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TODAY’S EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR ADULTS IN GREAT BRITAIN
Y.V. Polyakova
Great Britain does not have a standardized adult education sector. Adult students take part in programs of educational institutions of all sectors, including higher and post-graduate education, in-house training programs, voluntary public organisations, and adult education centres run by local authorities. Recent years have seen a great deal of research into adult education carried out by research centres financed by the government, universities and various non-state organisations.
The total British population keeps on growing (except for Scotland). According to the 2006 population census, 77% of the UK’s 60.6 million people are adults. The primary factor of population growth is an increase in life expectancy. As a result of considerable health improvement in people aged 60-80, the over-50s account for 21% of its citizens, and this group is increasing [1].
Since 2000, all parts of the United Kingdom have been introducing considerable changes into the organisation of adult education. In 2000, Scotland established a new Department of Business and Lifelong Education. The year 2003 saw the introduction of a new educational strategy referred to as Life Through Learning: Learning Through Life, intended to develop people’s business acumen, knowledge, creativity, skills and abilities necessary to take part in economic, social and political life. In 2007, the Scottish Government suggested a new strategy referred to as A Lifelong Skills Strategy. In 2001, Wales adopted the strategy The Learning Country. In 2007, the Government of Wales approved the professional skill development program Skills that Work for Wales. The Northern Irish program Success through Skills (2006) covers four basic aspects of adult education: (1) labour market demand, (2) skills improvement, (3) professional education quality improvement, (4) mutual understanding between employees and employers.
By 2005, the focus of the adult education policy had moved from a comprehensive definition of lifelong education to gaining and increasing professional skills, and improving competitiveness in the labour market. In 2006, the Government published the report Prosperity for All in the Global Economy by Leitch, which has become one of the most influential documents of the last decade. The report based on the OSCE data showed a serious shortfall in the skills of British workers and recommended radical strategic changes and investments able to advance Great Britain to the top three countries of the OSCE by 2020 [3].
In 2007, Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as Prime Minister. The new Prime Minister started by dividing the Department of Education and Professional Skills into two departments, Department for Children, Schools and Familiesand the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills - DIUS. It was for the first time that adult education was separated into a dedicated department to combine three closely connected spheres stipulating the future of Britain, viz. professional skills, innovations and scientific research. In the same year, the Government published a report referred to as World Class Skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in
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England. The report discussed the “revolution in professional skills” aimed at eliminating shortfalls at all levels by 2020 through the establishment of a system focused on adult students’ and employers’ needs. Integration of employment and skills services are for the unemployed and low-skilled citizens to get a permanent job, rise up the career ladder, improve their skills and thus contribute to both the improvement of the quality of the British productive workforce, and social cohesion.
An important governmental decision was to review the employers’ reaction to the strategy of delegation of some forms of obligatory vocational training to employers. The Government of Great Britain had resisted that step since the 1970s, considering it as excessive intervention in the market economy. For a long time, the Government did its best to cooperate with employers on a voluntary basis by the regulation of requirements for qualification. However, the Leitch Review suggests reconsidering efficiency of the voluntary approach to employers’ investments into skill improvement. In adult education, the overall objective of the British state policy is to increase workforce productivity. The Government is planning to make Great Britain the world leader in skills by 2020, and adult education is a key factor in the attainment of this goal. In early 2008,the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skillspublished a report on the informal education of adults, referred to as Informal Adult Learning - Shaping the Way Ahead. The document focuses on what the European Union defines as formal and informal training for personal fulfilment not necessarily connected with skills or employment.
In 2004, the European Union expanded its borders to include eight states from Eastern Europe, which led to an immediate inflow of migrants, most of whom were ‘young adults’ (under 40 years of age). Thereupon, much attention is paid to courses of English for Speakers of Other Languages - ESOL.The Government recognises that fluent English is vital for integration and social cohesion. In particular, ESOL expenses trebled and reached £300 million a year in the period from 2001 to 2010. However, the growing demand still exceeds supply, and the DIUS is looking for ways to meet and finance this [3]. The Government also put forward a number of new initiatives to help the unemployed, especially in England and Wales, by overcoming the conflict between employers’ requirements and potential workers’ abilities. These educational programs are mostly targeted at jobless youth of 18-24 years of age, but they do not disregard those over 25 and even 50, either. There are also some special programs for single parents, disabled people etc.
Over the last decade, governmental departments have been cooperating to integrate employment and skill services. Employment is the most important tool to overcome social isolation by giving personal independence and social stability. For a long time Great Britain has had a legislative basis to overcome gender or racial or disability discrimination. The last few decades have seen legal acts introduced against age, sexual orientation and religious discrimination. The Commission for Equality and Human Rights supervises all these six areas. Educational institutions of all levels should comply with the legislation and actively support antidiscrimination practice.
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It is worth noting that in Great Britain, a lot of problems, such as social exclusion, poverty and discrimination, are typical for particular places or groups rather than the whole population. Therefore, the main task is to develop a target policy aimed at these groups. In this regard, the adult education policy is changing towards concentrating of its resources on profound programs for those who need them most of all, and are ready to obtain the necessary skills.
References
1. URL: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Expodata/Spreadsheets/
2. Leitch (2006) Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills http://www.dfes.gov.uk/skillsstrategy/uploads/documents/Leitch%20Review.pdf
3. CONFINTEA VI UK National report http://uil.unesco.org/home/programme-areas/adult-learning-and-education/confintea-portal/
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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