ANNEX B
F Conclusions and recommendations
Introduction
1. It is the case that overall rates of participation
in post-compulsory education and training have increased in the
last 20 years, and particularly in the last decade. But there
is still a tendency for the reinforcement of advantage and disadvantage.
A side-effect of the substantial improvement in overall participation
during the last two decades has been to widen the gap between
the educational 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.
Participation in learning post16: the
current position
2. We recommend that the DfEE examine the adequacy
of the existing data on the association between sixth forms in
schools and staying-on rates post-16 and report its conclusions
in the response to our report.
3. We have demonstrated that there are persisting
inequalities in participation despite great progress in recent
years in expanding participation and encouraging the participation
of under-represented groups. Factors influencing participation
and subsequent success are, as we have seen, family background
and academic achievement during compulsory education. But the
latter is strongly linked to the former. In the words of the Kennedy
Report, "if at first you don't succeed, you don't succeed".
The obverse of this is also true: if at first you succeed, you
continue to succeed. There are incremental benefits to early success
in learning.
The benefits of learning
4. Engagement in learning clearly generates significant
benefits—both economic and more general—to individuals
and to society as a whole. They are reflected in Learning
to succeed, which emphasizes the role of learning in
building "a more cohesive society" and providing access
to "personal growth and the enrichment of communities".
5. The balance which has been struck in Learning
to succeed needs to be adhered to, otherwise there
is a risk of the skills and labour market agenda making a disproportionate
claim on the resource base available for learning, to the detriment
of the learning, personal development and social exclusion agenda.
If this prevails, the stubborn long-term trends already referred
to will persist, and those denied access to learning in the past
will continue to be denied it in the future.
Key barriers to participation
6. It is obvious from the foregoing analysis that
participation in learning after 16 is profoundly influenced by
achievement before 16—often long before 16 ... Any attempt
to improve participation rates in post-compulsory learning will
depend heavily on improving levels of achievement in primary and
secondary school, and particularly on reducing the 'long tail'
of under-achievers which has for many years bedevilled the education
system. However, while in the longer term such a turn-round of
the education system will make the biggest difference of all,
it will of course be of no help to those already over 16.
Information, advice and guidance
7. The Government's view, as set out in Learning
to succeed, is highly consistent with the implications
arising from the critical evidence presented to us about existing
information and guidance services. Evidence suggested that information
and guidance was either insufficient, or selective and partial.
We welcome the proposals in Learning to succeed, but stress
that careful attention should be paid to ensure that the range
of initiatives it proposes does eventually add up to a 'seamless
service' (as the White Paper proclaims), rather than continuing
to peddle different and confusing messages.
8. In addition to the patchy nature of information
services, there is a more significant issue relating to the structure
of present provision. We have noted the number of witnesses who
were concerned that, even in a more collaborative climate, it
would be difficult to persuade learning providers to sell the
wares of those who are de facto competitors.
Thus it will be necessary for the new arrangements proposed in
the White Paper to provide an authentically independent source
of information, guided by information from quality assurance mechanisms.
9. We welcome the Government's commitment to integrated
working by the Employment Service and the new ConneXions service
for young people. (paragraph 70) Genuinely 'lifelong' learning
will require seamless, lifelong information, advice and guidance
... We expect the Government to ensure that the dual arrangements
they are putting in place are experienced by individual learners
as a seamless service, whatever the age at which the engage with
it. The two new services should work to ensure maximum cooperation
between their activities, ensuring that no-one falls through gaps
in the advice and guidance system.
10. We look forward to the forthcoming report
of the Social Exclusion Unit on neighbourhood renewal and anticipate
that it will emphasise the need for more effective collaboration
and coordination in supporting a lifelong learning agenda.
Like the Government, we wish to place the learner at the centre
of the process, and learning must be at the heart
of broader public policy. This will demand the provision of independent
and objective guidance and advice, which we believe the Careers
Service is best equipped to provide ... We are concerned about
the different geographical coverage of, for example, the Careers
Service, RDAs, the proposed LSCs, the UfI, the proposed Youth
Support Service and the New Deal Delivery Units. We expect the
Government to give early consideration to establishing greater
coherence between different professional and different geographical
boundaries. Otherwise these are likely to create new obstacles
to the delivery of a seamless service, both vertically, across
different age groups, and horizontally, within specific age groups,
across a range of policy challenges.
11. We welcome the development of Learning Direct
and note the generally positive findings of the recent research
report commissioned by the DfEE. However, we are concerned at
the evidence that the service may be under-used by those with
no or low-level qualifications. We expect the DfEE, as it develops
Learning Direct, to explore ways of increasing take-up of the
service among such groups.
Uneven funding of learning
12. It is essential that the funding of comparable
learning is carried out on a equitable basis. We hope that the
institutional arrangements proposed in Learning to succeed
will be matched by appropriate changes to the funding framework
to bring this about. We welcome the proposals in Learning to
succeed aimed at harmonising funding regimes for post-16 learning,
but remain concerned about those elements of post-16 learning
which remain beyond the remit of the LSC. School sixth forms will
continue, for the time being, to be subject to local authority
funding, to ensure that schools do not have a dual funding stream,
but this means that differentials in funding of the same learning
routes, in schools and FE colleges, are likely to persist.
13. Learning to Succeed says
nothing about the relationship between local LSCs and New Deal
delivery arrangements. It is not clear to us whether this is an
oversight or whether it indicates some conceptual distinction
between the generally very broad understanding of 'learning' in
the White Paper on the one hand, and the New Deal on the other.
Given that all aspects of New Deal have an element of vocational
learning attached to them, we expect the Government to make clear
the relationship between the local LSCs and delivery arrangements
for the New Deal.
14. There may well be a case for interpreting
more broadly the eligibility for public funding of a much wider
range of informal learning ... there is a good argument for funding
some kinds of community-based learning, which may not lead to
qualifications but which can contribute to personal self-confidence,
social inclusion and the rebuilding of local communities.
Funding of fulltime and parttime
learners
15. Learning to succeed neither
recognises the issues raised in evidence to the Committee about
part-time students, nor does it spell out how they might be addressed.
It does not spell out in any detail what kind of funding formulae
may apply to different kinds of learning by different types of
learner; it simply argues for rationalisation and consistency.
This is a regrettable omission.
16. As learning is expanding, and becoming increasingly
a part-time pursuit—by those with domestic responsibilities,
those who are unemployed and those who are in work— there
will need to be a 'level playing field' which ensures that part-time
learners are not deterred by second-class treatment. One of the
first tasks of the Learning and Skills Council must be to establish
a funding system which ensures that part-time learners are not
disadvantaged in relation to their full-time equivalents.
17. We recommend that part-time students in higher
education be allowed the same access to loans as full-time students.
Finance and benefits
18. At this stage in the development of tuition
fee contributions in higher education, it is difficult if not
impossible to draw firm conclusions about their impact on participation
in higher education. It will be necessary to monitor the socio-economic
profile of entrants to university in the coming years and—equally
importantly—of those dropping out of higher education, to
see whether, and to what extent, tuition fee contributions have
had an impact.
19. We welcome the Government's commitment in
Learning to succeed to bring greater coherence
to the funding of learning by unemployed people. More imaginative
strategies to encourage learning by unemployed people who have
been marginalised from learning —with commensurate benefit
entitlement—would be, both practically and symbolically,
a powerful statement of commitment to promoting a learning society.
To this end, the Government should consider, in the interests
of lifelong learning, developing broader criteria for the current
'activity test' faced by unemployed people, which would legitimise
the receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance (or its equivalent) for those
undertaking approved study. A debate will be needed about what
kind of study would be 'approved'. It might be possible, for instance,
in the light of our earlier comments about the broader benefits
of learning, for 'approved' learning to cover not only the potential
for increasing the employability of the learner but issues such
as citizenship. A stringent 'activity test' could be introduced
which, if passed, would permit individuals to study fulltime
for an approved period. Such an approach would certainly alter
the concept of the Jobseeker's Allowance, but it would—equally—be
in keeping with current political aspirations to promote a learning
society as much as a working society.
20. We welcome the Government's introduction of
Education Maintenance Allowances. As we stated in our 1998 report
on further education, increasing financial support for young people
will give them an incentive to stay on in full-time education.
21. The principle of Individual Learning Accounts
has generally been welcomed. At this stage, though, it remains
to be seen what level of impact a publicly funded grant of £150
for ILAs will have ... Depending on the success of the ILA and
how far support for the unemployed matches it, there may be a
case for extending the ILA to unemployed people as well. Attention
should also be paid to the extent to which the principle might
be extended to help people to, in the words of the White Paper,
"fulfil their potential for independence and self-investment".
Geography and transport
22. Greater use of ICT, including the UfI, and
the introduction of a 'Youth Card', as proposed by the Social
Exclusion Unit, are steps in the right direction. But given the
problems over access, they may not go far enough. More could be
done to ensure that public funds are available to equip bases
within communities where travel to learning is nigh on an impossibility,
irrespective of financial support provided. This would, for instance,
allow UfI opportunities to be taken up. We hope the Government
will demonstrate its commitment to lifelong learning by 'going
the extra mile' in taking learning to people as much as taking
people to learning.
Childcare
23. We welcome the funding that the Government
is putting into the expansion of childcare in general, and the
dedicated funding for childcare provision for learners in particular.
Given the emphasis in Learning to succeed on
equal opportunities, we hope that the development of policies
within the remit of the White Paper will give a higher profile
to the issue. Levels of funding need to be increased overall and
FE colleges should be encouraged to devote more money from their
existing access funds to extend their childcare provision. Policy
issues should also be addressed. In particular, the anomalies
in the current FEFC funding for childcare—the lack of funding
for 16-18 year olds and the difficulty colleges have in claiming
partial funding for childcare—must be removed. The provision
of childcare should be taken into account both in the short-term
and in the longer-term funding and planning strategy of the new
Learning and Skills Council.
Cultural factors/changing attitudes
24. Many schools, colleges and universities have
worked effectively together to help persuade young people that
it is worth their while to stay on in learning after compulsory
school age. Compact schemes between universities and local schools,
mentoring by university students working with school students
and partnerships between colleges and schools have all shown that
it is possible to change the culture even among groups of young
people who have traditionally not seen continuing learning as
an option for them. We hope that more universities and colleges
will enter this field. We also recommend that the DfEE use the
funding levers at its disposal to make this kind of activity financially
attractive to the institutions concerned.
Changing the culture among adults
25. It is clear from evidence to our inquiry that
changing attitudes towards learning among adults will require
imaginative approaches by all those involved in education and
training. One participant in our ESRC seminar spoke of the need
for lifelong learning to be seen as a promise, not a threat. Potential
learners should not feel that they are having something done to
them which, if they fail, will cause them problems. Instead, they
should be aware of the benefits which can accrue to them as individuals—and
this should include the range of benefits to which we have referred
in our report—not just financial, but personal as well.
26. The Government should ensure that everyone
is made aware of the benefits of learning. In seeking to instil
a learning culture, it should pay particular attention to supporting
the development of learning in the community and to family learning
schemes, the value of which was made clear to us in evidence.
The Learning and Skills Council will have a duty to promote adult
learning in "innovative" ways. We expect the Council
to explore imaginative ways in which learning of all kinds can
be taken into the community and ways in which adults can be re-engaged
in learning. But this is not just a matter for Government and
its agencies. Employers have a key role to play, for instance
in work-place supported adult learning and in the kind of projects
run by some companies which encourage not only their employees,
but also their families, to become involved in learning.
Raising awareness: general
27. We expect the Learning and Skills Council,
working with other agencies including the UfI, to support and
pilot more use of television and other media in promoting a learning
culture.
28. We are attracted to the idea of making greater
use of popular cultural icons to promote the learning message.
These might include, for instance, pop stars, film stars and footballers.
29. If those leading the education debate, including
MPs, were seen to be participating in lifelong learning, it would
provide an excellent stimulus to widening participation. In this
context, it is interesting to note that the Prime Minister recently
committed himself to undertaking an introductory course on using
the Internet.
30. Drawing attention to those who have succeeded
in enhancing their lives through education or training will help
stimulate demand for more learning among a wider range of people,
and that in turn will help turn the rhetoric of widening participation
into reality.
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