Adult Learning Versus New Labour
A recent survey conducted by the The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education has found that the proportion of adult learners in the UK is at its lowest level since 1997. What happened in 1997? The Labour party came into power, that’s what. All this is the more embarrassing since Labour’s much vaunted push for adult learning earlier this year.
As someone who works in adult education, there is little surprise for me in any of this. Why? I was hoping you would ask.
Labour’s education policy reeks of yesterday’s class wars. Education, education education? More like redistribution, redistribution, redistribution! The nameless government spokesperson who was dragged on to explain this travesty bleated on about socio-economic groups, ‘participation’ and ‘social inclusion’. The study itself is quick to point out the gap between the “educationally privileged and the educationally excluded”. So every failure in either explained or explained away in terms of class divisions. Note the loaded terms. Educationally privileged? Why not just say elitist and be done with it! Read more…
