The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) is calling for support for its campaign to save adult education. The area is under increased threat in the run-up to the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, in which departments have been asked to prepare for cuts of 25 and 40 per cent.
“Less than 6 per cent of Government spending on education and training is devoted to adult further education and skills,” says the WEA. “Further cuts, on top of the 24 per cent and 3.9 per cent cuts to the Adult Skills Budget already announced this year, will inflict serious damage to our education and skills infrastructure with detrimental impact on learners, employers and the economy.”
The WEA is targeting politicians, educators, policy groups and associations of all kinds. It reports more than 500 students, members and tutors writing individual letters to MPs in the first weeks of the campaign.