To think night classes don't seem to exist anymore?

[Mongrelsrbeautiful]

Will soon have more time on my hands and have been looking at local colleges. What's happened to night classes? In the past you could do anything from cake decorating to Italian, to car maintenance. There seems to be nothing going on for adults in my area. Are night classes a thing of the past?

I'm going to volunteer though, so won't have oodles of time - I just like to be busy and challenged. Volunteering can lead to learning opportunities, especially in conservation. But only recommended if you're relatively fit and actually interested in it.

On that basis they wouldn't be providing parks, leisure centres, swimming pools, libraries, etc. The idea used to be that councils would provide a lot of things for general well-being, so that people weren't deterred by cost of living worries from doing the things that contribute to mental health and wellbeing.

Apologies to those for whom the WEA search tool came up short! I just remember that, years ago, it could be quite a good way of finding evening classes on quite a range of subjects. But times change, I guess.

But should I as a taxpayer be funding something for someone just because it’s fun?
Surely Local Authorities are there to provide essential services, not to subsidise me doing art or pottery or a dance class.

imo yes. There’s lots of benefits to this sort of thing. People lose sense of community, mental health affected. We are told to learn to keep our minds active as we get older but not much option.

Liverpool seems to have a few things at least but agree not as much as before.

WEA doesn’t have anything in Manchester or Liverpool as far as I could see.

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

i know it’s not the same but there’s a great app called Bright BSL that could be a decent start.

if there’s a deaf centre in your area might be worth asking there.

Don't apologise for trying to be helpful. Unfortunately it just proves OPs point.

It would be interesting to know if there are still plenty of classes in your old search area though, as a comparison.

They used to fund these kind of classes in respite centres etc - so day centres where people with disabilities who were being cared for by family members could go so the family members got some respite.

So my mum used to teach general sewing and crafts in various day centres for about 10 years.

Then there came the requirement that the students should progress onto vocational qualifications (and most of the students were fairly elderly and very disabled as otherwise they wouldn't have qualified for the respite) which was a nonsense.

Then they just shut the respite centres, and so if you are caring for a family member with a severe disability now you just don't get any respite (or maybe they pay you a tiny amount of money and you are supposed to arrange it yourself).

Yes I remember the leaflets through the door

I did an Italian course and a sewing one in the day in the early 00s.

I agree with people being used to doing things online now.

There's very little where I live beyond basic maths and English lessons for adults. There are no maths & English GCSE classes for anyone who wants to progress past the basics.

There seems to be a lot u3a in my area. Book clubs, art talks, learning Spanish, singing.

But think I’d feel out of place as they all seem much older. Definitely a gap in provision in between 16-19 and over 55 it seems.

@Rummikub@MereDintofPandiculation I agree that there should be community activities. I just think a a class with professional teaching simply for hobbyists is a waste of money, given the amount of videos on the internet for virtually every subject you can think of. And if you want to keep your mind active + have all the free time in the world what better way than figuring it out yourself, with the help of the 'community'?

We have a local cafe/community centre that hosts gatherings for crafters, artists, motor enthusiasts, book clubs, whatever. All the council pays for is the space and the group 'leads' use free apps like FB to manage. I don't see what added value having classes bring when that money could be put to better use.

Our local "tech" is now completely closed from about 4pm. In the past friends and I have gone in the evening for adult A levels, accounting qualifications, HR professional exams, pottery, art and dressmaking, beauty, hairdressing and nail tech.
Since covid it's just shut up - there's no fun courses anymore even in the daytime

I think it is still worthwhile. I think that learning with others is a different experience.

I have always studied science and decided to do something creative/ art based. It changed how I view the world and it was great to learn from others. I paid for these courses. Im
not suggesting they should be free but accessible.

I also see that adults come to try something and it potentially leads to different directions. It’s less scary to take a small step.

I guess my POV is that learning is good and has an impact that may not be apparent immediately.

Where I am it’s the academic subjects that have been decimated. Cake decoration or business studies, yes. French, no. I remember when you could study modern Greek to A level at the local college as a night class!

I’m lucky and live close to a city centre so there are cultural institutions like universities, instituto Cervantes, etc., as well as plenty of opportunities for arts and crafts, etc., on tap. And of course you can learn anything online. But all of these cost more than studying at the local colleges used to. Continuous learning - other than for subjects that are leading to a limited range of vocational qualifications - comes at a higher cost.

I hate learning online. Hate it. It also assumes you have the technology to support it. I did a course during lockdown but I only had a tablet which didn’t have a microphone, so they couldn’t hear me. Whole thing was very frustrating

They assume that you have the equipment, yes. Most structured online education courses that I’ve seen state the minimum requirements in terms of tech hardware and software, as well as individual student ability, in their T&C’s. I agree that it is a potential barrier to accessing learning for some but I’m not convinced that it is a barrier once you’ve been accepted. Chances are you applied to the course having ticked the T&C’s which stated you would meet the minimum requirements.

Our local WI is a vibrant younger group (mostly 40s - I'm one of the older ones 😉) - it's very much not jam & jerusalem! We have speakers come in on a variety of topics and the committe members have a long list of contacts by topic. Might your local WI be a point of contact for the topic you're interested in?

I work at a College who used to do loads of this but we don’t anymore. These classes were dwindling pre Covid and not financially viable but during Covid there wasn’t a demand for online as people seemed to like the community aspect (plus a lot really needed to be physical by their nature) and the demand never came back in a way that makes them worth running

Meant to add people who did want to study stuff on line like Spanish etc could find better courses for free easily on the internet

The key is to keep them running even if take up is low initially. People will come back but not if you keep cancelling

I used to do loads of different classes but I lived in London then and there was so much to choose.

I had a look around locally and there really isn't much I'd want to do here. But then again, thanks to this thread I have just enrolled in two OpenLearn course and finally contacted my local bell ringing group! So thank you OP for starting this.

Bit late to the thread but depending on the area of north east I know Darlington, Stockton and Middlesbrough still do evening classes.

https://www.slss.ac.uk/courses/course-finder/

https://www.mcls.ac.uk/courses/

https://www.darlington.gov.uk/education-and-learning/learning-skills/adult-learning/

https://darlington.ac.uk/adults/upcoming-adult-courses/

They’re a thing in my area. so far I’ve done Tiling and carpentry. Next jan I start advanced cookery, plastering, bricklaying, cushion making and floristry.

Schools don't offer adukt education classes either.

I did my adult literacy and numeracy 12 years ago through a school. They don't seem to exist now.