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Further Education and Training Bill [Lords]

Indeed. It has to be said that, given the way in which our economy is now structured and moves, it is important that we remember that people need to reskill and move on continuously throughout their lives. In the context of second chances, it is also important to remember that confidence levels among adult returners are often low. FE tutors understand that better than any other deliverers of education in the entire system. They know how to build confidence and they understand that confidence is the key to success in education. The whole experience is a rich one for a tutor. For me, one of the more enlightening aspects of GCSE work was delivering speaking and listening opportunities to many of the adult students. Unlike 16-year-olds, especially lads, who will deliver the inevitable lectures about football—or, in my case, on the 1993 Sheffield Wednesday-Sheffield United FA cup semi-final—adult learners will offer talks on varied topics ranging from bricklaying to beekeeping. I have even heard a talk on the history of chocolate, which finished with the offer of chocolate to all who had listened. I think that the offer was made to me in the hope of a better grade. That is the way in which adult education works. Another really rewarding aspect of the work of an adult education tutor is sharing students’ success. When the results come in, they are almost as important to tutors as they are to students. Seeing someone who failed at school and could not cope with school learning structures—the chalk-and-talk approach and the constant drilling of knowledge without an opportunity to find alternative learning styles—achieving B and A grades in subjects such as English makes one realise just how valuable further education is. One sees sulky, reticent 16-year-olds being transformed into confident and mature 19-year-olds who are ready to take on the world. Mature students have broken down in tears during their one-to-ones with me because they lacked confidence in taking exams and all their hang ups and problems of the past had returned to them. When one sees such people pulling through, it makes one realise that further education can be transformational.