Why bother with adult education?

By Mark Malcomson, Principal and Chief Executive at City Lit

The definition for tertiary education is this: Any formal education after secondary school, also known as post-secondary or higher education.

Therein lies the problem. The theory of education in this country is that our educational kitbag is meant to be primed and ready to go in our early twenties and is supposedly designed for us to last through potentially 50 years of work and the period afterwards.

I am not sure that this was ever a realistic approach, but it certainly isn’t viable for today’s world. Gone is the job-for-life of my parents’ generation; gone is the career-for-life of my peers; we have entered a multiverse of jobs, careers, portfolios, re-invention, repeat, rinse and start again. Changes in technology, globalisation of the job market, supply chain and work-pattern changes, demographic shifts, government policies and the response to climate change all have buffeted the job market and will continue to do so at an accelerating pace. My mum working in a typing pool in the 1960s is such an alien idea to my daughter that it might as well be from the time of the Tudors.

So, let’s be realistic, training someone now for a job with the expectation that it will see them through for some future retirement is insane. Yet….. that’s what we have built and continue to propagate. Don’t get me wrong, we should continue adapting and improving tertiary education and my friends in colleges and universities should continue to do the great work they do. But it is not enough and will never be!

The government has taken welcome steps to promote the idea that learning doesn’t stop at the school gates and is a life-long process. The Lifelong Learning Entitlement and changes to the Skills Levy provide a teaser for a world where education is actively enhancing and helping re-orientate the lives of individuals. We need to be thinking about the future of work but also about community and wellbeing. A productive, happy and healthy society is something we know our political leaders aspire to, and something we are well placed to help build.

I believe that there are four stages of education that adults need, and the country should provide, and where Government could reap the economic and social rewards of relatively small investments.

We are already doing a huge amount of work in the traditional tertiary education space and, to be honest, the whole system of educating adults is built to equip young adults with the skills they need to enter the world of work. It needs constant improvement but it’s part of the academic infrastructure. After that, things get very sketchy.

The next stage is those in mid-career/life. This was the historically the period of progress and consolidation. However, job security for life is a concept lost to the past. In their 30s and 40s, previous generations were busy moving up the career ladder, buying a house and settling down. For many today, this mid-career point is instead characterised by upheaval and uncertainty, with automation, economic shocks and the changing nature of work itself disrupting that well-trodden path to security. For a government looking to calm a wave of rising discontent, clear and accessible paths through these career changes are essential.

Education for this group has mostly been done by and through employers, with fairly regular specific job-related training to keep you up-to-date or help you progress to the next level. The idea that employers are going to invest in your retraining for a different career in a different sector with a different employer seems somewhat naïve to me. So, who is responsible for helping the forty-something with a family, a mortgage and debt get the next job when their career of choice disappears in the maelstrom of job carnage? I grew up in the 1980s in Merseyside and a whole generation of my friends’ parents ended on the job scrapheap far too early as the Thatcher years of de-industrialisation took a huge toll. We need to avoid this happening again on a far bigger scale. People in this group want short educational interventions which re-tool them, giving them the necessary skills, not necessarily with certification and certainly without them having to take on more financial commitments. Innovative providers are already developing and delivering some answers to these challenges, but we need a partner in government to provide flexibility and support.

The next group are those who are much later in their working life and are trying to navigate the transition between full-time work and retirement. Again, technology and huge changes in the job market are meaning that far too many people are leaving the job market earlier than they should if they received proper support. This is economic and social insanity, with 3.5 million people in the UK aged 50-64 leaving the workforce entirely, costing the UK economy tens of billions in productivity and tax revenues. Supporting people to stay in the job market longer means that they continue to contribute to the economy through their work and paying taxes and national insurance, rather than taking early pensions which inevitably aren’t enough for a fulfilling life. Changes to support this group could make a huge difference with the crisis in Britain around growth and productivity. The changes that are needed aren’t just educational support and keeping people skilled so they can contribute. We also need to ensure that there is flexibility in terms of working practices and also support for those who are starting to have health issues. One area that could so easily be changed is the ongoing difficulties with acquired hearing loss. Literally millions of people have their hearing deteriorate as the they get older. Many who are in their final years of work find it easier to retire earlier as they increasingly feel isolated at work and lose confidence. Integrated support across governmental departments could easily alleviate some of the challenges through lip-reading teaching for individuals and deaf-awareness training for colleagues, delivering years of additional productivity and personal fulfilment.

Finally, gone is the cliff-edge of retiring on your 65^th birthday like my grandad did, going from six-days a week work to nothing on one fateful day. Theoretically it was liberation and an exciting new chapter but the reality there was no preparation or support for this massive change. Endless doctor and hospital appointments and watching daytime television isn’t the glorious end of a long working life. Education does not just develop skills; it is about supporting wellbeing and community. Loneliness is a huge problem in this country across all ages but particularly acute for our older citizens. Education for older adults improves mental health, reduces isolation and delays the onset of age-related health conditions - saving billions for the chronically overstretched NHS. For those who want or need to keep working or volunteer, it opens doors to flexible, meaningful roles. Coming together to learn enriches lives and supports communities. Many can afford to fund this vital activity themselves, but for too many pensioners a lack of resources cuts off access to this life-enhancing activity. Is it right that education is the preserve of the well-off and those less fortunate get left out, as unfortunately they have been for most of their lives? Surely it better, and cheaper, for society if people are in a classroom rather than a doctor’s waiting room?

Age or life-stage are not the only determinates here, although they are important ones. Disadvantage and disability play across all age groups. If you haven’t had a good educational experience, for whatever reason, in earlier life, then the chance is that you won’t realise your potential at any point. City Lit’s work with Deaf and hard-of-hearing adults, adults with learning disabilities, people with dyslexia and those with a stammer or disfluency, has taught me that the right educational intervention at any point in life can have profound, positive and life changing results.

So, there you have it. Education is crucial for the young, but if we don’t start tackling the issue for learning for the whole of life, then we will be poorer as individuals and society, not just in terms of opportunity but in terms of GDP. The moving of adult education to DWP is an opportunity but also a threat if not used as a chance to rethink our relationship between education through life and society and the economy. The question is: will we seize the opportunity?