Introduction
Chapter 1

1.1 This paper sets out the Government’s response to the report, Learning Works, of the Committee on Widening Participation, chaired by Baroness Kennedy, and established by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) in 1994. The report of the Committee was delivered to the Council in June 1997.

1.2 The report sets out a radical vision to engage and draw back into learning those who have traditionally not taken advantage of educational opportunities: in particular, those with no or inadequate qualifications. For these people, continuing or returning to learning offers the prospect of breaking out of a cycle of economic and social exclusion. The Government endorses the vision of the report.

1.3 The Government has already begun work. We have announced additional funding, totalling some £100 million, to provide for up to 80,000 additional students in further education over the next year, with the great majority to be drawn from the educationally disadvantaged population. We are working with the FEFC to ensure that the additional money is effectively targeted at the educationally disadvantaged, and that the Council’s funding methodology fairly reflects the costs of providing for such students.

1.4 This represents a beginning. Our wider proposals for lifelong learning are set out in The Learning Age, published today as a basis for consultation. We will:

  • extend learning opportunities to many people who would not otherwise have the chance to learn by providing for an extra 500,000 people in further and higher education by 2002;
  • make education and training more flexible and accessible for all. FE colleges already have a notable track record in this regard; the University for Industry (UfI) will build on this, with FE colleges and other partners;
  • remove barriers to learning through

    • the introduction of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) which should particularly help those with low skills or low pay, and who may not qualify for automatic course fee exemption; and

    • by introducing a new improved system of support for further education students to replace the system of Local Education Authority (LEA) discretionary awards;

  • invest in Young People so that as many as possible are motivated and enabled to study beyond 16;

  • improve the quality, responsiveness and local accountability of FE colleges;

  • secure improvements in information on learning and related career opportunities through a better focused careers service and other sources, including the Learning Direct Helpline, launched today; and

  • rebalance the partnership for investment in learning between the Government, individuals and employers. We have made a start on this in FE by asking the FEFC to secure an additional £20m in employer contributions in 1998-99.

1.5 We are confident that the FE sector has the will and the ability to play a major part in realising this agenda. It has demonstrated this in the breadth of its provision: catering for 4 million students, 80% of them adults, studying for a total of 17,000 different qualifications in 1995/96, and expanding its provision by over a quarter in the past four years. Despite this record, about one in four adults has not done any recent learning. This is what we need to rectify, and we therefore welcome the enthusiasm of the sector colleges and their partners; and the way they have already embraced the message of Learning Works.

1.6 Achieving the aim will require a continuing drive to raise standards, including action by each college to improve the quality of teaching in order to increase attainment and improve retention. We look forward to working constructively with the Council, and colleges and others, to make the vision of widening participation a reality.

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