WEA Southern Region

The WEA runs over 1,400 courses each year in the South East, attracting over 15,000 enrolments. We operate across the whole of the region – in the densely populated urban centres, in the rural areas and along the south coastal strip.

Although the south east is relatively affluent, there are significant pockets of both urban and rural deprivation and poverty. Addressing the needs of learners who are socially, economically or educationally disadvantaged is a strategic priority and partnership working is the basis for much of this delivery.

We prioritise the hardest to reach learners and the Preparation for Life and Work curriculum. More than half of these courses offer national qualifications and there are clear progression routes from the supporting non-accredited provision. Although we work in some of the most disadvantaged communities, 86% of those who take a qualification are successful. We have maintained our English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision following the introduction of fees, by working with specialist agencies to ensure learners have access to appropriate advice on tax credits and benefits.

WEA classes are delivered in the heart of local communities, using safe and familiar venues and outreach recruitment methodology. Courses aimed at reducing social exclusion include health, family learning and citizenship. The WEA has an important role to play in delivering learning opportunities that enable people to develop their own personal communication skills and contribute to their community.

There is increasing use of volunteers to provide learner support in Skills for Life classes and to help with office based tasks. These activities often lead into work, including as tutors. An innovative addition to this work has been the recruitment and training of volunteers to support art and craft groups with frail elderly people, creating self sustaining groups which can continue during non-teaching periods.

Well qualified and inspirational tutors are employed to deliver a wide ranging Cultural Studies programme, including history, literature and art appreciation, through self organised classes supported by an active branch structure of committed volunteers. This programme generates 85% of the region’s fee income within an affordable fee structure. The WEA is also recognised as a key provider of initial tutor training for community learning tutors in some parts of the region.

How we work

The WEA is extremely responsive to educational need. Some examples of how we have been able to respond flexibly to local demand in the South East:

• Following the closure of Reading University School of Continuing Education, we have established a new branch and brokered partnerships with the Borough Council and Reading School to provide subsidised accommodation for classes. More than fifty classes have been run since September 2009 as a result.

• With health innovation funding in the Medway Towns, the WEA have put together a spectacular programme of courses and fitness activities for disadvantaged adults, in partnership with the Medway sports development team, to help people become fit, healthy and more aware of factors affecting their wellbeing.

• WEA Chichester branch volunteers, supported by grant funding, have been organising the ‘Reaching Out’ programme for ten years, offering successful courses in Seated Yoga, Drawing, Healthy Living and Making Music for learners with a range of physical and learning disabilities. As just one example of the benefits, a young man who is a wheelchair user enjoys taking part in the guided relaxation sessions and a carer commented that after the yoga sessions he is much more relaxed. Learners from the art class have exhibited work at the Pallant House Gallery and one lady, in her 80s, was ‘thrilled to bits’ when her piece was sold.

• Slough learners invited their local MP to a celebration of their achievements and told how learning had changed their lives. One class acted a short play about going to the doctor, highlighting how learning to speak English meant the women could now go to the doctor on their own, without needing to take a friend or family member to translate.

• A local women’s group in Southampton, made up of people from Angola, Bulgaria, Somalia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Congo and Afghanistan, took part in The Six Book Challenge, a national initiative to encourage people to read for pleasure and make reading part of their lives. They meet once a month to talk about books and write down their thoughts in a reading diary. All are now regular users of the local library with their families.

Partnership work

The WEA in the South East is the Take Part Regional Champion, promoting the national framework for active learning for active citizenship and developing creative opportunities for working in partnership with local authorities and other third sector organisations. The region is also lead body for the Pathfinder project in Brighton and Hove and is delivering the Train the Trainers programme for Take Part.

We are subcontracted by East Surrey College to deliver community based informal adult learning. For the past three years the WEA has recruited nearly 2,000 new learners per year in East Surrey, over 70% of whom are from specific target groups: hard to reach, volunteers, older learners and those in rural communities. Excellent partnership working with the College and many new small local partnerships with organisations such as housing associations, community centres and volunteer support agencies ensure this success.

The region has robust partnerships with several local authorities, including Southampton, Portsmouth, Slough and Reading. Both the Omega Centre in Portsmouth and the Clovelly Centre in Southampton have received significant investment from the City Councils. The Omega Centre is also a UK online centre with state of the art equipment addressing the learning needs of an area where 74% of the users are eligible for fee remission and 70% have qualifications below a full level two. A regional conference proved a great success in bringing more than seventy women learners and volunteers face to face with senior politicians and representatives of statutory organisations including the NHS, the Police and the local education service.

As part of addressing the employability agenda the WEA is sub-contracted by Scout Enterprises (Western Ltd) for delivery of two European Social Fund projects: Sector Skills Support and Stepping Stones. We are also a partner in an Oxford and Cherwell Valley College led consortium for Response to Redundancy and Work Focused Training projects. All of this activity is geared to upskilling and supporting people into work with qualifications in Health & Social Care, Childcare and Customer Care as a progression route to gaining a full Level 2.

Who learns?

There were 15,132 enrolments in 2010/11 for our part-time courses across the region.  Statistics for the year show the reach of our provision and the diversity of our learners in Southern England:

• 15% live in postcodes which indicate deprivation (as defined by the government)
• 22% did not have to pay fees for economic reasons (as defined by funders)
• 28% had qualifications below Level 2 when they joined their courses
• 18% were from a declared ethnic minority
• 17% had a declared physical disability
• 5% had a declared learning disability

Where we work:

Our courses take place in community venues across the region. We find that taking education to local venues such as schools, community centres, workplaces, church halls, mosques and village halls helps people who are returning to learning feel comfortable and relaxed. It’s an important part of attracting the ‘hard-to-reach’ learners who would often be reluctant to attend the nearest college or other formal education provider. The table below shows the number of WEA courses and enrolments the South East in 2010/11.

Contacting WEA Southern Region

Our WEA office for Southern Region is based in Rochester.  You can view contact details here, visit the Southern Region website here, or see a listing of local WEA branches here.  To find out about courses in these areas visit our online course search.