The number of learners taking part in evening classes has declined by around 50 per cent in the past 10 years, analysis by Tes has shown.
The exclusive data shows that in 2009-10, almost 93,000 students were enrolled in an evening class at one of the 52 colleges surveyed. The same 52 colleges recorded around 45,000 students enrolled in classes for 2019-20 at the point the survey took place – prior to the outbreak of coronavirus.
The number of courses being offered at those 52 colleges has also declined: dropping from 8,027 in 2009-10 to 5,526 in 2019-20, a decrease of 31 per cent.
Background: Adult learners drop to 20-year low
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Mike Hopkins, principal of South and City College Birmingham, said that their reduction in evening classes was down to funding.
He said: "We reduced our evening and weekend classes substantially when the adult funding was cut and the rules on funding changed, as part of the austerity measures. We have seen no increase in funding in seven years. There does not appear to be any intention to increase it.
"Adult funding rates are 60 per cent of [those for 16- to 18-year olds] but young adults are provided with the same education and training in the same classes as 16- to 18-year-olds. We would definitely re-introduce evening classes if there was funding to do so."
Ian Pryce, principal of Bedford College, told Tes that ultimately the way in which adults want to learn has changed.
While in his own college, courses and learners have actually increased in the past 10 years – a 174 per cent rise in classes and a 84 per cent rise in learners – he said this was down to a rise in ESOL, basic maths and English courses, and an increased offer of short, 12-week classes.
He said: “This notion that we stopped doing this because of funding, that’s just not the case. We don’t have queues of people coming to our building saying are you running these evening classes? The demand doesn't seem to be there.“People don’t want to give up a whole year to learn something in bite-sized hours, they’d rather blitz it.”
Overall, 122 colleges responded to Tes’ freedom of information request. Of these, 28 colleges did not offer evening classes at all in 2009-10, and 42 colleges did not hold data from this period.
In 2019-20, 91 colleges were offering evening classes, and had enrolled 84,441 students. However, 31 colleges were not offering evening classes.
The data obtained also gave an important insight into the accessibility of FE provision in the evening. It showed 47 per cent of the colleges either closed at or before 9pm, and 41 per cent of institutions closed at or before 10.30pm. Just 3 per cent of colleges closed at or before 5pm.
Are colleges adapting to consumer behaviour?
Mr Pryce said Bedford stopped offering 34-week long GCSE language courses years ago because of cuts in funding, and instead, the college began to offer courses that were 12 weeks long and did not offer any GCSEs.
He said: “When we asked them, they said it’s great now because I just want to learn conversational Spanish, I don’t care about a GCSE. Now I don’t have to sit an exam and I can do it in 12 weeks, rather than 34.”
Pryce said that colleges could be doing more – but that it was very hard to meet people’s expectations.
He said: “People want luxury these days: people want to learn to cook at a lovely place in the country or at a local restaurant, they don’t want to be coming into a college canteen. It’s very hard for us to meet that sort of provision because it’s not central to what we do.
“There is a legitimate criticism of colleges: are we adapting to consumer behaviour? But it’s hard to do that when the reality is that we have big buildings that cover a lot of stuff, and those buildings will never be free during the day, so it’s always going to be a case of using buildings that have been used all day by 16-year-olds.”
Further investment to drive lifelong learning is needed
The Learning and Work Institute's adult participation survey in 2019 recorded the lowest participation rate since the survey began. Just one third of adults said that they had participated in learning during the previous years, and 38 per cent said they had not done any learning since leaving full-time education.
Joe Dromey, deputy director of research and development at the institute said that Tes' figures were a real cause for concern.
He said: "Lifelong learning has huge benefits, from helping people progress in work, to improving health and wellbeing and building social connections. Evening classes can be a fantastic opportunity for adults to engage in learning, pursue their passion and develop their skills.
"The figures form part of a broader picture. The Learning and Work Institute's adult participation survey shows that there has been a decade of decline in the number of adults taking part in learning, with 4 million lost learners since 2010.
"The government is developing a National Skills Fund which aims to level up skills across the country. We need to ensure that it is well targeted at boosting participation, and we need further investment to drive lifelong learning."
Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes says that it is clear that budget cuts have led to a sharp decline overall in adult learners.
He said: “Evening provision still exists but is smaller in volume and many of the ‘leisure’ courses, so popular for evening programmes, have significantly decreased in number. If we want to meet the needs of adults wanting to up skill, re-skill or even take a course for social or mental health support reasons, we need to ensure that provision is flexible and meets local demand.
“AoC would welcome policy changes and funding to accompany it which allows for the most responsive and flexible provision. There is absolute consensus from the sector along with the Independent Commission on the College of the Future that attitudes to lifelong learning need to shift to ensure not only learners, but employers and the economy are strengthened as well.”
