WEA Education Blog

Scene setting for next five years

In trying to think how the WEA should plan strategically for the next five years everyone agrees that has to be with an outward looking perspective. The crisis that peaked in our Centenary year is now five years behind us and there is a sense that we should now be confident enough to take a leading role in the debate about the value and purpose of adult learning in society.

Within post-16 education recent years have been dominated by government initiatives around the needs and demands of employers and placing skills the centre of British economic competitiveness in the face of rapid globalisation. Within this there is a genuine commitment to building the skills of individuals to help them maintain or improve their employment or employability.

However, the international financial crisis of the last 12 months has brought into question the infallibility of deregulated international banking capital and the judgement of corporate and financial institutions. Recent comments have suggested that western economies may be facing difficulties greater than at any time since the Second World War.  In this climate it might be worth considering the current view of the role of adult learning and whether we are at a point where the direction of the last thirty years may be changing.

1970s was a key decade for the environment, for the post-war economic consensus and for education. It was the time when evidence of the development of global warming and environmental degradation first became widely recognised. For example, the potential for CFCs to create a hole in the ozone layer was identified and later confirmed. It was a key period for the internationalisation of capital and the advancement of the case for monetarism and neo-liberal economics. It was the decade when many ideas raised in the late sixties moved to become legislation – particularly in industrial relations. It was also the decade where the first significant cracks in the post-war Welfare State consensus became evident and

Britain

’s informal social partnership ran out of steam.

Clearly, in the 1970s the Cold War continued to dominate international relations. In the nineties the end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it an acceleration of the trends that could be seen in the 1970s – an increasing rate of exploitation of human and environmental resources within a deregulated and global system of capital. In the last thirty years Thatcher, Reagan, Bush and Blair have been able to frame an agenda and simplify it around corporate and wealthy interests because: ‘It’s the economy, stupid!’ and ‘there is no alternative’. In the

United States

, for 20 of the last 28 years, the presidency has been held by a Republican party strongly influenced by the neo-conservative agenda.

All of this, as has been shown by John Field in his book: ‘Lifelong learning and the new educational order’ , is reflected in definitions of learning. The length of the thread of thinking leading to Leitch can be seen in James Callaghan’s famous ‘Great Debate’ speech in 1976 at

Ruskin

College

:

“In today's world, higher standards are demanded than were required yesterday and there are simply fewer jobs for those without skill.”

From this we can see that priorities of the State have been developing consistently for three decades and there is a close correlation between this view of the purpose of adult learning and the period of dominance of politics and the economy by the values, interests and demands of international corporate capitalism.

However, in 2008, the credibility of these values and their proponents is under question. We can now see that we have been in an accelerating period where profits have been privatised, risk internationalised and now the losses of some are being nationalised. National governments and their tax payers are bailing out the mistakes of the very leaders in commerce and finance that were supposed to be delivering prosperity and (even) social mobility and justice.

We have seen over the last thirty years, that meeting the demands of international deregulated capital has led to dramatic reductions in social mobility, vast increases in wealth differentials and, more recently, to the removal of the security and privileges previously available to professionals and the middle class (reliable pensions, secure jobs, affordable higher education). It has also exploited the environment to the point of near collapse, especially in relation to climate change. A stateless oligarchy of individuals and companies has control of the world’s wealth and resources and still controls (through its ownership of international media and a tireless and longstanding lobbying) the perspective of many of the G7 governments.

In February 2007 (several months before the ‘credit crunch’ started on August 9^th)  

Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson wrote a review of

Britain

in the Blair years: ‘

Fantasy

Island

’. In their analysis – amongst many fantasies that had operated over recent years were two ‘master-fantasies’:

“the one that suggests we can borrow money without limit and the one that suggests that caring for the environment is entirely compatible with endless economic growth”

A year later both of these have been exploded.

In the next five years we can expect people in

Britain

and across the world to have to pay the price for these failures of leadership, the risk taking, aggrandisement and vanities of the last thirty years. A recent report proposing a Green New Deal looks to address this but emphasises the stark urgency. Within 100 months of July 2008 the balance of evidence is that climate change will move beyond the point of no return. That means the next

US

president – if they have two terms – could be in power at that point. If they don’t begin to take action with 100 days of being in office – say by 1^st May 2009 we cannot have confidence that catastrophic climate change can be avoided.

Faced with the situation where free-wheeling capital has generated hyper profits, massive risks, gigantic debt and huge pressure on the environment, what can be done? Moreover, is there anything an organization like the WEA can do?

If the last thirty years has placed skills as a key component in a deregulated and private globalised economy, the analysis in the Leitch Review must now need some revisiting. The assumption that employees and citizens should cope, let alone thrive, whilst competing in an international race to the bottom on wages or the mass acquisition of high level technical and entrepreneurial skills has been exposed. Moreover, the idea that, within this model of labour and manufacturing, demand and standards of living could continue to rise through increasing personal and national debt based on rising asset values is clearly unsustainable. People will still need to acquire, develop and renew their skills but the 2020 vision in Leitch may now be based on a view of the world that passing.

Perhaps, this is now as significant period of change as was seen in the mid seventies or just after World War II. If it is, doesn’t the WEA need to reflect and respond in the way it has through its history: in the argument for working people to have access to knowledge and learning; the fight for comprehensive educational opportunities within a democracy; the historic development of trade union and women’s studies. In 2008 where does the WEA stand in relation to the world people face and how does that relate to the current government skills strategy? In many ways the principles and issues that brought the WEA into being are still there in a modern form. Issues of equity, democracy and the importance of knowledge, ideas and skills have been a common thread along with a tradition of students and tutors co-producing learning by bringing together their expertise and experience around education with a genuine liberal and progressive perspective.

If the principles, approaches and efforts of the WEA can develop and provide education that can change people’s lives how can we now use adult education to help people:

 

• Cope with work and improve their experience of work
• Cope with worklessness
• Cope with increasing costs, financial uncertainty
• Build confidence and self-reliance in communities and individuals
• Improve their health and well being and that of their families
• Deal with ageing and independence
• Deal with pressures and changes to family and community
• Improve their knowledge and skills and help their children learn and develop as individuals and citizens
• Recognise and cope with the issues arising from labour mobility and migration
• Feel confident to take action to improve their communities and address environmental improvements in the absence of leadership from elsewhere
• Understand issues of history, culture and identity through the humanities
• Link with others internationally addressing the same concerns
• Avoid intolerance or influences seeking to divide people or create scapegoats for the failures of the government and corporate leadership
• Speak for themselves and their communities and act to improve things

The list can go on but, in its essence, what can the WEA do to help build positive self-reliance and the use of independent learning to understand and improve society, address issues in climate change and globalisation?

Looking at our organisation’s history and the current issues facing the world, is it too dramatic to say the WEA believes:

• You can’t leave things up to leaders – whether politicians or in the corporate world
• Communities and individuals need to be resourceful to care for themselves and each other
• We can’t wait for business or government to improve issues of environment, economy or equality
• We can use education to help people cope with work, worklessness and the fragmenting and individualising outcomes of modern international capitalism

There must be more to the WEA than just survival and there must be more to education than the Leitch report was able to express. We can’t do what we do without government funding but, if we don’t move strategically now to find a role in the world that people face, what would be the point of the WEA?

 

Part-time adult learning at risk

Last week's NIACE Policy Committee was very useful on an number of fronts. In particular, the general concern from all those participating around the position facing part-time adult learners. This concern covered both university and FE level provision and Dick Taylor (our Chair of Trustees) spoke strongly on the serious issues facing the funding of adult learning in Higher Education.

It made me realise that the structures, contracts and cultures within which we have to work are obscuring a situation where part-time adult learning at all levels is becoming disconnected from the drive to full-time provision for younger people in FE and HE. This is accelerating in the changes coming in the Machinery of Government proposals and in the changes in funding regulations in Higher Education.

At the meeting, Alan Tuckett, the NIACE Director presented a paper which he has now written as an article appearing in today's 'Guardian'. 'click here'.

These issues and Alan's 'shopping list' are timely in relation to the WEA's own thinking on its strategic direction. In particular, they are a reminder that we need to argue for the continuation of part-time adult education opportunities for all adults from a range of providers and at all levels.  The survival of the WEA would be little consolation if it were an exception within an overall collapse of lifelong learning opportunities that individuals can chose without reference to their employer.

Direction of the WEA - please help

The Association is revising its Strategic Plan. This revision looks to plan for what the WEA should be in five years. In September, the WEA Trustees, Association Committee, Regional Chairs and Management Team will consider the goals that should be included in the Plan.

The proposal is to include four 'Statements of Direction' that have been slightly adapted from the current plan. From these we hope to devise strategic goals that are Association wide, written so we know when we've met them and capable of being prioritised, reviewed annually and so everyone involved in the WEA can see how what they do contributes to the plan. For that to happen, we need plenty of help in devising the goals. You can help by proposing a goal here by using the 'comments' below. Please comment as soon as possible and before 12th September.

The four proposed Statements of Direction for the WEA are:

Our Work:

•          The WEA’s work is to develop a range of educational activities meeting the needs and interests of adults returning to education to improve their skills and knowledge for themselves, for their involvement in communities and workplaces and their understanding of the world - its environment, societies and cultures.

•          The WEA’s work encourages all these adults to: become aware and involved in an association that advocates continuing education as essential to democracy; become more active citizens; and to play a vital role in taking that work forward.

•          The methods of work used throughout the WEA reflect and reinforce democratic educational principles

•          The WEA’s work includes campaigning, influencing and alliance building to ensure that a high quality adult education is available to all through an infrastructure of many providers – not just the WEA itself

 

Our Workers:

•          The WEA’s workers include all those it pays to employ (staff and tutors) and those who it uses as volunteers (in such activities as organising, promoting, campaigning, evaluating, fund-raising and governance). Workers in the WEA are capable, confident, resourceful, versatile and responsible for delivering the work of the Association.

•          Wherever they are in the organisation, WEA workers have the information they need to do their job and represent the WEA. This is accompanied by a range of appropriate continuing professional development and training that is systematically part of their work and informs their review and performance management.

•          WEA tutors are key to taking our work forward. They are expert in their subject and in their teaching methods and develop these through reflective practice and with others in a network of WEA tutors. They are involved in developing the overall work of the Association and the relationship is professional but more than just contractual. They meet all WEA students as equals and see themselves as part of the Association as a whole.

 

Our Supporters:

•          The WEA’s supporters act to further the aims of the Association and its work. They include members, donors, supporters, affiliated organisations and other partners. They understand the work of the WEA and how they can contribute as volunteers or in other ways.

•          Their voice is heard through the Association and they seek to encourage all students and potential students to hear of our work.

•          The structures through which supporters work are clear and communication with and between supporters is effective and builds the WEA’s voice, work, resources and reputation.

 

The Money:

•          The Association gets its money from a range of sources including the LSC (and its successor), other government departments and agencies, partner organisations, learners and donors.

•          It uses it effectively and sustainably to maximise its impact in supporting the work of the WEA. The Association continually looks to cost efficiencies to maximise resource directed to the work, build reserves and minimise environmental impact and carbon use.

•          This includes, where appropriate, technological solutions and review of operational locations that are not directly linked to the provision of learning and engaging with individuals, communities and partner organisations.

Please comment on these and propose specific goals that can be considered.

You can see a Powerpoint presentation around these plans here:

Download developing_association_strategic_plan_june_08.ppt

Differentiation and 'firstness'. Nothing new there.

At the moment we hear a lot about differentiation and 'firstness' in education policy. In some ways 'firstness' is just a new word for widening participation - although one which may well be used to ration access to funding for education for adults.

However, these two quotes from RH Tawney indicate that the WEA has considered these issues important for a very long time.

In 1931 Tawney said:
"Equality of provision is not identity of provision. It is to be achieved not by treating different needs in the same way, but by devoting equal care to ensuring they are met in the different ways most appropriate to them"

In terms of reaching out to disadvantaged adults he said:

"Our business is not to organise classes for those whom, in the circumstances of today, it may, for one reason or another, be easiest to attract. It is to create a demand for education in individuals and bodies who at the moment may be unconscious of its importance to them but who, if a tolerable society is to be created, must be won to believe it".

Does the WEA do that in 2008? I think it does. John Bolt, the architect of the new LSC funding methodology this week explained that  one part of the LSC's 'demand led ' calculator looks at the level of provision for adults living in the most disdvantaged neighbourhoods in England (the Index of Multiple Deprivation). It shows the WEA as working with adults from those areas to a far greater degree than the FE average across England and this is reflected in our new FE Provider Factor.

We know who picks the 'low hanging fruit' and it isn't the WEA!

The case for cultural studies

The issue of cultural studies is beginning to re-emerge as people examine the space that surrounds the tight definitions of the skills strategy. Below is  a quote from the playwright, Lee Hall, that addresses this issue and reminds us that an understanding of culture, supported by education is not a marginal issue of leisure and recreation or something of importance only to an elite. Access to culture is a right and one that was won in much the same way as access to the Peak District was. Maximising access to serious cultural experiences is a sign of a tolerant and democratic society. We know that from the history of the alternatives.

"I believe a democracy can only work properly, and indeed a culture can only be deemed rich at all if it does not exclude people from it. Understanding the arts, history, the workings of our culture, including creative contributions for it are essential to the common good. To try and quantify these things on any economic grounds is clearly preposterous but it is clear how much “culture” contributes to our economy, but the point of education has never simply been the acquiring of skills. To know and understand the world around us is what makes us human and civilised. As a society it is what makes tolerant and able to grow. The right to an education, to access to the arts, to cultivating oneself beyond the immediate requirements for survival or the most basic diversions from this hard work, were won as a result of enormous struggle. It really wasn't long ago that the majority of people were excluded from any access to culture or education at all.

It seems crucially important at a time when the cultural education of everyone is vital for our economic development, let alone the need to stem the crassness of a globalised culture whose dissemination is in fewer and fewer hands, that we preserve and indeed extend this privilege to more and more people. The thought of restricting what people learn to immediately expedient skill sets simply misses what is valuable about this education both for the individual and the economy as a whole. Speaking as someone who creates work for hundreds of people by simply writing, and therefore relies on these people to be culturally educated, I know how important it is to allow people to learn and have a cultural knowledge beyond what obviously seems necessary skill for employment.

Without and understanding of the past and of a culture other than trite entertainment we can never aspire to something better. We will all be drones. The WEA is vital and unique in providing a place where people can extend themselves as well as extending the culture at the same time. We are all poorer for a culture where knowledge, education and creativity are reserved for only those that can afford it.

Lee Hall, writer and creator of 'Billy Eliot'

Biographical details

Yorkshire Humber on YouTube

WEA staff and volunteers in Yorkshire Humber have been working together to develop their work on the WEA's Educational Strands. Some of these are now available on YouTube and you can click here to see homelessness in Doncaster as an example of Community Involvement education. There is another clip promoting Community Involvement work here .
Regional Director, Ann Walker said: "One element of our work was to have an attempt at using different media to explain the characteristics of the strands so that branches, staff and others could have the information in alternative formats."

Using the WEA's Educational Strands to plan and shape our work is the next stage in their development. A reminder of what they're about:

•  Second Chance to Learn: this is about adults with ‘few if any educational qualifications’ and helping them gain nationally recognised qualifications. Thus it will range from ‘first steps’ to – potentially – an Access to Higher Education Certificate.

•  Community Involvement: this is about helping adults achieve a wider range of outcomes through purposeful education. These include improved health and well-being, better communication skills in situations like signing and lip reading, extending volunteering in schools, activism in unions and other roles and the capacity to take part in community activity etc. Again there is an emphasis on disadvantaged students but using a wider definition that includes health, social, economic and other factors.

•  Cultural Studies: this strand is designed to attract all adults with a ‘love of learning’ who want to develop an understanding of a subject for ‘its own sake’ and wish to be involved in the planning and delivery of the provision.

For more information on the strands click these Frequently asked questions