The government is doing all it can to destroy life long learning in Britain. They are now taking mega-millions from universities from students who want to retrain or change career and older people wanting to broaden their mind.
The government has made as a priority the education of all young people. In theory this looks goods.
However, bear in mind that the average Education Minister is only in post for around 18 months. This means that they have only a short time to develop initiatives before they go on to the next job. It is also a job that makes it easy to get headlines.
So they are doing that by having one initiative after another. Ed Balls, the current minister, is using his position to promote himself to become leader of the Labour Party, (allegedly, we have to say in the UK to avoid being sued). One of the most annoying is the payment of £40 per week to some 16 and 17 year olds. It is targeted on youngsters who would not normally attend college, that is those with poor qualifications. Consequently there is now much more disruption in theses calsses.
To pay for these initiatives the government has being running down adult education. In my local centre around twelve of fifty employees were made redundant. Around 25% of the courses were cut and the fees went up.
At the same time the centre was having to recruit 16-19 year olds on courses, such as Access, (training for university entrance), where previously all the students on the course had to be over 21. So a centre that was for adults now has groups of displace young people, who have not managed to stay on at school or get a place in one of the numerous, local colleges, with numerous courses aimed at this age group. It is now not pleasant being in the centre in the daytime. Last time I was there a group were having a discussion, at shouting level, on farting. This will drive away the majority of adults.
It has been estimated, by the government, that around half a million place will be lost for adults. The current figure is at least a million and each year the situation gets worse.
Adult education serves a number of useful purposes including
- helping people train for jobs
- helps people retrain for different careers
- boosts women returners
- helps people, such as the unemployed, avoid social isolation
- helps people with depression
- gives older people an interest
In a lot of these cases the government subisdy is refunded in improved job prospects, leading to a better salary, therefore more taxes paid, and the economy being stimulated.
It also helps get the unemployed and those on health benefits to build the confidence to return to work, which cuts down the level of social benefits being paid out.
Education also helps the isolated and the depressed, which in turn means less social support and I suspect less health problems.
The government, the civil servants are really short sighted in taking away money from adult education to fund what will be short term projects.