3.3 The obstacles range from simple physical problems of the time, costs, location, range and accessibility of learning opportunities to the lack of adequate support for carers and problems of transport. Some barriers affect particular groups. For example, the absence of childcare, transport arrangements and even course times which may not fit with collecting children from school make difficulties for parents with school-age children.

3.4 Older people often find the modern drive for certification gets in the way. Unemployed people are regularly deterred by the rigid application of the benefit rules. Too often, Black and Asian people still experience institutional and personal racism. Other people's attitudes are a major barrier for people with learning difficulties; stairs too often limit choices for people in wheelchairs; and those with learning difficulties are too often confronted by a lack of suitable facilities or properly trained staff.

3.5 Obstacles also appear in the form of unresponsive and inflexible funding regimes, and in underdeveloped individual and organisational commitment to learning. There is too much focus on those who have already become successful learners and gained qualifications. On the other hand, there is a lack of personal confidence and self-esteem amongst many, all too often the result of earlier experience of school, especially their sense of failure or simply a feeling that education is 'not for them'.

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