Sign the FE funding petition
CALL founder organisation has launched a petition to the Prime Minister to defend the funding to FE in the face of cuts to both adult and 14-19 provision across the UK.
The petition says:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to protect and maintain funding for the vital services that Further Education provides.
You can sign the petition on the Number 10 website here: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FE-Funding/
Lessons from Lewisham
Patricia Richardson, Joint Chair of Grove Park User Group Committee has sent us an indepth account of her community groups struggle to defend adult education in Lewisham through the Mayor’s Commission on Libraries and Learning.
It is a tale of buck-passing and broken promises as local government, the Mayor’s office and national education policy failed to address the needs of an organised and vocal community.
Click the link below to read Patricia’s account in full.
CALL statement on adult education cuts at Tower Hamlets
In response to the announced cuts to adult education in Tower Hamlets, London CALL has issued a statement to the press urging all parties to defend the important services that serve some of London’s poorest and most disadvantages citizens.
Click below to read the full press release.
ESOL cuts in Tower Hamlets featured on BBC London
On Sunday the London Politics Show on BBC One featured an extended report on cuts to english language courses across the capital and in Tower Hamlets and Hackney in particular.
You can watch it for the next seven days on the BBC iPlayer, the report starts at 49 minutes.
“Don’t overlook adults’ passion for learning” - Blunkett
Writing in today’s Education Guardian David Blunkett, ex-Secretary of State for Education reflected on the creation of the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills:
“But the bigger challenge facing the new department is to trust people to make their own decisions about what they need to learn. That is the key message of Call, which has brought together over 200 organisations to make the case for the restoration of college- and community-based adult education provision by professionally trained teachers.”
Read the full article on the guardian’s website.
Cuts to Adult Education in London Colleges
CALL has learned that at least two colleges in London - Tower Hamlets and Hackney - are planning cuts to the adult education and ESOL departments including many redundancies.
UCU and Unison branches at both colleges have launched camapigns to defend the courses and that jobs of those that teach them, you can read statements from both by clicking “read the rest of this entry” below.
Understanding the “Learning Revolution”
The WEA have produced a very useful summary presentation on the recent Government white paper in informal adult learning “The Learning Revolution“.
The presentation looks at the key proposals in the white paper and asks some pertinent questions to whether the paper offers adequate solutions to the problems that adult education faces.
You can download the presentation here (ppt, 103kb) or by clicking the image on the right.
“A Right to a Voice”: ESOL for asylum seekers
In December NIACE launched a campaign called “A Right to a Voice” that aims to overturn the decision, in 2007, to withdraw the right for asylum seekers to access ESOL (English as a Second Language) courses in the first six months in the country.
CALL supports this campaign as part of its second core principle:
Universal access to basic skills, ESOL and ICT courses and a first level three qualification regardless of age.
Lots more information about the campaign can be found on the A Right to a Voice website.
New statistics show continued decline in adult education
Last week NIACE published the results of its annual survey of adult learning participation which shed further light on the impact of Government’s adult education policy. The survey has been covered widely in the press with the Government disputing its findings. You can read more here:
- Adult learning slump hits Labour heartland hardest, TES FE Focus, 8 May 2009.
- Adult learners ‘lowest since ‘97′, BBC News website, 8 May 2009.
- When a rise in numbers is actually a fall, Education Guardian, 12 May
Event: Defend Education, Defend Jobs: CALL gig (London)
Venue: The Cross Kings, 126 York Way, London N1 0AX
Date: 23rd May, evening.
Cost: £5, £3 concessions. All proceeds to CALL.
Featuring: Motiv, Radio Revolucion, The Amigans, UCU All Stars, Matt Dolphin, the Carbon Town Cryer, DJ Sonic Truth and Bard Stupid.
Organised by the UCU branches at Community Education Lewisham, Hackney Community College and Lambeth College.
Download the event’s flyer here (.doc, 231kb).
