Graduate study
...nitiative which is managed by AoC. The AoC also mentions that the Basic Skills Agency (BSC) has produced a new set of standards and support materials with additional support for staff. To which fits in with the Kennedy agenda. The AoC also mentions that “measures are in place that will act as an incentive to learners” but then states that measures are not in place to measure the progress of students? Similar issues are viewed also by Anna Reisenberger, but Reisenberger talks about how funding and support is still dependent on where you live and how this was founded when Individual Learning Accounts were set up. Again there was no reference to evidence or statistics to back up this view. Reisenberger mentions and agrees with the AoC and with Judith Summers who noted (Adult Learning June 2002); We have advanced very little in identifying useful ways of measuring ‘learning gain’, or value-added outside the easily measured GCSE to A-level route. Reisenberger is not of the same opinion of that of the AoC in that although colleges appointed staff with different skills to deliver Basic Skills, there was no proper staff development or support programme to allow staff to co-ordinate strategies. Cowell agrees with Reisenberger in that, postcodes were adopted to target additional funds to providers, which recruited learners from poor communities. However the Learning Skills Council (LSC) has indicated that it intends to review whether the use of postcodes is the most effective way of targeting funds at social exclusion. Cowell also highlighted that post Kennedy education had a more collaborative approach towards the competitive market, in that it saw learning partnerships becoming more established and sharing information. This allowing partnerships to identify gaps and open community – training centres to deliver varied curriculum. Having read and studied the Kenndy Report over a year ago and finding out what ‘Widening Participation’ really meant to me as a teacher in Further Education. This has been a great opportunity for the researcher to draw upon other people’s views and opinions relating to this article. ‘Widening Participation’ means different things to different people ranging from; Wide-spread Wide-ranging Wide – reaching There is no single definition of widening participation and we have not tried to provide one, expression widening participation to denote activities to target the individual groups that Higher Education institutions under – represented WATT S. & MATTHEWS W. (2001) Research Findings from the key issues in the report Further Education and Training providers are going to have to recruit and retain more students from poorly represented social groups and help them to succeed if the governments learning targets are to be met in accordance to the National Audit Office. In agreement with this the Learning Skills Council (LSC) which states, that the best way to monitor and target these areas is to use the postcodes as these identify socially challenged areas. The Learning Skills Council still has not met its target for post 16 participation and there are still 100,000 young people who remain immune to post – compulsory learning. Trying to actually find this exact figure is not possible as the LSC has eight books on data. However it was easy to access local colleges own data and the National Audit Office on enrolment figures for post- 16 education. For qualifications to upto and including level NVQ 2 from ‘Widening Participation’ Targets 1998 Targets 2000 Targets 2002 National Audit Office 73.9% 75.3% 85% Preston College 20% 23% 25% Blackpool & Fylde Collge 21.1% 23% 28% From reading different reports on Recruitment and Retention from the above sources, funding was readily available at the beginning. But due to no way of being able to measure achievement in the area funding is becoming more difficult to claim. As Judith Summers noted ( Adult Learners June 2002), we have advanced very little in identifying useful ways of measuring “learning gain”, or value – added outside the easily measured GCSE to A- level route. However this could be argued as the LSC states that, “their mission is to raise participation and attainment through high – quality education and training which puts learners first”. All adults to learn and achieve to level 3 by 2010, as all adults need to be able to contribute to life in the 21st century and bring Britain in line with the world. LSC has set targets of 750.00 for Basic skills which means when broken down that 85% 0f 16-19 year olds will need to achieve to level 2 by 2004 and 19+ 55% to level 3 if targets are going to be met. These figures has been produced by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) Again this comes back to non exact figures as there is not in place or no way to measure accurately achievement. Why do all adults need to be educated to level 3? When reading retention rates this is not happening. The retention rates according to the National Audit Office has decreased by 7.9%. When researching to find out what groups of people fall into this category, a lot of social issues start to be highlighted. These ranged from financial hardship to childcare provision. Many researchers have done case studies with a diversity of different students all with social and economical issues. Drawing on criticism about the Kennedy Report and the idea that “ learning for all “ again bring us back to the Five Year on Report which highlights the theory that providers have a financial incentive to ensure that disadvantaged learners achieve. Palmer (2001) who carried out a case study involving student drop–out suggesting that policy response to student drop-out is not only down to financial hardship but also caused by colleges which ‘don’t care’. Palmer suggests and challenges that if colleges are going to improve retention it will need to improve deficiencies in the quality of guidance and teaching offered by colleges. But this brings us back to the Basic Skills Council (BSC) and basic skills. In that it could be argued that the Kennedy agenda said their would be a new set of standards for basic skills and to support this staff development would be offered and support and guidance also readily available. It’s of the opinion then that perhaps this is not being carried out in colleges and not being implemented. Again Cowell (2000) fears that “cash strapped” colleges are being hard hit for the increased costs of student dropout for widening participation learners. But on the other hand the opening of outreach centres is growing on a daily basis this has been possible by The Funding council which has made available a large amount of money to all further education sectors and trainers. This money was to enable outreach centres to open in the com...