to be shocked at the demise of adult education?

[Goldfsh]

Now I have an empty nest, I was hoping to start some adult education classes in academic topics that interest me, e.g. history or literature.

Having contacted the two local colleges who used to drop brochures for adult classes through the door, I've learnt that they don't exist any more!

There are some online classes, or courses to get back into work, and some painting type classes - or U3A if you are semi-retired (I am far from that unfortunately!). But no general education classes.

I found this very depressing. I really wanted to learn something new and connect with local people too. AIBU to be shocked that these sorts of classes are a thing of the past?

Apologies - I was agreeing with the PP about OpenLearn. Yes, it's an online option.

Have you said where you're based? Or if you can only study in the evening? An organisation I rate highly is https://theartssociety.org/events and you just turn up and get lectured at. (Sometimes, IIRC, online options are also available.) But they're generally daytime.)

Otherwise, as PP have said, joining local history societies, book groups, museum event listings, etc. might help.

To be fair, adult education never led to qualifications that got you a job, did they? I guess maybe something like chef training maybe? You’d do that on the job now

75% of the people when I have been living for the past decade would not be literate enough to read the brochures for these classes anymore. No exaggeration.

For all I know though such classes are offered in Bangla and Urdu. Those are the principal languages I receive leaflets in.

I'm in the south west. That website gives me an error if I try to search by town or postcode?

Yes - if it was an "evening class" it was mostly fun stuff for pleasure.
It might have been more formal qualifications back in the past (when the school leaving age was much lower so some people missed out) but those days are long long gone.

It's not even a post-covid type of thing. I wanted to do a degree with the OU but wanted to test myself first with an A-level and couldn't find a single local college doing evening classes and this was about 2010.
I did an A-level in the mid 90's at my local 6th form college who did courses on week nights in all sorts of subjects - GCSE's, A-levels, car maintenance, floristry, crafts, cooking, business, typing/office/computing skills etc and they were always full. A lot of the tutors worked at the college during the day and made extra money from teaching the same subjects to adults in the evenings.

There are no adult education classes in my council area at all now and apparently if you want to do an academic qualification now, you have to do it online and book in at your local college to do the exams and only if there's space. A quick look online for my immediate area shows me that there are no adult/evening classes for anything at all which to be fair may well be down to the post-covid environment but not even the local cake shop runs classes any more.
I'm not sure as to why. Is it time, family pressures, work pressures or a cba attitude? Maybe we no longer need to go and learn stuff when the internet will answer all your questions in your own home. Maybe we have just lost our sense of curiosity and the desire to expand ourselves?????

Yes, true. I suppose I was thinking more of faffing about with different subjects, making contacts, seeing what sticks. I have facebook groups which are STUFFED with local women socialising, literally hundreds of them, but it all seems to be prosecco and painting type stuff.

For anyone living in Buckinghamshire there is still quite a bit available, though depends which part of county you live in as a lot are in one part only. I was quite impressed when I had a look. But most are not that local to me sadly - we used to have an adult learning centre up the road but it’s closed down now (early 2010s it closed)

https://www.sulislearning.co.uk/french-gcse-course/

There's this, but it's online self-paced.

Yes, I remember that thread. It prompted me to have a look to see what I could learn - I'm now on Beginners' Spanish, 3 hours once a week at the local university. And it's fully funded by the Welsh government because I have caring responsibilities. There aren't many perks to living in Wales, but it seems like they do still care somewhat about adult learning.

I feel the same, I’m retired now but I’ve been looking for something educational to help keep my mind active and to meet new people, something like a GCSE level in an academic subject but there’s nothing nearby, so disappointing. I’m not looking to work again but I’m not the least bit creative so anything along those lines doesn’t suit me and although I’ve looked at U3a, again, there’s nothing locally that appeals or maybe I just need to come out of my comfort zone and try something.

I think it's so sad. The benefits cannot be measured in monetary terms, so it's just not seen as important - especially when councils are so cash strapped.

I'm lucky that Cornwall still run a good range of classes, next door Devon don't seem to do anything that isn't an access to work type course.

Totally agree with this @MsWilmottsGhost I was similar to you left school with only 3 O’ levels but managed to get into university and a teaching career via a combination of adult education and ‘day release’ (that’s probably non existent now as well). It really makes me so angry when people go on about social mobility because adult education was the main driver of social mobility.

City lit do a lot online since Covid, but I note you aren’t keen on that method. The Workers Educational Association does a mix of online and face to face classes and might be worth a look.

The social side is a very important aspect. I have a really great group of people in my French group, and really enjoy it, but for many people it's a lifeline, especially for the recently widowed or for someone who has moved to a new area

It’s very depressing. I remember that big thick directory of adult learning courses that used to come through the door in London years ago (early 2000s 🙈). It felt you could learn anything , and for little cost. These days our local college offerings are all the most basic level , eg ‘reading skills’ or ‘life skills’ . It’s a shame.
Online offerings have improved though… coursera is amazing as are other MOOC options. But not as sociable and limited for practical things.

There isnt the same need for adult education now because far more working age adults these days had decent access to further and higher education when they were 16.

The reason lots of free further education was offered 20 or 30 years ago was because there were lots of working age adults who'd left school at 16 or even 14 without any real access to any more education. Loads had no level 3 equivalent qualifications and it was about upskilling the population generally. A far higher percentage of the working population now have level 3 qualifications and degrees.

Tbh i dont really think the government needs to fund people to do hobby learning for their own pleasure, if you want to take history courses or flower arranging there isnt anything to stop you paying for a course yourself.

Adult education still exists but now the funding pays for skills bootcamps that are more focused on helping people with relevant skills for the workplace, which i think lots of people would agree is a better use of the money than funding people to do hobby art courses and the like?

I did fun evening classes in GCSE chemistry and then A level maths and chemistry 😂

It wasn't the dark ages. I left school at 16 but most of my classmates went to college, though not all went to uni. I went straight to moving out and getting a job because I needed to leave home to escape abuse.

The current education provision assumes a nice straightforward route to uni before age 20, and normal parental support.

If your childhood is all fucked up you need options at post 18.

I so think it is a shame that these classes some for serious learning, some for more frivilous things have disappeared. The annual drop of the brochure showing what classes were available was enjoyable to look through.

Having said that, the last course I went on which must have been at least 20 years ago was a pottery course. It became a lot less enjoyable when we were issued with paperwork which we were required to fill in quizzing us about our motives and what our goals were, that sort of thing. We just wanted to have a sociable evening, trying to learn a new skill. We really didn't want to have to do weekly mission statements.

The classes were heavily subsidised so I suppose that's why, in the end, they closed. The building is now being demolished for housing.

I really don't know how many people would have attended if they had to pay the true cost of putting the classes on.

I remember my mum going to evening classes in French during the 80s.
When I wanted to study something a couple of years ago, the only course available was in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon, so not possible for me as I'm at work. There is definitely an issue.

When I was doing A level English lit at 6th form in the 90s we had a 70+ year old man join our class because he wanted to take his a level English. He added a nice / different dimension to the class. Kind of a shame that’s no longer an option!

I'm a native Gaelic speaker: when I was at university in the late 90s / early 00s, I taught non-native adult learner classes in the evening.

It was initially a bit odd, standing up as a 'teacher' in front of people often in their 50s/60s when I was barely out of my teens, but I had a great time, earned a decent part-time wage, met some lovely people and learned a lot from them, too.

A lot of my pupils (!) went on to successfully take Standard Grade and Higher Gaelic qualifications, frequently for no reason other than they wanted to.

I agree, OP, I mourn the demise of learning for learning's sake.

It's gutting! Happened about 20-5 years ago here. Only remaining FE classes are sewing machine operation and EFL.

Damn. So it does. That's pretty poor. Hopefully it'll get fixed.

Meanwhile, they offer https://theartssociety.org/find-your-local-society with a phone number that might contact a human.

If it helps, I'm a new member of the Exeter branch and hope to attend a lecture soon. Also, as a newcomer to the SW, my East Devon town has practical knitting/crocheting classes run by the local haberdashery shop, a Book Club, lectures at the community hall, lots of musical activities, etc. including bellringing, which is a hugely sociable activity.

Good luck.

There’s history courses available in our nearest city but looking at the brochure they are in the daytime!