The increasing use of fees to pay for adult classes is a well-worn subject these days. But it now seems that you can’t even talk about adult education without having to reach for your cheque book, as Niace, the adult and continuing education body, has just discovered.
Eager to keep people up-to-speed with what is going on in post-19 education, Alan Tucket, the Niace director, organised a seminar at the Association of Colleges’ annual conference in Birmingham this week. That was, until the AoC said there would be a charge for holding the discussion.
The notion of fees tends to make Niace see red these days, so it cancelled the event.
It all seems a bit strange, considering the AoC itself recognises adult education is a burning issue. Still, at least this time we can’t blame the politicians for putting people off learning by charging fees.
