The views of thousands of people on the future for informal adult and community learning have been published in a NIACE report of a public consultation, commissioned as part of a wider government consultation on further education.
6,306 individuals and 227 groups from diverse backgrounds across England responded to the consultation. They said that:
• people want to learn a wide range of different topics and most prefer to learn in a class with a paid tutor;
• most people who can afford to pay are willing to pay fees if they think they are fair and affordable;
• most people agree with using fees to cross-subsidise learning, so that people with higher incomes pay more and those with low incomes pay low fees or nothing;
• over a quarter of people who replied are keen to help organise learning activities in their local area or workplace or to get involved as learning champions; and
• most people who replied believe that local people should be involved in making decisions, but disagree with ‘tokenism’ – they want a real voice and influence in decisions about the learning in their area.
Review of Informal Adult and Community Learning – Download full report
courtesy of
Elina Kumpina
Curriculum and Quality Co-ordinator
Enfield Community Learning Service
Enfield Council
1st Floor Marsh House
500 Montagu Road
Edmonton
N9 0UR