Unusually for a Government document, the draft White Paper on Adult Education is scathing about the record of successive administrations in relation to the sector. State attention and investment in adult education have been both paltry and inadequate until recently, it says.
The Government sees the publication of the White Paper, the first in the State's history on adult education, as a hugely significant initiative; it marks the adoption of lifelong learning as the governing principle of educational policy, according to the draft. The Government pays tribute to the highly creative and talented people who have worked to pioneer adult education, often without much in the way of State support.
It cites official figures indicating that in 1996-97 some 87,000 adult students participated in self-financed part-time education in VEC schools, and a further 47,000 took such classes in community and comprehensive schools.
Given the plethora of other courses in other schools/colleges it may be that even these figures underestimate the level of participation in adult education. Despite the clear demand, there has been the sense that the sector has had to muddle through with inadequate resources and an inadequate level of national co-ordination. The Government's aim is to provide a more streamlined situation in which the new National Adult Learning Council directs the whole provision of adult education, working through the new Local Adult Education Council. It also envisages much more active State intervention in community-based education. The White Paper comes after a lengthy consultation process by the educational partners, which eventually led to the publication of a Green Paper last year.
It also follows commitments made in the National Development Plan and the new national pay deal to substantially upgrade the provision of adult education.
For most adults pursuing part-time further education the benefits should become apparent in better and brighter premises, a wider range of courses and course-providers (courses will no longer have to self-financing) and, in computer training, much more modern equipment. However, most adults will still have to pay fees. The draft says that in many cases these are paid by employers, and it would make little sense to abolish them.
The Government says it can best reach the most educationally disadvantaged groups by ensuring that fees will not apply to those who are social welfare recipients, medical-card holders or those pursuing a first degree. Indeed, the drive for social inclusion forms an integral part of the White Paper.
In framing its policy, the Government says it has particular concerns about the need to encourage four groups in particular to return to education. These are people with literacy problems; those who have not completed second-level education; those on social welfare; and those on low incomes.
The draft also reflects concern about the low educational attainment of many Irish adults when compared with other industrialised nations. It says unacceptably high levels of underachievement and drop-out from second-level schools continue.
In the draft the Government also expresses its wish that those who have not completed second level should have the opportunity to pursue their training/education through a parallel or alternative route up to and including higher education.
The draft is implicitly critical of the third-level sector for its failure to provide the kind of flexible induction courses which would attract mature students who have little educational attainment.
The Government is clearly hoping that the new £30 million mature student programme will make the third-level sector more responsive to the needs of these adults.