Counting the Costs of Courses - Page 1 of 2 |
Whither ILAs?
ILAs have gone. What happens now? The government remains committed. We will deliver increased learning opportunities through the continuation of ILAs,” says the latest DfES policy document. They blame the problems on the scheme’s success, saying it far exceeded their expectations.
And it was a success. Many providers saw substantial increases in business through ILAs. Many new people came into learning, and acquired new skills. We want that to continue. But we see the dangers as well.
Empowering Individuals
One rumour is that government will restrict access to ILAs to publicly funded schools and colleges, or to employers, or to vocational courses which meet some government-defined national need. But that would be to reject the universality that made them so effective. ILAs must stay as grants to individuals, available to all to spend on the learning of their choice.
The need for quality
It was the scams and shoddy practices, exposed by the media, which forced the government’s hand. Those practices, too, must be avoided.
Yet for all the government’s emphasis on quality in education, it has been oddly reluctant to acknowledge the need for quality here. Both learndirect, and the original ILA registration scheme were, to put it mildly, reticent about quality.
It is, of course, particularly galling for us. As the body set up by government to assess and acknowledge quality in ODL, we have been pressing for more information on quality, of the kind offered by our Buyer’s Guide, to be given to learners. We would like more controls, whether through our accreditation scheme or some other route, to avoid the worst excesses. We are in the midst of more meetings with DfES; we hope they will find a way to include our ideas this time.
At what cost?
But there are other, more subtle difficulties. People misunderstand education. It is a service. It may seem more important than plumbing or hairdressing. But like them it is a service, offered by professionals to willing purchasers.
Services cost money. But because most of education is state funded, people don’t develop a streetwise understanding of those costs. That too is part of the problem.
What should a course cost? There is no simple answer; education is an odd kind of commodity. Take your local grocer. He pays 10p for an apple. The supermarket sells apples for 12p. So his price, and his profit per apple, is outside his control. And it stays the same whether he sells one apple or a thousand.
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