Latest News: October 2006

Government responds to NIACE report on ESOL

NIACE is pleased that the Government has agreed to adopt two-thirds of the recommendations made in the recent report More than a language… which laid out 39 recommendations to ensure more and better provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

However NIACE is disappointed that the remaining recommendations have not been adopted as they include those of greatest impact.

In particular while NIACE recommend that adults who can afford to pay should pay, our inquiry concluded that everyone needs an entitlement to free provision of ESOL up to level 1.

The Government has decided to charge fees for all ESOL learners not on benefit, or income support. In our view, whilst making a welcome commitment to prioritising those most in need, this decision risks further punishing poorer people in employment.

NIACE is also concerned about the proposal to cut all provision for asylum seekers.

Here NIACE argues that in cases where the Home Office fails to process a decision within eight weeks, they should pay for ESOL provision until a final decision is made.

research evidence suggests that languages are more easily learned the sooner instruction starts after arrival.

For further information on More than a language… and the work of the NIACE-led Committee of Enquiry into ESOL please see the related links below.

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New DVD hopes to break family finance taboo

The record levels of personal debt coupled with increasing numbers of people losing control over their cash-flow is often because people find it difficult to discuss the state of their - and their family’s - finances. To encourage people to break this taboo and discuss their finances in an open and honest way a DVD – A Load of Dosh - is being launched this afternoon by NIACE.

A Load of Dosh features families discussing their attitudes to money and savings; children talking about the importance that they think money will have when they are older; parents talking about how they treat the subject of money within the family and
the new Child Trust Fund.

Howard Gannaway, Research Fellow in Financial Education at NIACE, said:

“The need for financial education is of paramount importance. The introduction of the Child Trust Fund was always going to place the issues of family money and savings fairly and squarely in front of all families. Many families had not addressed these subjects before. Evidence from practitioners also suggests that many parents are uneasy or even reluctant to bring family finance into the learning arena due to attitudes about privacy that are often tied up with lack of knowledge and guilt.”

He continued: “We decided that we should make a film that family learning practitioners could use as an icebreaker and incentive to tackle questions around personal finance. The parents and their children who appear in this film speak very candidly. The result is an insight that should enable most people to discover that they are not alone in whatever they perceive as their state of knowledge or capability about personal finance.”

He ended: “The film also raises important issues and questions about how families handle their money. What is the right amount of pocket money; what is the right age for children to have control of their money; what do children learn from the way parents handle their finances; what are the ways that you can use the Child Trust Fund. These issues are often a cause of concern and anxiety for many families but they needn’t be. We sincerely hope that A Load of Dosh will help ease any worries and lead the way to increased confidence in family finances.”

Source: NIACE Press Release: "New DVD hopes to break family finance taboo" Released On 1/11/2006

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Raising the employment rate - NIACE comments

As part of its advocacy work, NIACE regularly engages in correspondence with parliament and other agencies. This work is sometimes conditional upon our analysis and advice being private. We have heard recently from the clerk of the parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Pensions, informing us that our paper for its inquiry into the government's aspiration to an 80% employment rate has been accepted as a formal evidence submission and that it may now be published.

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V&A Museum launches its annual art competition for adult learners

Inspired by... is the annual art competition run by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (V&A) and supported by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), the organisers of Adult Learners’ Week – the UK’s largest festival of learning - to encourage part-time students to make works of art inspired by the V&A Museums’ collections.

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NIACE to ask people with learning difficulties what they think is important about learning.

NIACE is currently looking at how Personal and Community Development Learning (PCDL) can best serve learners with learning difficulties. We are seeking the views of service managers and learners to support us in our work.

We would like to identify the current PCDL offer for adults with learning difficulties, find out how support for learners is being funded and to consult with learners themselves about what they think is important for them to learn.

This information is being gathered in order to produce guidelines for providers to support the development of provision that is both responsive and accessible to adults with learning difficulties.

By clicking on the links below you can access two questionnaires. We would be grateful if you could spend some time completing the questionnaire for service managers and distribute the accessible questionnaire to learners. We would greatly appreciate any support that can be offered to help learners answer the questions, whilst ensuring that it is their own answers that are recorded rather than those of the staff supporting them.

Please return completed forms to: anne.agius@niace.org.uk  by October 27th 2006.

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Speaking at the launch in Westminster of More than a language - the final report of the NIACE-led Committee of Inquiry on ESOL, Peter Lavender, Alan Tuckett and Derek Grover (Chair of the Inquiry) set out the challenges and changing landscape currently facing the provision of ESOL and the Committee's proposals to enhance that provision.

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Minister addresses launch of ESOL report

Bill Rammell MP, Minister for Lifelong Learning and Further and Higher Education addressed the launch of More than a language... the final report of the NIACE led committee into the current state of ESOL provision.

His speech, made in Westminster on Tuesday 3rd October 2006, was warmly received by the delegates, in particular his reference to those 'most in need'.

The full speech can be read here.

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It’s not just about language

The October 2006 Issue of Adults Learning

NIACE’s Committee of Inquiry into English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) published its final report this month. The independent committee, supported by NIACE and chaired by Derek Grover, points up the importance of ESOL provision, not only as a means to empowering adults to gain independence and control over their lives, but as a crucial dimension to a number of other key government policies, including community regeneration, combating racism and improving health and housing, as well as education and skills.

To be effective, the report argues, ESOL provision needs to be planned and delivered across the full range of relevant policies and activities, rather than considered separately in each of the relevant contexts. Furthermore, since ESOL goes wider than adult literacy, it needs to be viewed as a distinct element of wider policy, rather than as part of the Government’s Skills for Life programme. The report sets out a package of recommendations intended to make properly coordinated policies for ESOL possible.

The pattern of demand for ESOL has, of course, changed significantly over the past few years. Increasingly, the labour market is using migrant labour, and there are significant and growing demands for learning English from workers travelling to Britain from Eastern European countries. Darshan Sachdev looks at the changing pattern of demand and, in particular, at the barriers facing accession state migrants seeking to improve their competence in English as a means to getting a job.

The majority of migrants, Sachdev finds, are highly qualified and skilled, yet many fail to find jobs that match their experience and qualifications because of their poor English skills. Instead, they get caught in the trap of low-paid, low-skilled and temporary employment. Once in such employment, they have little time to find out about or to attend English language classes. Transport problems make it difficult for migrants living in rural areas to attend courses, while the transitory nature of much of their work means they often have to drop out of courses before completion.

Sachdev’s report also calls for a coordinated approach, across different agencies, placing ESOL in a wider policy context. Both reports form part of a broader debate about education for citizenship and social inclusion, a debate which is taking place against a backdrop of widespread resentment towards asylum seekers and migrants. Is there an opportunity here for adult education to reassert its historic links with big ideas like democracy, justice and equality, asks Ian Martin.

While some of us may have mixed feelings about globalisation, he writes, ‘it does mean that we now live in a world in which it may be possible to think in more cosmopolitan and creative ways about our work.’ Social purpose adult education ‘has always stood for purposeful educational intervention in the interests of social and political change’, but, increasingly, it is difficult even to talk about our work in these terms.

A cosmopolitan pedagogy, Martin suggests, could be ‘one way of re-engaging adult education in the wider democratic struggle which still insists that “another world is possible”’. At the very least, there is an opportunity here to revisit, and perhaps refresh, the traditions which attracted many of us to adult education in the first place.

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English Language Provision Gives ‘Serious Cause For Concern’

A shortage of teachers coupled with inadequate provision that is not well planned and is of patchy quality are all contributing to the enormous problems facing the provision of English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) for adults. These are the key findings of an independent inquiry - led by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) - which publishes its final report today (Tuesday 3rd October 2006) at a conference in Westminster.

The final report, More than a language…, demonstrates that, at a time when demand for ESOL is rising and, despite very significant investment, there is serious cause for concern. Funding is not always well targeted to those in greatest need and the quality of provision is worryingly patchy with too much sub-standard provision.

To address this situation the committee of inquiry makes 39 recommendations to the Government and its funding partners. Uppermost amongst these recommendations are the need for:

Derek Grover CB, Chair of the Committee of Inquiry, said:

“Having a successful system of ESOL is of fundamental importance to this country. But there are significant issues to be addressed if we are to meet that challenge. This report sets out a package of recommendations which we believe would have a major positive impact, and we hope that government, funders, infrastructure bodies and providers will respond positively to it. This is a challenge that, as a nation, we can not afford to shirk.”

Peter Lavender, Director of Research and Development at NIACE, said:

“Effective ESOL is critical to enabling half a million adults to gain independence and control over their lives. It makes economic sense to help people communicate effectively and it’s a precondition for social inclusion. NIACE is proud to publish the work of the Inquiry since we believe it points the way to a robust and lasting settlement that can guarantee adults access to ESOL.”

Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, is due to respond with a Ministerial Address at the Conference and will take questions from delegates.

"More than a Language..." , priced £12.50, can now be purchased from NIACE's online bookshop

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