SUMMARY

  Since its inception in 1990, Barnsley College has been actively developing learning opportunities which minimise barriers to participation and which appeal to the local community. Outreach and community work, activities with schools, family literacy projects, community based activities and offsite collaborative provision are just some of the strategies developed to encourage participation and foster a learning culture in our local community. We welcome the challenge to become more sophisticated and effective in identifying and meeting the needs of under-represented groups. We draw encouragement from the more coherent and inclusive learning strategy post 16 which makes opportunities and access for all a realisable vision.

  The evidence supplied to the committee outlines some of the strategies, research, and backcloth to our work in including non participants in learning and identifying barriers to participation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

(1)  Research should be conducted to identify those things which would serve as incentives to motivate those individuals who do not currently participate in post-school learning to do so.

(2)  The government should ensure that systems of financial support equivalent to those available to students undertaking higher education are made available to students undertaking further education.

(3)  The government should emphasise its view to the FEFC that its resources should continue to be allocated to colleges on the basis of supporting/funding learners not supporting/funding providers.

(4)  Under the New Deal an unequivocal guarantee should be given to students on JSA who are following Level 3 (or above) programmes that they can continue those programmes as the full time education and training option of the New Deal.

(5)  The government should consider providing pump priming funding to the colleges via the FEFC to ensure the development of collaborative learning centre networks between public libraries and colleges of the kind developed by Barnsley College and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (and detailed in the accompanying leaflet).

1. The Context

(i)  Barnsley College, Background Information

(ii)  Barnsley Community, Economic and Employment Context

2. Participation Analysis and Data

3. Obstacles to Participation

(i)  16-19 Cohort, Summary Factors

(ii)  20+ Cohort, Summary Factors

(iii)  Survey of 180 Barnsley residents, S70 Postal District (Athersley)

(iv)  Community Survey in Areas of Low Participation

1. THE CONTEXT

i. Barnsley College—Background Information

  Barnsley College was formed in 1990 through the amalgamation of Barnsley College of Technology, the Art College and the Sixth Form College. Tertiary re-organisation placed the College in a strong position for development in that it became the major provider of Further Education in the Borough with only one Sixth Form remaining, thus offering opportunities for ensuring coherence of provision, economics of scale and benefits from the sharing of expertise from the staff of the three original institutions.

  The College achieved corporate status in 1993: The emphasis on growth contained in the FEFC funding methodology proved to be of major importance in the development of the College, allowing it to build on its strengths through a planned expansion in student numbers and wider range of provision.

  In terms of units of activity, the College is now the third largest Further Education College in the country, with over 46,000 students and more than 1,000 learning programmes. The College is one of the largest employers in the Barnsley area providing almost 900 jobs (full and part-time) across a variety of skills and professions. The current annual turnover is over £22 million.

ii. Barnsley Community—Economics and Employment Context

  Barnsley is situated in South Yorkshire in the heart of the North of England. It is not a single town, but a "Borough", one large town of some 100,000 inhabitants surrounded by a series of smaller towns and villages with a total population of 226,800. In UK local government terms, Barnsley is a Metropolitan District with a single tier Borough Council with 22 wards. Parish or Town Councils, which have limited powers in the UK, also operate in 18 of the towns and villages outside the main town (mainly in the rural villages).

  Barnsley is essentially an industrial area, although the west of the Borough moving towards the Pennines and Peak District is rural in character. But the bulk of the population lives in the industrial area which bears the hallmarks of the industry with which Barnsley has been virtually synonymous for more than a century: deep mined coal. The settlement patterns in the Borough reflect that history: small towns and villages developing around an individual pit, often quite isolated from one another with a poor transport infrastructure.

  While Barnsley is not economically or socially homogenous, instead of the pockets of major deprivation more common in big city areas, Barnsley's population is generally at the lower end of the economic and social spectrum. Only the West of the Borough has levels of prosperity above the national average. A number of wards in Barnsley town and in the Deame area are among the most deprived of the region, while the remaining wards are just "ordinarily poor". Household income levels in Barnsley are now among the lowest in the country, and 56 per cent those of the EU as a whole (the UK's average being 96 per cent that of the EU).

  Employment has been contracting in Barnsley since the mid 1980s, in contrast to the UK as a whole, where employment has grown. Unemployment rates are above the national average. But these under-estimate true levels of joblessness in the Borough:

—  Barnsley has the lowest activity rates of males aged 16 and over in Yorkshire and Humberside.

—  Fewer than 50 per cent of the workforce over 50 and under retirement age are in work.

—  Joblessness is particularly high in mining communities hit by recent closures.

  These low activity rates are having a detrimental effect on the local economy, and impact on the motivation to achieve in schools and further education. Household income levels are now among the lowest in the country and estimated GDP—at 65 per cent of the national average—put the Borough at the bottom of the national and European league tables.

  Recent studies into employment and job creation highlighted the following key characteristics of the Borough's main employment sectors.

—  A narrow economic base—emphasising the need for continued inward investment strategy.

—  An over-dependence on manufacturing sectors with low growth potential.

—  Over-dependence on a small number of large employers—many in declining/stagnant sectors.

—  Little evidence of growth in new employment sectors.

—  A lack of a sectoral approach to targeting inward investment and business support.

—  A lack of mechanisms to monitor progress on targets and evaluate best practice.

—  Poor educational and vocational qualification levels.

—  A culture that does not support lifelong learning and change.

—  The local community often believes they are too old to study.

—  Disengaged lifestyle with drug and alcohol abuse increasingly prevalent (referrals to community drugs teams increased 58 per cent 1996-97).

2. PARTICIPATION ANALYSIS

  The economic decline across the coalfields resulting from the rapid closure programme, and the resultant social and economic exclusion, is well documented. Relatively isolated, and prosperous and cohesive towns and villages which owed their existence to the colliery they served, became anomic and dislocated. Traditionally, they were not communities which valued formal education and learning. Indeed they were and remain, suspicious and hostile to conventional routes to learning and penetration by professionals. Education and training needs were mediated by The Coal Board or the NUM. The task of building a learning culture is therefore both critical and problematic.

  Widening and increasing participation is central to the College mission. As well as making College programmes more accessible and flexible (distance/flexible learning, Saturday/Sunday College etc.) we have taken educational opportunities into local communities through 47 Guidance Access Points (GAPs) since 1992. People usually feel more secure with their work mates, community/voluntary groups, friends or neighbours, and GAPs aim to provide this safe learning context. More extensively, we have widened participation to previously non participating groups through offsite collaborative provision (OCP). The table below profiles disability, ethnicity and employment in these two forms of outreach provision compared to the whole College profile.

  The above illustrates a number of points:

—  The number of students in receipt of fee remission have declined from 2,942 in 1995-96, to 1,808 in 1996-97. Of this figure, 14 per cent (258) are enrolled to GAP programmes and receive fee remissions.

—  11.7 per cent of students enrolled to College during this period were unemployed.

—  GAP programmes attract a high number of unemployed students, particularly long term unemployed.

—  1.6 per cent of students enrolled during 1996-97 were registered disabled.

—  The number of enrolments to GAP programmes and OCP are roughly equal in terms of the number of disabled students that they attract.

—  3.3 per cent of students enrolled to the College during 1996-97 were from ethnic minorities, however 68 per cent (563) of all enrolments that were of ethnic origin other than white, were enrolled to Off-Site Collaborative Provision, while only 0.4 per cent (3) were enrolled to GAP programmes. The low number of people of ethnic minority enrolling to GAP programmes, reflects the low proportion of ethnic minorities within the local population.

  An analysis of the participation profile compared with the national baseline (as suggested in the FEDA Report "How to Widen Participation: A guide to good practice) has not been possible in the timescale. However, targets relating to widening participation are regularly set in the operational plan. The three targets in the 1997-98 operational plan which relate to widening and increasing participation are to:

—  increase the number of FEFC units generated by each delivery by 10 per cent each year;

—  increase achievement through open and distance learning opportunities by 25 per cent;

—  increase participation of full time school leavers to 60 per cent of the cohort by year 2000.

3. OBSTACLES TO PARTICIPATION

  The Marketing and Planning Department have identified the following obstacles to participation based on interviews with key informants, non-participants, and community groups.

3.i 16-19 Cohort

—  Low levels of attainment within Borough schools. The average for five GCSE grades at A-C stands at 28.6 per cent in contrast to the national level of 45 per cent.

—  National Curriculum is often perceived as not meeting pupils needs, so "what price FE"?

—  High levels of vandalism/frequent intruders in school.

—  Low morale among staff with often fatalistic attitudes.

—  Lack of support and training for school teaching staff.

—  Students not participating in PSE lessons (including mock interviews), or trident/work experience.

—  Learning conditions and culture at home, for example, parents not giving support and encouragement to their children with regards to school work, or even attending school.

—  Low self-esteem and confidence.

—  Many pupils complain that representatives of the college speak over their heads or are only interested in getting "bums on seats".

—  It is often claimed that Barnsley College publicity information concentrates too much on qualifications and not enough on practical outcomes.

—  College is often seen as being just like school.

—  Female pupils are more inclined to take up Further Education than males when leaving school. Fifty-two per cent of enrolments Barnsley College for the 1996-97 academic year were female. This figure would be further increased if OCP was not included.

—  Competition from local training providers. Training schemes and initiatives, attracted 25 per cent of the Year 11 cohort within the Borough for 1997. To working class young people whose first option is to seek employment, a modern apprenticeship is more attractive.

—  Pupils often argue that private training providers present themselves, their organisation and their services better than the College.

—  Students who achieve lower GCSE grades than expected, are often forced to start courses, e.g., GNVQ Foundation, at lower levels than they originally hoped, often resulting in failure to proceed with enrolment or reduced motivation.

—  Many Year 11 pupils are frightened about moving from school to a large college.

—  The status of FE and Tertiary Colleges is often perceived to be poorer than sixth form colleges or school sixth forms by parents.

—  Career intentions of many pupils' change.

—  Barnsley College publicity materials within local schools are often out of date.

—  Misleading information is often given by the local TEC about training schemes.

—  Peer pressure, predominantly male orientated is often seen as a barrier as local males often view employment as a better option.

—  Under-age pregnancies are double the national average within Barnsley.

—  Many parents are not aware that the College provides help for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

—  Parents and family often have the strongest influences on young peoples' decisions. Within Barnsley, parents often don't want their children to enter into FE, but instead prefer them to enter into full-time employment.

—  Decision making skills of school pupils.

—  Within the Barnsley area, 53 per cent of year 11 pupils leaving school in 1997 did not take up the option of Further Education. Twenty per cent of the school leaving cohort went into some form of training, 13 per cent entered full-time employment, 5 per cent were registered unemployed and 15 per cent of the cohort were not active or had moved away.

—  Absence of FE role models, or models within the family of adults in paid employment.

3.ii 20+ Cohort

—  Full-time employment is often perceived as leaving the individual with very little time to study.

—  Full-time workers believe that there are no courses available at times that suit them.

—  Lack of understanding about FE in general, what it is, and how it benefits the individual.

—  Often perceived that there will be a lot of work to do at home and that studying will be very intense.

—  Hopelessness and despair based on lack of local jobs, (in 1997 there were 6,504 unemployed people within the Borough).

—  Lack of information about programmes/and or understanding of the type of programmes available.

—  Transport problems/costs of travelling to and from College.

—  Home/caring commitments.

—  Fees/material costs often seen as excessive especially if on benefits or low income.

—  Too long since leaving school, too old to study.

—  Health/disability problems.

—  Lack of confidence.

—  People on benefits are often under the impression that their benefit claims will be affected if they attend a College programme.

—  Historically low levels of participation post-16.

—  Perceived lack of childcare provisions for students and for children with special needs.

—  Prevailing culture within the Borough that does not value education and training, indeed distrusts it based on poor past personal experiences.

—  There are very few role models for working life/education within the Barnsley community.