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Some file on this page are PDF files. FE in the 21st Century - The future
The latest figures from the Learning and Skills Council show that almost 1.5 million places have been lost in public-funded adult education in the last 2 years.
As Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE has said: "These are increasingly desperate times."
So what does the future - influenced by Foster and Leitch and with a new Government Department - hold. The third and final of NIACE's FE in the 21st Century Conferences - sponsored by TES FE Focus - will discuss what to work for and what to resist. The Conference - taking place on Thursday 17th January 2008 - will include:
 | Tony Benn, former Government Minister and Labour MP |
| John Denham, Secretary of State at DIUS |
| Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE |
| Barry Lovejoy, UCU National Head of FE |
| Gemma Tumelty, President of the NUS |
| Frances O’Grady, TUC Deputy General Secretary |
| Lynne Sedgmore CBE, Chief Executive – Centre for Excellence in Leadership |
| Neil Scales, Director General – MerseyTravel |
More information on the conference available here
Tony Benn has been interviewed by Paul Stanistreet for the December issue of Adults Learning.
Read the Tony Benn interview here - [PDF]
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Increasingly desperate times as 700,000 adults are lost to learning
According to the latest figures released by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in the Statistical First Release, 700,000 learners have been lost to publicly-funded adult education in the last year. This now means that in just 2 years there has been a fall of 1,400,000 adult learners.
Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE, said:
“How much further does the Government think we can afford to go? These are increasingly desperate times for adult education. It is of course the Government’s prerogative to set priorities and the modest gains in workplace learning highlighted here are welcome. But the loss of 1,400,000 learners from publicly-funded adult education in just 2 years comes at a very high price for social cohesion, for community well-being and for older people in particular, for civic engagement.“
He ended, “There is, after all, more to life than work and adult learning can play a part in supporting people’s aspirations and curiosities across the full span of social policy concerns. But it’s not a role it can play if those opportunities are dwindling drastically.“
Download Statistical First Release from the LSC website here
Source: NIACE Press Release: "Increasingly desperate times as 700,000 adults are lost to learning" - [PDF] Released On 20/12/2007
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Tom Schuller appointed Director of Commission of Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning
Tom Schuller - the current head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - has been appointed as Director of The Commission of Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning.
Tom Schuller said:
“I’m absolutely delighted to be centrally involved in the Commission of Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning. It is a huge and unique opportunity to make a difference to how people of all ages have access to learning – something I have advocated for many years. My experience in an international context at OECD shows me a major paradox. All countries are aware of the challenge to our educations systems by demographic, social and economic change, but very few are really committed to lifelong learning to meet these challenges at a strategic level. Boosting levels of young people’s achievement is not enough. We need a radical, practical and imaginative rethink of the best ways of enabling adults to learn, and of giving the biggest bang for the educational buck.”
He continued:
“I honestly believe that with this inquiry we can draw on different strands within the UK to offer a policy model to the world, as a country with a real commitment to innovative thinking and strategic action.“
Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE, said:
“Tom Schuller is an outstanding adult educator, and there’s no one better qualified to shape the work of the Commission of Inquiry and with Sir David Watson as Chair the Commission will have a formidable leadership. Tom’s influential work includes – in the early 90s - for the Carnegie Inquiry into the Third Age, his leadership of the Centre for the Wider Benefits of Learning, University of London and his current role as the head of Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at OECD. Above all Tom has an ability to see problems afresh, to think outside his box and we’re delighted to have secured him for the NIACE-sponsored Inquiry.”
Tom Schuller has spent over 20 years working and researching on the education of adults in Scotland and England. He was Dean of the Faculty of Birkbeck, University of London, and co-director of the Research Centre on the Wider Benefits of Learning, before moving in 2003 to OECD in Paris as Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). CERI is a unique unit for international comparative policy research on education in its economic and social context. It is located within OECD , usually referred to as an intergovernmental think- ank, based in Paris, with 30 Member countries. His most recent books are: Understanding the Social Outcomes of Learning (OECD, 2007), Evidence in Education: Linking Research and Policy (OECD 2007), and The Benefits of Learning (Routledge Falmer 2004).
More on the Commission of Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning
Source: NIACE Press Release: "Tom Schuller appointed Director of Commission of Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning" - [PDF] Released On 13/12/2007
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NIACE calls for less haste and better policy-making
NIACE has expressed its concern over Government’s proposals to change the way universities are to be funded for learners studying for equivalent or lower higher education qualifications.
In a response to an on-line consultation by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, NIACE sets out its fears that there are numerous unintended consequences of the policy which risks jeopardising part-time higher education more generally.
Commenting on HEFCE’s proposals, Alan Tuckett, NIACE Director, said:
“The principle of widening participation in higher education to more adults who missed out the first time around must be applauded but the mechanism proposed by the Government is seriously flawed.”
“The most worrying feature of the ELQ debate is that neither the Government not the funding council understands sufficiently the ecology of part-time study. We desperately need a thoroughgoing review of part-time higher education.”
| Download "NIACE response to HEFCE Consultation: Withdrawal of funding for equivalent or lower qualifications (ELQs)" here - [PDF] |
See Also: Equivalent or lower level qualifications - a NIACE Policy Briefing - [PDF]
Source: NIACE Press Release: "NIACE calls for less haste and better policy-making" - [PDF] Released On 10/12/2007
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One in Four
New campaign pack for learners with mental health difficulties
One in Four - a new campaign pack from NIACE for learners with mental health difficulties - was launched at a conference being held in London on Thursday 29 November 2007. The campaign pack One in Four builds on the wonderful and powerful learner work that was published in the NIACE publication One in Four but also provides ideas and strategies to campaign on issues around mental health, including using art and creativity to raise awareness about mental health and to challenge discrimination. One in Four also includes briefing sheets on applying for funding and dealing with the media.
Kathryn James, NIACE Development Officer for Learning and Health, said:
“We hope that One in Four will be useful to everyone who wants to draw attention to any particular issues about mental health, or to campaign for better services for people with mental health difficulties. We are launching it at our Annual Mental Health Conference Our Learning Journey, to coincide with a celebration of the journey that practitioners have made to improving services to people with mental health difficulties.”
She continued:
“The conference is also about the challenges we still have to overcome if people with mental health difficulties are to have the access, and the same opportunities, to learning, skills and employment as other people, to lead fulfilling lives. This is the journey we still have to make.”
Free copies of the One in Four Campaign Pack are available from Sue Rees, susan.rees@niace.org.uk or 0116 204 4256.
Podcasts
To illustrate the impact that learning has had on two lives, NIACE Press
Officer Ed Melia talks to Hannah and Rachael - two students at the Adult College
in Lancaster - who are in no doubt about the positive impact learning has had on
their mental health.
(If the podcasts do not start playing in your browser, right click and save them onto your computer and then play them back through your usual media player)
Interview with Hannah (MP3 file 2.5 MB)
Interview with Rachael (MP3 file 2 MB)
More information about the NIACE Annual Mental Health Conference Our Learning Journey
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The Regulatory Arrangements for the Qualifications and Credit Framework
The qualifications regulators for England, Wales and Northern Ireland released a consultation document on November 29th 2007 on the Regulatory Arrangements for the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF).
NIACE has written a draft response to this consultation. A full response will be submitted before the February 29th 2008 deadline.
Download NIACE draft response to QCF Regulations - [PDF]
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