Monday 3 August 2015

well, the budget announcement came out and there wasn't a lot of news for the adult learning sector

what we heard about, in summary, was the introduction of an employer's levy, a "youth obligation" which will cut benefits to those who "do not engage", and the news that cuts will continue, albeit at a slower rate than had originally been anticipated. In general its fair to say that the sector was underwhelmed! yes, apprenticeships are about skills but skills are a lot more than just apprenticeships – however edudo is not clear this is widely understood. The Government appears to have just realised that employers tend not to invest in skills - whoopee! How many years has the sector been saying that? The Government also appears to have woken up to the reality of the inadequate quality of education offered by some of our peers in the sector. When there is a failing shop on the high street it doesn't matter how it got to that stage: it simply closes!. edudo recognises that the adult learning sector is not as simplistic as that, but it needs to get a damn sight closer to it.

at edudo, learning is, first and always, about improving life-chances. it's what people do when they want to make sense of the world!