Adult education courses to focus on skills and knowledge for employment

Kent County Council (KCC) is considering its response to a national change in funding rules for Adult Education by the Department for Education (DfE).

The new Adult Skills Fund will support learners to gain skills which will lead them to meaningful, sustained, and relevant employment, or enable them to progress to further learning which will deliver that outcome. KCC will no longer be able to use money from the Adult Skills Fund to subsidise courses for which the primary purpose is leisure.

Kent's Adult Education will have an increased focus on core subjects, helping Kent residents to improve their employment prospects, health, and wellbeing, and to equip parents and carers with the skills to support their children's learning.

By adapting its delivery model, KCC's Adult Education service will be better able to deliver the priorities set out in the Local Skills Improvement Plan, which aims to narrow skills gaps and match courses to the needs of local people.

The funding changes will come into effect from Thursday, August 1, 2024, but staff will continue to support learners whose courses will no longer be subsidised as KCC prepares for the switch-over.

KCC's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Rory Love, said: "Helping Kent residents develop the skills and knowledge they need for the jobs to which they aspire is at the very heart of what our adult education service is all about.

"Learning is a lifelong skill that can benefit people in so many ways, from having the confidence to go for that next job, to being better able to support children in their own education.

"There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained, whether by learning a new language, strengthening English, maths, or digital skills, or by improving wellbeing by taking one of our creative or fitness courses.

"The proposed changes are needed for our Adult Education service to meet the requirements of new funding rules from the Department for Education."