157 Group proposes learning accounts with real value
23rd November 2010
For immediate release: Tuesday 23 November
2010 157 Group proposes learning accounts with real value
---BEGINS---
The 157 Group has published a policy paper setting out its vision for a system of accounts that could help provide people with access to learning in a system that reflects learner and employer demand. The paper, Learning accounts that count, argues that institutional funding should be based on the choices of learners, rather than on centralised planning, and that wherever possible those benefiting from further education should make a contribution to it.
Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group, said, "As the further education sector faces severe cuts in public funding, we recognise that the future will increasingly involve co-financing from individuals and employers alike. We believe that priorities should be based on the informed choices of individual learners and employers, and that funding should follow learners, not government contracts, in a genuinely demand-driven system. Colleges and providers must be allowed to choose what courses they offer, and learners must be empowered to exercise their choice by using education subsidies in the form of learning accounts, which can be used only to pay for learning.
"We welcome the government's proposal to offer every adult a Lifelong Learning Account, as mentioned in its newly published Skills for Sustainable Growth strategy document. To achieve maximum benefit, however, we believe that a learning account must include a voucher that represents real value to the individual. We do not believe that virtual accounts, such as the skills accounts piloted by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), will encourage individuals to contribute and participate in the same way. There is a danger that they would be viewed merely as an alternative way of managing public funding, with additional bureaucracy and no obvious benefit."
---ENDS---
---NOTES TO EDITORS---
The policy paper is available to download in PDF format from the 157 Group website at http://www.157group.co.uk/files/learning_accounts_that_count.pdf
---About the 157 Group---
The 157 Group represents 28 of the most influential colleges in the FE sector. It was formed in 2006 in response to paragraph 157 of Sir Andrew Foster's report on the future of further education colleges, in which he argued that principals of large successful colleges should play a greater role in policymaking.
---CONTACT---
Gemma Knott 07581 354 750
Email [email protected]
The 157 Group Limited
P O Box 58147
London
SW8 9AF
Website: www.157group.co.uk
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