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Further and adult education get better and better, say students

27 June 2006

UCU has welcomed the publication of a new survey which shows that nine out of ten students in further education are satisfied with their learning experience.

The National Learner Satisfaction Survey for 2004/5 shows 90% of learners in further education are 'extremely', 'fairly' or 'very satisfied', along with 93% in further education delivered by adult learning providers, and 94% in non-accredited adult and community learning.

The rates are the highest in the four years since the survey, by the Learning and Skills Council began.

The survey also showed more learners than ever in further education colleges are satisfied with the quality of teaching they receive - 27% said they were 'extremely' satisfied with it, 39% 'very' satisfied, and 24% 'fairly' satisfied. Learners rated all aspects of teaching in further education as having improved since the previous year (2003/4). FE teachers were strongly applauded for making their subjects interesting and enjoyable for learners, and for the quality and availability of training materials they used.

Teachers in adult and community learning were also rated as having improved in every aspect of their work. They were rated particularly highly for the quality and availability of training materials, making the subjects interesting and enjoyable, and for their lesson planning.

Barry Lovejoy, UCU head of colleges, said: 'Students are the best judges of teachers' work and this is a resounding 'yes' vote from the many thousands who took the time to fill out this survey.

'UCU's 43,000 members in further education and adult learning are clearly doing their jobs very well and as such, should be properly rewarded. We are currently balloting on an improved pay offer for further education teachers for 2006/7 but we also call on the 57% of colleges who have failed to implement a previous very significant pay deal to take note of these impressive results.'

UCU's ballot on an improved pay offer for further education teachers opens on Thursday June 29 and closes on Friday 14 July.

Last updated: 15 December 2015

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