Budget 2012 – what does it hold for adult learners?

Posted on December 06, 2011 at 03:24 PM

Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn

Following weeks of speculation, yesterday the coalition government revealed a range of public spending cuts, which will affect a wide range of groups in society. As everyone tries to come to terms with the impact of the cuts, here are some thoughts on how the budget will affect adult learners or people thinking of returning to education.

In terms of adult education, it is encouraging to see a commitment to the role of education and training for adults as a response to the unemployment issue. Although the establishment of SOLAS is being greeted with some cynicism, it has to be said that efforts to co-ordinate education and training, cut down on duplication and make sure that people are fasttracked into education and training are long overdue. The announcement of €20 million for a new call of Labour Market Activation Measures early next year is also welcome. A recent evaluation report highlights some of the learnings from last year's experience of providers involved in this initiative and should inform how this fund is allocated. With greater awareness, adult guidance and collaboration of information providers, this initiative has the potential to offer a number of exciting training opportunities to people particularly at the lower end of the skills scale, leading to progression, enhanced employment prospects and enterprise development. The commitment to pursue and resource the literacy strategy launched by the Minister earlier this year is welcome and necessary.

Supports for adult learners

On the worrying side, the budget will again chisel away at the supports available to adult learners. While LMA courses and the recent Springboard initiative offer valuable free training to participants, we know that adults require additional supports in order to stay with the course. These supports range from subsidies for childcare and transport, right through to adult guidance and study skills. These supports ultimately are vital to ensure that adults pick the right course and stick with it - at a time when resources are scarce this is crucial. In this context the cut to the Back to Education Allowance is particularly damaging to adult learners - reducing the annual cost of education allowance from €500 to €300. This represents yet another blow to mature students on BTEA- following on the loss of the maintenance grant two years ago (Budget 2010). In the meantime, mature students who qualify for the maintenance grant will have to deal with an additional cut to the grant of 3%. The general impact of the increase in student contribution fee on third level students has been well articulated by USI. While those on BTEA may have that contribution met on their behalf by the Exchequer, adults seeking to finance their own third level education on a part time basis may find that option increasingly unaffordable.

Postgraduate grants

While the issue of grants to postgraduates was flagged in advance of the budget, this decision must be questioned at a time when there are few employment opportunities for graduates, and an increasing need for high skilled workers. As one student commented yesterday 'I've no problem in principle to cut of postgraduate grant but without a structured student loan system it will be a barrier to education.'

Capitation cuts

As is the case each year, the devil is in the detail, and more specific information about the impact of the cuts will emerge over the coming weeks. Capitation grants for further education programmes will be reduced by 2% in each 2012 and 2013 with further reductions after that. This cut, along with the rationalisation and restructuring of VECs will place an extremely stretched adult education service under increasing pressure.

To read more about Education in Budget 2012 click here.

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