Early Impact of the New Arrangements for Adult and Community Learning with the Learning and ...

174 Pages·2003·0.97 MB·English

by  Chris Pickard

R
ESEARCH
Early Impact of the New
Arrangements for Adult and
Community Learning with the
Learning and Skills Council
Jonathan Winterton
Groupe ESC Toulouse
Ruth Winterton
Eldwick Research Associates
Research Report RR428
Research Report
No 428

Early Impact of the New Arrangements for Adult
and Community Learning with the Learning and
Skills Council

Jonathan Winterton
Groupe ESC Toulouse

Ruth Winterton
Eldwick Research Associates

The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education and
Skills.

© Queen’s Printer 2003

ISBN 1 84478 017 1
June 2003
ii

♦ Eldwick Research Associates is an independent partnership, established in 1993
to undertake research and consulting into employment and human resource
development issues. The ERA portfolio includes work on employment
restructuring, vocational training, skill needs, management development, and labour
turnover and retention.
♦ Groupe ESC Toulouse (Toulouse Business School) is one of the major business
schools in France, with leading edge research in finance, aerospace management,
employment and human resource development.
iii
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Phillip Lacey, project manager at the Department for
Education and Skills and to the members of the Steering Group, representing the
LEAs, the LSC, NIACE and HOLEX, for their guidance and to Professor Bob
Fryer of the NHS University for comments on an earlier draft. Special thanks are
due to those responsible for Adult and Community Learning (ACL) in the 147
LEAs that completed the survey and in particular to those representatives of LEAs,
local arms of the LSC, ACL providers and community and volunteer organisations
and groups, who gave considerable time to interviews in connection with the case
studies. Any errors or omissions remain the full responsibility of the authors and
the views expressed should not be attributed to the DfES or any of the participating
organisations.
iv

Contents
Foreword by Sue Yeomans LSC v
Executive summary vii
List of Abbreviations
List of Tables
List of Figures

1. Introduction 1
1.1 Background to the study 1
1.2 Logic and structure of report 4

2. The emerging ACL sector 5
2.1 Mode of delivery 5
2.2 Partnerships 10
2.3 Views on LEA provision 13
2.4 Views on the LSC role 17
2.5 Capital funding issues 23

3. Participation in ACL 25
3.1 DfES statistics on LEA-secured adult learning 25
3.2 Patterns of participation and socio-economic environment 29
3.3 Other data on adult participation in learning 33
3.4 Local views on ACL participation rates 36

4. Rationale 38
4.1 Mission statements 38
4.2 Needs analysis 38
4.3 Strategic objectives 43
4.4 Curriculum areas in ACL 47

5. Quality 55
5.1 Quality assurance 55
5.2 Quality systems 58
5.3 Resourcing ACL 63

6. Access 71
6.1 Widening Participation 71
v
6.2 Target groups 81
6.3 Learner support 88
6.4 Good practice in enabling access 93

7. Coherence 98
7.1 Working in partnership 98
7.2 Information sharing and data collection 100
7.3 Coherence with other provision 103
7.4 Perceived impact of formula funding 109

8. Conclusions and recommendations 122

References 131

Appendices
Appendix 1 – Methodology 136
Appendix 2 – LEA survey questionnaire 143
Appendix 3 – Baseline survey of ACL 147
Appendix 4 – Case study topic guide 148
vi
Foreword
This impact study was commissioned in 2001 in the very early days of the life of the
Learning and Skills Council. The policy context has altered significantly in the
period since the study was commissioned and great progress has been made in most
areas. Many of these changes make the original picture almost unrecognisable. One
of the principal values of this important research study is that it has established and
meticulously recorded the baseline of Adult and Community Learning with the LSC.

The baseline survey showed that there was widespread anxiety amongst providers of
ACL and LSC ACL staff, concerning future funding, planning, quality, management
information and data collection and administrative requirements. It is pleasing to be
able to report that the LSC has established an ambitious programme of quality
improvement for ACL:
♦ support and funding to improve management information systems since April
2002
♦ through LSDA and NIACE, the Quality Support Programme since 2001
♦ development of the ‘planning-led approach’ and the Strategic Area Review
framework to ensure integrated and coherent planning across areas and between
the LSC and local authorities since November 2001
♦ development of the performance review framework, through pilots (2001/02)
and a revised framework and ‘opt in’ model spring 2003
♦ planning pathfinder for integrated local authority FE/ACL planning spring 2003
♦ the backcloth of Trust in FE (autumn 2002) and the imperative to keep
administration requirements within reason
♦ consultation on data collection (winter 2002) to ensure the Individualised Learner
Record is appropriately sensitive to the ACL sector
♦ development of a ‘vision’ for ACL (summer 2003) to set the framework for the
future
♦ providing post inspection support through local LSCs (spring 2003).

One of the most important developments is the establishment of a formula funding
implementation review (from January 2003), so that we can work through the
implications of formula and non formula funding with a group of local authorities.

The DfES is now reviewing the funding of adult learning to identify further ways in
which employers and providers can be more responsive to learner need, widen
participation in learning and improve skills levels. The Skills Strategy develops these
latter themes still further.
vii

The LSC welcomes the research study and commends it to readers, policy makers
and decision takers particularly those in local LSCs as providing a helpful and
informative review of the backdrop against which we inherited ACL. We are
grateful to the DfES, not only for commissioning this study but also for their
unwavering help and support in tackling the challenges.

Sue Yeomans
Learning and Skills Council
viii
Executive summary
The Department for Education and Skills contracted Eldwick Research Associates
to undertake a baseline study of Adult and Community Learning (ACL) exploring
the Early Impact of the New Arrangements for ACL with the Learning and Skills
Council (LSC). ACL has a vital role to play in widening participation of hard-to-
reach learners, promoting social inclusion and community renewal, and developing
the basic skills that individuals need to be active citizens and with which they can
engage in further development to enhance their employability and quality of life.
This is the first comprehensive study of ACL in England and was undertaken at an
important juncture as the LSC took responsibility for ACL.

A survey of all 150 LEAs (response rate 98 per cent) undertaken in January 2002
was followed by in-depth case studies, undertaken between March and July 2002, in
15 LEAs selected to capture the diversity of contractual arrangements for delivery of
ACL and extent of local deprivation.

The emerging ACL sector
The study provides a comprehensive picture of the emerging ACL sector. The
survey of LEAs confirmed that ACL is delivered through a variety of mechanisms
which can be grouped into three main approaches: direct delivery; contracted out;
and a mixture of the two. For the 143 LEAs where such information was provided
and unambiguous, 50 per cent reported that they secure ACL services entirely
through direct provision, 27 per cent entirely through contracted out provision and
23 per cent through a combination of direct delivery and contracted out (‘mixed’,
defined as less than 85 per cent provided through one of these routes). Taking a
more liberal definition of ‘mixed’ (where there is any combination of direct and
contracted out delivery) this category increases to 47 per cent.

Among the direct delivery authorities, the main advantages are maintaining control
over provision, coherence and QA. The main disadvantage is the weakness of
community and voluntary delivery, so funding is needed to build capacity. In the
mixed delivery mode authorities, the main attractions are ability to respond to local
needs, flexibility and value for money. The main disadvantages are inadequate
control, insufficient consistency and lack of coherence. In the outsourcing
authorities, the main advantages are enabling the LEA to have a more strategic role,
avoiding competition with providers and cost effectiveness. The main disadvantages
are lack of control, inadequate information from providers, insufficient targeting of
ix
community needs and (in contradiction to the above) higher cost of cost of
provision.

Partnerships
Irrespective of the mode of delivery or extent of local deprivation, all the authorities
studied are involved in extensive partnerships, with both external and internal
partners, for the delivery of ACL. Most LEAs work with other authority
departments in delivering ACL, such as schools, community colleges, youth
offending and youth and community teams, community development and
neighbourhood renewal departments, local economic development and regeneration
departments, Libraries, Museums and Music Services.

In both the survey and the LEAs studied in detail, respondents cited an impressive
range of external partners including FE colleges and universities, private training
providers, the business community, health authorities, Employment Services, Social
Services, Basic Skills Agency, Prison Service, Probation Service, Youth Service, the
WEA and a wide range of Community and Voluntary Organisations (CVOs), such
as Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB), carer groups, housing associations, church
groups, care centres, childcare groups, Mind, Age Concern and refugee groups.

The quality of the relationships established with partners inevitably varies both
between authorities and between partners within the same authority. From the
evidence of the case studies, the quality of partnerships is unrelated to delivery
mode, extent of local deprivation or participation rates, but is rather a function of
the relationships established with individuals. However, the range of partners was
less impressive in the outsourcing authorities, which tended to devolve the bulk of
activity to relatively few providers.

Views on LEA provision
On the basis of the survey, those responsible for ACL were, for the most part,
optimistic about the extent to which their LEAs are committed to developing
appropriate provision and providing the necessary support for these activities. Over
two-thirds of respondents felt their LEA monitors participation in learning of target
groups; provides adequate training and development to equip LEA staff with the
necessary competence to secure ACL; and demonstrates understanding of the roles
of the LSC and DfES regarding ACL provision. Only a minority of respondents
were positive about their LEA’s Information Advice and Guidance, although there
has been significant investment in this area since the survey.