Cost of living crisis 'holding West Midlands adults back from engaging in further education'
Cost of living concerns including spiralling childcare costs are holding adults back from returning to education to upskill and retrain, a poll by a major college group has found.
BMet College, which operates three colleges across Birmingham, commissioned polling company Survation to survey 1,000 adults across the West Midlands to gauge their attitudes towards education.
It found that nearly three-fifths (57 per cent) of adults across Birmingham and the West Midlands would consider returning to education, but many are being held back by the cost of living.
The polling comes at a time of increasing focus on adult education and after chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled several initiatives in the Spring Budget to encourage older people to return to work.
More than 90 per cent of respondents said they left education before the age of 25, but 60 per cent would consider returning to education.
However, just 13 per cent would consider returning full-time, with the majority being open to returning part-time.
Of those who would not consider returning to education, over a third of adults cited cost as the reason, while a similar proportion cited time constraints.
Other barriers cited by respondents included 'childcare', 'my health', and that they find it 'hard to learn certain things'.
Respondents also said they were 'too old' to take part in education and around a quarter of those polled believed the cut-off age for participating in formal education was 25.
However, there is no cut-off age; adults can attend college or university and gain qualifications at any time.
Jeremy Hunt announced a range of programmes to support older people who have left the workforce to re-enter employment.
It includes so-called ‘returnerships’ which will promote existing programmes such as skills bootcamps.
The Government is also keen to encourage adults back into education through a new lifelong loan entitlement, which will give adults access to a loan worth 'four years’ post-18 study' or £37,000. Legislation to roll out the policy in 2025 is currently under discussion by MPs.
But BMet’s polling found 60 per cent of Birmingham adults and 70 per cent of West Midlands adults were not aware of the entitlement.
Just 13 per cent of respondents from across the region said they were ‘strongly aware’.
While 45 per cent of respondents were able to correctly identify the policy as pertaining to education, a total of 55 per cent thought the entitlement was to pay for rent or energy bills.
BMet principal and chief executive Pat Carvalho said: “While these survey findings demonstrate that there is a great enthusiasm in the West Midlands for adult education, we are also concerned by many of the findings.
“Many adults feel they are being held back from taking part in education by a lack of income and time. That a quarter think they are too old to take part in formal education is also a damning indictment of society’s attitudes towards adult education.
“We will be ramping up our efforts to communicate to our local community that further education is much more accessible and affordable than they might think. We also want to show potential learners how education and training can open many new doors for not just their career, but their social and family life.”
BMet is enrolling students on a wide array of courses.
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