Responding to the White Paper, NUS Vice-President for Further Education, Beth Walker, said:
“We welcome the Government’s renewed commitment to the promotion of adult education, particularly its moves to reconnect formal and informal learning and the empowerment of local authorities to plan adult education to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
“However, we are concerned that these proposals still fail to address the imbalance in funding between employer-led training and individually motivated learning. We also believe that the proposals do not go far enough in addressing the complex inequalities in access and opportunity to education that arise from factors such language, wealth, location, confidence, literacy and access to technology. Far more support and resources are required if the ‘learning revolution’ is to reach all adults who could benefit.”
Beth's performance in front of the Select Committee, coupled with a well argued and evidenced submission, has led to the committee endorsing our position on travel for 14-19 learners.