Adult skills funding increase only reverses a fraction of past cuts - Emma Beal

The total adult skills spending in 2024/25 will still be 23 per cent below 2009/10 levels. Spending on classroom-based adult education, in particular, during that time has fallen sharply.

Over the last decade we have seen significant reductions in the funding of courses for adults at further education colleges, which play a key role in their communities and economies.

Adults enrolled in nearly 5.5 million government-funded further education qualifications in 2004/5. That number had dropped to 1.5 million by 2020/21, representing a 72 per cent decline.

As an engine of social mobility, adult education has a pivotal role in narrowing geographic and social inequalities and addressing urgent skills gaps and shortages that are holding back the local and national economy.

It does this by enabling adults to retrain for new jobs and careers and supporting their wellbeing, giving learners the confidence to take those opportunities in the first place.

At Northern College, we understand what a big decision it is to return to studying as an adult. There are some key barriers that need to be overcome.

Those barriers include a lack of confidence, misplaced fears about being too old to learn, concerns about costs and exams, and juggling studying alongside other commitments.

We also know that once learners access the system, adult education changes lives and that this in turn not only benefits those individuals but their immediate and wider community.

As the only adult residential college in the North, we have a distinguished history of providing life changing opportunities to hundreds of learners every year.

Northern College is focussed on addressing socio-economic disadvantage. A significant proportion of our adult learners are from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and have additional learning needs.

Our aim is to prepare learners to return to education, gain employment or make a career change by providing residential learning and specialist support.

We offer a range of courses, from entry to higher level programmes, which enable adults from across Yorkshire and further afield to succeed regardless of their starting point.

Many of our learners have faced multiple barriers to education and skills development. Often, our students left school with few or no qualifications.

Some of our learners have suffered major setbacks including serving time in the criminal justice system, and health and mental health difficulties, thwarting their potential.

However, something magical happens when they step onto our beautiful and historic campus at Wentworth Castle, set within 60 acres of National Trust grounds. Our college provides short community courses and academic and vocational qualifications.

Short courses provide a stepping-stone to progress to the next level qualifications, and many of our students are eligible to study for free on some of our courses.

Core to Northern College is the chance for students to live on campus in our residential accommodation supported by our specialist adult teaching and support team.

Studying residentially provides an immersive experience, aids motivation, self-belief and achievement, and can bring about positive sustainable change.

Our students become part of an adult learning community where they enjoy building their confidence, developing new skills and gaining qualifications that enhance their future employment and career opportunities. Importantly, we give equal value to the development of students’ confidence and wellbeing as well as their knowledge and skills.

It is our belief that adult skills and progression into employment can also support wider outcomes such as social wellbeing and improved mental health.

The development of skills versus personal development shouldn't be positioned as either/or in terms of policy and funding. Adults need both to compete in a modern workforce yet they are often seen as two separate agendas with one valued higher than the other.

We know that it is never too late to learn but there needs to be wrap-around support to enable some adults, particularly those who have been disadvantaged, to reach their potential.

Lifelong learning is essential for our communities. Here at Northern College, we want to see it given the full recognition and longer term stability that it deserves.

Emma Beal is principal and chief executive of Northern College in South Yorkshire.