The 157 Group recently published "Adult further education--the unfinished revolution," a policy paper setting out proposals for a truly market-driven further education sector in which the choices of individuals and individual employers are central in determining the programmes that are offered. Their overall aim is to allow institutions…

Communities are at the heart of the government's vision for the Big Society. And it's the author's strongly held view that skills should be at the heart of each and every one of those communities. If one grows the skills of an individual then the community will flourish. There is a job to be done in building skills to build communities--skilled…

In this article Pat Bacon, President of the Association of Colleges, discusses the estimated 200 million British Pounds cut to colleges' adult course budgets. With no flexibility to transfer money from one budget to another, colleges are having to face up to course closures and the threat of redundancies. Bacon contends that it's time ministers…

Decades of reform have resulted in a system of further education that treats adults like children, with limited control over the qualifications they choose to pursue. This needs to change. Money must follow learners, not government contracts, and so create a genuinely demand-led system. The author proposes new financial and regulatory structures…

The seventies and eighties saw the adult education movement renew and reexamine its commitment to opening up learning opportunities to "disadvantaged" groups. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) was now part of the mainstream of public policy making in lifelong learning and had a significant role in delivering…

The graduate class of 2009 is entering a particularly challenging labour market. The Association of Graduate Recruiters reported in July that graduate vacancies had plummeted by a quarter and that an average of 48 applicants were competing for each available job. The class of 2009 is also the first to have paid up to 3,225 British Pounds in top-up…

It's almost a year since the revolution--the "Learning Revolution," that is. This was the Government's long-term vision for the development of "informal adult learning", as laid out in the White Paper of March 2009. The vision was expansive, embracing informal learning in the workplace, promoting a "new" culture of…

In the wake of the general election, the new government--and the United Kingdom--face a range of pressing challenges. In this article, the author sets out what he believes to be the principal challenges and calls for action to create a learning society. The agenda set out would, if followed by the new government, pave the way to a genuine learning…

The Government's informal adult learning consultation attracted 5,500 responses. Last month it published a reaction promising to work closely with partners to develop a strategy. Some of those partners were asked what they wanted to see in the strategy and their responses are presented in this article.

There were a few raised eyebrows when the Association of Colleges (AoC) appointed Martin Doel, an Air Commodore with almost 30 year's service in the Royal Air Force (RAF) but little direct experience of college culture, as its new Chief Executive. As he prepares to take the helm next month, Doel, while acknowledging the challenges ahead, is…

Disability equality and improving life chances for disabled people are high on the U.K. Government's agenda at present. As someone who was once a practitioner and a manager in a busy further education environment, the author knows how difficult it is to find time to think about, and discuss with colleagues, the implications of policy. This article…

In April 2008, one sees the start of the consultation on the second phase of the government's e-strategy for education, published in 2005 as "Harnessing technology: transforming learning and children's services." This follows hard on the heels of the progress report and implementation plan for the technology strategy for further…

"Informal Adult Learning: Shaping the Way Ahead," the Government's consultation on the future of informal adult learning in England, was launched by Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, on January 15, 2007. The consultation invites respondents to help shape "a new vision for informal adult…