Have we learned nothing since 1994?

By “we” I don’t actually mean you and I but those, largely invisible, people, who set policy for – in this instance adult learning provision.

I had occasion today to look at a 1994 publication from the then Further Education Unit, Securing adequate provision for adult learners, (don’t ask why or I might just tell you!) The important thing about the framework developed to help areas determine whether they had adequate provision is that the need for such an instrument has never gone away. What has disappeared, however, are the community and voluntary learning services which provided many of the learning opportunities in the “uncertificated, don’t lead to a qualification” arena.

As a result, as many people are becoming all-too-aware, the provision of informal or uncertificated learning has all-but vanished in some parts of England.

Plus ça change and all that!

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