THERE has been much talk about lifelong learning in recent years, but with little clarity on what it actually means. One question not asked is why university should be where many 18-21-year-olds go for full-time courses. Having the right to attend later and possibly part-time would enable more to benefit.
Education is not free to most people over the age of 18. Many courses are being abandoned because of the high charges for the full cost of what are considered adult courses for leisure and personal enjoyment.
People study for all sorts of reasons. Take the learning of foreign languages, for example. People doing business with other countries may need to speak a number of languages. Others may wish to learn the language of a country they plan to visit. All are involved in the developing the skill to become fluent in another tongue. Why, then, do we then separate the funding of courses to help them? Companies pay their employees to go on such courses, but the whole country can benefit from their increased skills.
Since people are living longer, education is an increasingly important part of retirement. Many people have to learn new skills throughout their working lives and it will be normal to change careers a number of times. Skills and education for adults is actually the same thing, but we label the same process differently. The issue is actually over funding and who pays.
The Government does not envisage adults doing the new 14-19 diplomas, because they are deemed only suitable for teenagers. No rationality has been offered for this strange view, especially as employers helped to design the new courses.
Under this Labour Government, tuition has been made free for any person up to the age of 25 to take a course equivalent to A Level. Apprenticeships in most industries are being increased and it is to be hoped that this will include local government, which is one of the country’s biggest employers offering a variety of jobs. However, the amount that local government spends on in-service training for many of its lower-paid staff is nowhere what it should be.
If we started to see adult education as an entitlement for all according to their needs, then we might start to develop some coherence over funding and delivery. At present, there is the strange situation where the Conservatives want to spend more money on adult education, but are making the same mistake as Labour by seeing it as something separate from the skills agenda.
Having a lifelong learning policy for both enjoyment and for acquiring new skills should be the aim. We need a single education department to facilitate this. Local authorities, including district councils, should have a duty to ensure lifelong learning is made available to all their residents. Industry, too, has a role to play in developing new skills for the British workforce. We need to stop regarding education as being mainly about schools and develop a strategy that will enable all adults to maximise their talents to the full in a programme of lifelong learning.
Prosperity for all countries will increasingly depend on education for adults and the failure to invest in this area will lead to serious problems affecting all citizens. It is time that Labour developed a comprehensive policy of education for all and spelt out what is meant by lifelong learning.
Graham Lane is a former chair of the Local Government Association’s education committee
