UCU Adult Learning Conference 30 April Birkbeck College
INTRODUCTION
•	Pleased to speaking at 1st major event organised by the UCU Public Policy Department
•	Pleased to see so many people share UCU’s passion for adult learning
•	Pleased to be at Birkbeck the UK’s premiere Higher Education institution for adult learning, and especially part time learning. Birkbeck been strong supporter in the battle to reverse iniquitous Govt. Policy of ELQs
•	Pleased to be able to preset to you all UCU draft policy on adult learning. Key component in setting out UCU’s education policies prior to next Election
•	This event also one of UCU's contributions to CALL campaign and the vision document when finalised UCU's submission to NIACE commissioned Inquiry into Lifelong Learning
WHY ADULT LEARNING IMPT
- to UCU: 
•	Because adult learning takes place in every sector of post compulsory education and training represented by UCU – HE, FE, non and informal adult learning, prison education. 
•	In HE institutions such as Birkbeck and OU as well as the now much beleaguered continuing ed dept In FE colleges providing not only up and re skilling for adults but essential 2nd chances for adults disadvantaged by previous education experiences 
•	In adult and community learning services responding not just to individual and community needs but also providing the mortar of community cohesion through and the place where adults have been able to pursue develop their cultural and learning interests without being on a qualification tread mill
•	That passion for adult learning a thread that runs through and unites all UCU’s members, work and policies
•	UCU members are at the heart of adult learning. Their knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and commitment that makes adult learning in this country so exciting and significant to so many. Without UCU members would have been and would not be any significant adult learning.  
- to trade union and labour movt
•	Adult education was and still is working class education and adult learning is a trade union issue
•	Adult learning been at the heart of trade unions, the labour, radical and progressive and radical social movements and organisations for over 200 years. Not for nothing did Trade union banners proclaim ‘Agitate, Educate and Organise’  Institutions eg Ruskin Birkbeck trained union activists and leaders. Many FE colleges and post 92 universities roots in self organised Mechanic Institutes. FE trade union study centres at heart of recent developments in trade union education. Success of largely unsung Union learning reps and Unionlearn refreshed and revived trade union education often using approach and methods pioneered by WEA  and local authority adult education in 1970s and 80s.
•	The draft Vision document section on the history of adult learning sets out how adult learning grew out of working class communities and when Govt in the Informal adult learning white paper extols the position of self-organised adult learning and almost virtually ignores the contribution of teachers and lecturers in non formal adult learning, it is important to reclaim this  radical history for progressive movements
•	Until universal secondary education class adult education the place where the working class continued their education and learning, gaining the skills they needed for work and being able to pursue their cultural and intellectual interests and talents. The recent acclaimed play the Pitman Painters showed how a WEA class for miners in the North East led to the creation of a whole school of British art in the 30s
- to society
•	Because of demography. UK an ageing society. 
o	Numbers of 16 years old started 10 year decline in numbers from 2009. 
o	Growing numbers of over 60s because of ‘bulge’ generation now hitting retirement. 
o	70% of workforce in 2020 now adults. 
o	Ageing population and potentially declining workforce impacts not just on work and employment, but also on society and the family 
o	Means adult learning no longer an  educational after-thought but one of the means by which the state, employers and individuals address the problems and issues raised by a changing and ageing population
•	Because of technological change and globalisation.
o	World changing at ever faster rate. 
o	Work, communications, personal and family circumstances changing 
o	People need to be equipped to deal with impact on work and the rest of their lives
o	Technological change and globalisation also going to impact on teaching and learning in positive and negative ways
•	Because of economics
o	Part of UCU vision is a corrective to government’s increasing use and reliance on economic rationales for adult learning but that not to say that there are no such rationales
o	UK traditionally been low skill low wage economy. Can no longer be this as developing countries coming into global economy.
o	UK always relied on voluntary efforts of employers in respect of vocational and workplace training in contrast to many international competitors. Again can no longer do so.
o	Adult learning underpinned by legislation around employment interests rather than just employer interests essential if UK going to maintain never mind improve its international economic position.
•	Because of social inclusion and cohesion:  
o	UK society constructed along profound divisions of wealth, class, gender, race and ethnicity, age and perceived mental and physical abilities leading lead to even greater individualism, atomisation and alienation. 
o	The UK is going through a period of profound widespread social change. Increasing diversity and fragmentation of experiences and institutions, of changing identities, loyalties and aspirations.
o	 All of this can lead to despair and a sense of hopelessness for many, especially when this is associated with multiple deprivations. Many feel themselves excluded from mainstream life and culture. Society is becoming increasingly and simultaneously both atomised and polarised. Social and community divisions become sharper and more intractable.  
o	Civic inclusion and cohesion have taken an increasingly high profile in government policies and discourses.  
o	Adult learning is increasingly seen as a valuable tool in the furtherance of policies aimed at developing social inclusion and cohesion. 
o	Adult learning can foster a critical and informed engagement with social, political and moral issues, and support the development of a tolerant, participative democracy for all citizens and communities. 
o	Significantly helps to develop peoples’ skills, orientations and confidence to navigate the risks, uncertainties and ambiguities of contemporary life. 
o	Can constitute a key resource in enabling people to participate in the shaping of society and to take advantage of social change rather than being its victims	
WHY ADULT LEARNING ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT NOW
•	Because central to many government policies, even if it is described in ever narrower economic terms and still around marketisation and privatisation policies
•	Recent government policies have resulted in the charging fees for ESOL whilst acknowledging that it is essential for integration and cohesion, loss of 1.4m adult learners over last 2 years and not just from so-called recreational classes, destruction of ELQ programmes and higher education continuing education departments by removal of funding
•	Adult learning essential part of lifelong learning and characteristic of civilised society. 
•	Adult learning an essential human right 
•	Current recession makes adult learning even more important 
o	to finally modernise UK industry in line with international competitors
o	to re-skill increasing numbers of unemployed
o	to up-skill long tail of UK educational underachievement represented by 7m adults without basic literacy, 14m without functional numeracy and 40% of current workforce without level 2 qualifications
o	But adult learning during a recession not just about jobs and skills, also about keeping people engaged in learning and society to maintain their self-confidence and self-esteem. As the Bible puts it ‘man cannot live by bread alone’
o	Adult learning essential feature of community cohesion which will the recession will put under even greater stress. Must avoid as in previous recessions of developing communities of disadvantage with generations of unemployment and despair.
WHY UCU HAVE PRODUCED ITS ADULT LEARNING VISION NOW
•	To put forward and lead on an alternative vision of adult learning to the Government’s concept of adult learning which is narrow and focused largely on economic justifications
•	A vision that sees adult learning as active radical processes of teaching and learning, focused around to access to high quality learning as it is needed, by whom it is needed, when it is needed in whatever mode or setting; access to a comprehensive curriculum that is not limited in breadth or depth of the learning
•	Of an adult learning which is based on a partnership between teachers and students and learners
•	Of an adult learning which central  to economic, social and civic regeneration, and even more so in the current recession
•	Our vision is particularly relevant as we move to what will be a crucial General Election which may well shape the UK for generations; where the future of public services will be in the balance as the Government whoever it is will be looking at massive and probably unprecedented cuts in public services including all aspects of education.
•	UCU’s vision for not just adult learning but all forms of post-compulsory learning must be set out to rally UCU members to defend their work and the services in which they work.
VISION CONTENT
•	Not been a easy task to produce this Vision that can encompass the broad sweep of adult learning that UCU members deliver. 
•	Yes it is long and detailed Perhaps too long but I believe that it gives us the basis to go forward with a confidence in what we believe in and what we are fighting for.
•	The opening section gives a short list of fundamental principles on which this Vision is based. 
•	Goes on to give some definitions of adult learning. Particularly important given that the Government is sloppy in the way it defines adult learning EG its latest White Paper on informal adult learning which manages to define that in such a way as to ignore and pretty much not mention the role of taught adult learning and the teachers who deliver it
•	Vision rather than going through the particular contributions that each sector in which UCU members work makes, has hung this vision around some fundamental  concepts which are also central to UCU its members and its policies
•	These concepts 
o	empowerment that is giving people the knowledge, skills and understanding, the tools to try to take more control over their lives
o	equality and diversity that is society is based on unequal power held by different groups. Adult learning must and does challenge It must challenge the expected norms and power relationships by offering adult learners opportunities to acquire, build and deploy knowledge, skills and attitudes to undertake this.
o	democracy and accountability: adult education is public good and should fully supported by public funding. In doing so it must be built on and strengthen democratic structures to allow those who deliver and receive it a say in its running and delivery. It must be fully accountable  to the people and communities it purports to serve
•	These concepts are then worked through a series of key cross-cutting themes which can be applied the whole spectrum of adult learning no matter where or how it is delivered.
•	The vision then finished with some detailed steps and demands that if fulfilled would put us on the road to seeing this vision put into practice.
ROLE OF PRACTITIONER
•	Want to spend some time on role of the practitioner in adult learning.
•	Right and proper for this to be done at this event and in this vision for who else but UCU will undertake this. 
•	Especially important as Government seems to want to present concepts of adult learning  that write out the teacher
•	It is our conviction that our Vision of adult learning has the teacher and organiser at its core. Indeed we believe that not only is the teacher essential for any meaningful adult learning to take place but that without the teacher many of key current curriculum developments would not have taken place.
•	Without adult education teachers, lecturers and organisers building on long standing traditions of radical and active adult learning such programmes as adult literacy numeracy ESOL Family Learning Access to Higher Education would not now be central to the adult mainstream curriculum. These teachers haven’t just met learning needs but have articulated them, given them coherence and developed materials, approaches and teaching methods that have made significant contributions to individuals, communities and to the creation and transmission of knowledge, understanding and skills.
•	Our vision of adult learning sees the practitioner as a professional. 
•	Indeed carries a dual professionalism – a professionalism about their subject area and a professionalism about the practice of teaching and especially teaching adults
•	Teaching adults is different than teaching children and young people because adult students and learners come to the process as full people with lifetimes of experiences and knowledge including for many poor previous educational experiences . 
•	This means adult learning can often be an untidy process with stops and starts as students’ and learners’ lives often interfere with their studies. 
•	Adult learning therefore needs to flexible and plastic, able to mould itself to the changing circumstances of their students lives
•	This makes adult learning a reciprocal process. 
•	The teacher and the student both can learn from the process of active adult learning
•	The teacher obviously has the knowledge, understanding, and skills that the student is looking for.
•	The students’ experiences and contribution to teaching and learning can often transform the teachers’ understanding of their subject
•	This makes adult learning a challenging and stimulating experience. To undertake to the highest professional standards adult education teachers and workers need:
o	A workforce that reflects the diversity of the students it teaches and the communities it serves
o	Proper salaries that recognise and reward their knowledge, expertise and commitment.
o	Salaries that recruit and retain the very best teachers for adult learning
o	Conditions of service that recognise the additional work in developing suitable and useable materials, that recognise the additional duties that adult learning may require to support its students properly and responsibly
o	Workloads that allow for high quality teaching but also for development, subject updating and refreshment and for reflection.
o	Opportunities  and  entitlements for training and development within existing workloads that meet the needs and aspirations of adult learning teachers 
CONCLUSIONS
•	Commend this Vision to you.
•	Emphasise this is a process that has not yet finished
•	Value your comments and perceptions of what has been produced
•	Welcome your ideas and suggestions of how it can be used and what kind of formats might be most useful to UCU members and yourselves
•	Look forward to working with you so this Vision can be realised.