Learners over the age of 65 need more opportunities for learning

Monday, 30 January 2012

In a report published recently, The impact of adult community learning on the wellbeing of older learners, Estyn concludes that learners over the age of 65 do not have enough access to education or skills development opportunities that would help to improve their quality of life.

The 15 adult community learning (ACL) partnerships across Wales provide lifelong learning for older leaners in the community. But, because the emphasis is on developing skills for employment, this does not suit much older learners, who are more interested in enrichment activities at their stage of life. These activities could be courses in hobby or craft skills or courses that help them to live a healthy life and maintain their wellbeing.

Ann Keane, Chief Inspector said, “Adult community learning partnerships have played an important role in supporting unemployed older learners between 50 and 65 years old find work by helping them to build their confidence, improve their skills and find employment.

However, there are not enough learning opportunities for learners who are over the age of employment. These much older learners want to carry on learning because it helps them to stay active and independent and enables them to get together regularly with other members of the local community.

It is vital that the ACL partnerships review and broaden the range of courses on offer particularly for those over 70 years old, in order to encourage these much older learners to continue learning in the community.”

Estyn also found failures in collaboration between education, health and social services to support wellbeing into old age and an absence of a clear strategy by Welsh Government departments and local authorities to meet the needs of a growing older population.

In its report, the inspectorate outlines a series of recommendations such as calls for ACL partnerships to review the type of courses on offer and how they assess the achievements of older learners. Local authorities are urged to ensure that local service boards improve their use of the ACL partnership in delivering lifelong learning and joined up services for older people.

The Welsh Government is encouraged to improve joint working across departments and gather and assess data more effectively.

The inspectorate has included a number of case studies in the appendices of the report which showcase a number of successful projects which are being run by ACL partnerships across Wales.