The Government has announced a new public consultation, to find out your views about local adult education services, and how to make them better. Closes 21st October!
Read the WEA's response to the review of Informal Adult Learning here!
The consultation is called 'New Challenges, New Chances' and is being run to work out how adult education should be funded in future and to seek views of individuals, communities and adult education providers.
Like most other adult education organisations we're funded by the Government through an annual grant from the Skills Funding Agency. The kind of classes that we put on across the country are termed 'Informal Adult and Community Learning', or IACL, and there is a special consultation paper and survey for people who attend these kinds of classes with the WEA - or any other local college or provider.
The Government says it wants to reduce paperwork and bureaucracy as well as improve local services - but at the same time it will be considering what levels of funding will be in future - in an unhappy economic climate!
WEA students and tutors will be pleased to hear about any possible changes that might, in time, reduce paperwork and form-filling, and leave more time for education.
If you want to add your thoughts and views to the mix you can download the consultation paper here and then visit the NIACE website to complete the survey. It's designed for individuals, rather than organisations, so it's a great chance to join in and reinforce the message to Government that adult education is a necessary and valuable local service.