themes and priorities for action which emerged from our first major conference as national coordinator for the Agenda.

The Learning for a Better World conference, which took place in Cardiff at the end of April, brought together adult education professionals from all over Europe to discuss the future of adult learning in the European Union.

It was an exciting and stimulating event which highlighted the many common challenges faced by the 27 EU member states, reflected the state of adult learning in the four UK home nations and sketched the beginnings of a renewed vision for adult learning in Europe.

This Adults Learning Extra brings together the considered reflections of the event’s keynote contributors – including NIACE Chief Executive David Hughes, Adults Learning regulars John Field and Tom Schuller, the European Commission’s Martina Ni-Cheallaigh, and the Welsh Government’s Deputy Skills and Technology Minister, Jeff Cuthbert. It also draws out some of the key concerns and challenges highlighted by delegates, and looks forward to the next major conference NIACE is organising in its capacity as national coordinator for the EU Agenda – one in Leicester tomorrow and the next in Edinburgh next year.

In the run-up to the events NIACE will continue to support the implementation of the priorities of the EU Agenda – which include making lifelong learning a reality, promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship through learning, and improving the knowledge base on adult learning – liaising with key stakeholders and authorities, and facilitating cooperation and exchange of good practice between member states. We will also run a series of innovation projects and peer-learning activities which will build on April’s and June’s conferences.

As the contributors to this special issue of Adults Learning demonstrate, there are enormous benefits to the work, not least the different perspective discussion with European partners can bring on our own work, placing it in a wider context, and the realisation that there really is a great deal to learn and share with partners in the other UK nations and in the EU more widely.

The Cardiff conference is just the start. We hope readers and members will continue to shape the debate in the months to come.

Education and the care system

Following the recent publication of NIACE’s Voices of Care Leavers , we’re sharing a guest blog from one of the featured young care leavers. Carrie Wilson entered foster care aged 11, due to neglect and the unsafe environment her mother was living in due to drug addiction, where she remained until she turned 18.

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel” – Socrates

Every child in the UK has a right to education through the UN Human Rights Act. This right sadly doesn’t seem to be providing ‘good’ educational outcomes for looked-after children and care leavers. A small minority achieves through the education system, but not nearly enough. Only 15% of looked-after children achieved 5 A* to C grades in 2012 – compared to 58.6% for the whole of England – meaning that 85% (take a moment to re-read that…85%!!!) were left without a basic level of education.

The reasons these young people do not achieve could be argued as many; disruption in family life, change in schools, change of placement, no or low attendance, not intelligent enough or able.

It is this last issue which I personally find a thorn in my side. There is little research into why looked-after children do not achieve as well as the national average educationally, but there’s no evidence to back up not being intelligent or able enough as an explanation. However, just like looked-after children continue to be stereotyped as being  in care because of bad behaviour, they are also stereotyped as young people who are not intelligent enough or just not ‘able’ to achieve educationally.

Of the young people who do achieve, their reasons vary, but there is a theme coming through most of their experiences…they did it to prove everyone or someone wrong.

This surely shouldn’t be the main reason looked-after children and care leavers achieve. They should have the same experience as any young person in the education system and should achieve because they are intellectually able to and because they are supported to achieve by the different agencies aimed at helping them.

I’ve noticed that the gap in the support for looked-after children and care leavers, in terms of education, falls between teachers and social services. Issues at school are blamed on either foster parents/social services. On the other side, foster parents may think it’s the responsibility of schools and social services. And in turn social services will place responsibility on schools. All the while the student isn’t being supported because no one believes it is their responsibility.

The answer to this, is that it is EVERYONE who comes into contact with these young people has a responsibility for their achievement, and should act on it, instead of pass the ‘buck’ over to someone else.

Looked-after children and care leavers don’t have the same family or life structure as other children and it is most likely that they have experienced issues that many children and adults never have to go through. My own educational experience has had its ups and downs, and the one thing I know, is that when I was supported I achieved, even though I had a great many reasons why I shouldn’t. From breakdowns, bereavement, becoming a parent to a younger sibling overnight – they were all acceptable reasons that could have made me fail an exam, or drop out of college/university. All reasons that may have hindered me to some degree, but didn’t stop me from achieving. When I did fail to achieve, it was because I lacked support, was stereotyped as a low achiever and not ‘able’, and wasn’t seen as anyone’s responsibility.

There has to be a change in the way looked -after children and care leavers are treated and viewed by the general public. They should not be a cohort that is viewed as a taboo, a failure of parenting and so downgraded in importance or brushed under the carpet. They are a cohort who has been through the worst and so should be treated the best.

It’s not only a question of ‘Would I let my child go through this?’, but also ‘Would I let myself go through this?’ These need to be the first thoughts when dealing with a looked-after child or care leaver. You then need to act on that thought even if it isn’t the easiest route, because, when was life ever easy for this cohort?

Making 24+ Advanced Learning Loans a success

I was interested to read in FE Week yesterday that there have only been 338 mature loan applications for the 24+ Advanced Learning Loans in the three weeks since the new payments launched on 8 April 2013. The article expresses concerns from the Association of Colleges (AOC) and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) about the take up of the new loans.

Interestingly, at a recent NIACE training event, one college provider stated that their applications for level 3 and above provision from 24+ adults had remained constant this year in comparison to this time in 2011/12. It appears that there is a mixed picture out there, with some providers who are pragmatically embracing the new system, finding it is possible to maintain, and even increase, learner numbers.

There are categories of learners, however, for whom the new loans may represent a real barrier to engaging in learning.  Learners aged 40+, Muslim learners, apprentices and learners with disabilities have been identified by BIS commissioned research as being potentially reluctant to fund their future learning via the 24+ Advanced Learning Loans.

To try and make the new loans a success, NIACE has been working with colleagues from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). We undertook research last year that showed that contrary to many professionals’ initial impressions, a large cross-section of learners were broadly in favour of the new loans. For many employed learners, for example, the new scheme provides a mechanism for funding their vocational learning at level 3 and above, that is significantly more attractive than what has gone before.

We’re also working together to promote the 24+ Advanced Learning Loans to providers and to offer practical support around how to effectively engage learners and assist them to make a successful loan application. We are actively supporting a national event being organised by AELP on behalf of the SFA, so that providers can explore how best to implement the new loans system.

In addition, NIACE is delivering a one day training event in London on 26 June. It will help providers that have been given a loan facility to explore practical strategies for ensuring that they maximise take up from 24+ Advanced Learning Loans and generate as much income from this source as possible. The training event has been sponsored by the SFA and is offered ‘at cost’ on a first come first served basis.

While recognising that the challenges presented by the shift from the current system to the introduction of the new 24+ Advance Learning Loans are substantial, NIACE also recognises that there are simultaneously great opportunities for providers to maximise their income from this initiative. NIACE’s training event is designed to assist providers to realise these opportunities, and to pragmatically maximise adult learners’ participation in level 3 and above learning activities, so their life chances are enhanced.

NIACE will continue to work with the sector to monitor the impact of the new loans policy and whether it does lead to a reduction in adult participation in level 3 programmes.

Part-time students need support too

Part Time Matters, the campaign to raise the profile of part-time study and reverse the dramatic decline in adult participation in higher education, has stimulated conversations in common rooms and on social media.

One area which has received little attention is the question of targeted support for HE students with responsibilities for the care of children and adult dependants. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is conducting a review of this form of support. It matters for a number of reasons, not least because it is an opportunity to address the unfair restriction of these grants to full-time students.

The government has taken some positive steps towards levelling the playing field between part-time and full-time undergraduate students, including extending eligibility to tuition fee loans to some part-time students for the first time. But, as the 40% reduction in part-time students numbers since 2010 suggests, there is much more to be done to make higher study an attractive and accessible option for mature students (who make up the vast majority of part-time student numbers). One key area is the current restriction of maintenance grants to full-time students; another is the restriction of targeted support grants to full-timers.

The government’s intention, set out in its call for evidence on targeted support, ‘to ensure that those with the ability to study at HE level have the appropriate support to enable them to do so’, is, of course, laudable. Interventions such as the Adult Dependants’ Grant and the Childcare Grant are essential if everyone who has the potential to benefit from HE is to have the opportunity to make the most of their abilities. The range of grants currently available represents a significant help for some groups of students in overcoming the barriers to access they face. However, NIACE is concerned that significant numbers of adults, and in particular part-time students who could potentially benefit, remain excluded from this form of financial support.

This is troubling not only because part-time students are more likely than their full-time counterparts to have responsibility for the care of children or adult dependants, but because, as the recent fall in part-time student numbers suggests, they are also more likely to be put off by increases in the cost of study. Students with caring responsibilities face a range of extra responsibilities and have extra costs to bear, in addition to the pressures and stresses of caring. There is a risk that, without adequate, properly targeted support, such students would find themselves seriously disadvantaged in terms of access to higher education.

NIACE would like to see eligibility to targeted support extended to part-time students. We would also like to see the government working closely with OFFA and individual institutions to ensure a more consistent offer of support so that all students, no matter where they study, have access to the same opportunities and are not disadvantaged by any lack of flexibility.

It is critical too that prospective mature and part-time students understand what support is available to them, both through government and from institutions. At present, information, advice and guidance on HE for adults is somewhat patchy. Adult students, who often don’t have access to either family or institutional support when making their decisions about higher study, need access to tailored information, advice and guidance, in a form which they can understand and to which they can relate.

These would be positive moves, but they will not by themselves reverse the trend of decline in adult participation in HE. The government should also consider whether a relaxation in the eligibility criteria for loans and maintenance grants might be appropriate levers for reversing this decline. There are strong economic reasons for doing so, in addition to the powerful argument from social justice. We all stand to benefit from the skills part-time students acquire; skills which, often, they make use of in relatively poorly paid professions such as teaching and nursing. In considering eligibility to support grants we also do well to remember the enormous saving to the economy represented by the free social care work done by carers, and the huge social benefits that flow from their contribution. They deserve a fair and equal opportunity to benefit from higher education.

NIACE’s response to the call for evidence on targeted support for higher education students is now available to read online.