Adult and Community Education

Have you ever wished you'd taken a different direction in your life, perhaps taken more or different qualifications to help you in your career?  Or perhaps you never had the opportunity to go on to university after you left school and you wish you had.  Now there's nothing stopping you whatever your age or previous education.

You may decide to use your learning to improve your skills in a particular area or to develop and build on something you're already good at. Perhaps you can combine this with studying something that's always interested you. The secret to successful learning is to go for something that really excites you and that will give you something back whether it's a much-needed qualification, the achievement of a lifelong ambition or just the satisfaction of surprising yourself by learning to juggle or swim!

What can I study?

What you study, is down to you.  Of course, if you're in a job and want to develop your career or may even move careers you may already know what course or qualification may be of use.  But if you're thinking of returning to study for the fun of it the options are endless.

To help you try to decide on what to study, try asking yourself a few questions:

• What do I want to get out of my learning? Is it a job, a new career, self-confidence, new friends or simply the satisfaction of having done it?
• What am I good at? -   communicating with children, green fingers, managing money, art and design
• What areas do I want to improve?  - IT, numeracy, self-confidence, ability to do my job better
• What will I need to be able to do for the job I've got in mind? type, use a book-keeping package, drive a van

There is plenty of information, advice and guidance available to everyone and in many cases, such as if you are unemployed, this help is free of charge. To find out if this is available in your area, contact your local Learning and Skills Council (external link)who will help you find your nearest office. Take a look at the Worktrain website (external link) as well, it a useful guide to what qualifications and training are needed for which jobs.

There are also many different types of qualifications for you to choose from:

Vocational qualifications

• NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) - designed to train you for a particular type of work and the range is very broad. A GNVQ is similar to the NVQ but is aimed more at 16-19-year-olds, although they are available to older people.
• BTEC offer National Certificates and Diplomas. An HND or HNC a Higher National Diploma or Certificate is usually a two-year course taken at a Higher Education college. It is an advanced vocational course designed to prepare you for a particular kind of work.
• City and Guilds also offer vocational qualifications. There are more than 400 subjects to choose from and they include NVQs, modern apprenticeships and key skills, as well as City and Guilds. Find out more at the City and Guilds website ((external link)

Traditional academic qualifications

These are the ones you usually get at school or university.

• GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education. There is a wide range of subjects.  
• A-level and A/S-levels are a level up from GCSEs.  They will tell you where you can do your A-level or A/S-level, and if there's an entry requirement.
• Degrees are the qualifications you get from universities. They generally take three or more years to do, and a wide range of subjects are available. If you want a degree in more than one subject, you can do a joint honours degree. Search for a course on the UCAS website (external link). UCAS stands for Universities and Colleges Admission Service, and as well as finding you a course and university, they can help with access courses (External Link). An access course is what you can do to get on a degree course, if you haven't got any A-levels.
• For more about higher education, visit the DfES Higher Education website (external link)

Ways to learn

These days there are a lot more ways to learn - you can still go to college to study full- or part-time,  at a learning centre in your local library, school or village hall, by signing up for an Open University course or by learning via the web.

If you can't get to a college or learning centre, perhaps because you're looking after a young family or an elderly or disabled relative, learning at home is an ideal solution. The advisers at Learndirect   tel: 0800 100 900 (external link) will be able to give you all sorts of information about how to make this work.. Most learning is flexible for example, you can often spread a one-year course over two or even three years to give yourself the time you need.

It's all about making your learning fit your life...so that it becomes an integral part of your day and something you enjoy, not something that takes over all of your time and becomes a chore.  Learning isn't like that.

Before deciding on the best method of study for you, think about a few things:

• When do you want to study? (daytime, evenings, weekends)
• do you want to learn on your own or in a group?
• how many hours a week you can devote to your learning?
• whether you can manage to go on any residential courses?
• Whether you've got easy access to a computer for online learning?

Of course, you don't even have to take a qualification to get the training and experience you want, you could always take part in voluntary work.  There are a number of websites explaining what you can do and they'll help you get involved in something where you time and skills will be appreciated.

Funding your study

For a lot of people, how to fund their study has been the main factor holding them back.  But studying needn't cost you too much. Not only are there sources of funding for studying, but there are also ways to learn for free.

The Learndirect website at http://www.learndirect.co.uk/ (external link)offers information about 

• Adult Learning Grants
• Career Development Loans
• Modern Apprenticeships
• Help for people out of work
• Learner Support Funds
• New Deal for Lone Parents
• Student Support
• Charities, Scholarships, Trust Funds and Grants
• NHS Bursaries
• Teachers Bursaries
• Social Work Bursaries
• Queen Mary Computer Science Bursary
• Employers and trades unions
• Money to learn

You can't usually get Jobseeker's Allowance if you are studying full-time, but you might be able to get it if you are studying part time or doing an Open University course. If you are over 25 and have been unemployed for two years or more, you might be able to get Jobseeker's Allowance even if you are doing a full-time course.

Find out more about benefits at Jobcentre Plus (external link).

Useful websites

• Adult Learning Site  (external link)
• Open University  (external link)
• Chester University  (external link)
• West Cheshire College  (external link)
• Mid Cheshire College  (external link)
• South Cheshire College (external link)
• Priestley College (external link)
• North East Wales Institute (NEWI) of Higher Education (external link)