The implications for and impact of government policies on practice in the lifelong learning sector revolve around an on-going debate within this current coalition government. The debate is about education and training and about whether policy should be determined by ‘utilitarian’ or ‘liberal’ principles. The ‘utilitarian’ point of view justifies policies on the merits of their ‘usefulness’ to society as a whole, the employer or to the individual. Will these individuals be in the position after their training of gaining employment? Are the study programs useful to an employer? Such ethical validation relies on ‘a wide variety of variable outcomes. The ‘liberal’ traditions long established point of view perceives education as ‘an end in itself’. Fundamentally, as an example, evening education classes in Still Life study are supported as been inherently worthy. The National Institute of Continuing and Adult Education (NIACE) is a staunch advocate of this …show more content…
As a consequence, access to the public purse has only been successful for those courses of study/training that result in a qualification recognised by the Learning and Skills Council. The dramatic impact of this policy can be seen in the reduction of provision of ‘free’ adult education classes, and an increase in those vocational courses that survive by relying on fee-paying adults or have had to change their programme of study where the outcome leads to a recognise, largely certificated, and therefore publicly funded qualification. As a result, many adult education classes have merged into larger colleges or simply closed. In order to secure public funding, those that remain have often changed their learning programmes from leisure to certification