This week I have slammed Kent County Council’s (KCC) cuts to funding for adult education in the arts. The Conservative controlled authority are removing funding from creative courses and concentrating on delivering programmes that will “equip parents and carers with the skills to support their children’s learning”.
Areas that will no longer receive funding include painting, crafts and languages, as these are not considered to be beneficial to adults seeking employment.
I find the idea of Kent Adult Education delivering courses that ‘equip parents and carers with the skills to support their children’s learning’ laudable but somewhat laughable.
Far too many Thanet parents are resorting to home education because of a tardy or inflexible education system. Some parents cannot get their children into the schools of their choice. Some parents are concerned that KCC isn’t meeting SEN needs. Some children, for whatever reason are not ‘school shaped’ and therefore home education becomes a necessity.
The answers to these issues won’t be achieved by training parents!
Also, youth provision, slashed by the ruling Kent Conservatives is a valuable avenue of support for our young people.
Likewise if Thanet residents received social care earlier than they currently do, then they might not become even more ill – requiring them to depend on even more social care. I have seen this happen far too often.
The delivery of adult education should be expansive and allow people to follow their interests – whatever they are. There’s a lot to be said for vocational training for its own sake. This decision represents an unpalatable narrowing down of opportunities and a cynical attempt by KCC to blame the very people it badly lets down.
One thing that would assist Thanet residents to achieve their life goals, whether in employment or in personal terms, would be if KCC did their job properly, and delivered statutory education, health and social care services to the residents of Thanet in a timely and professional manner.
Far too often I support residents as they struggle to get answers to basic questions from KCC, and as they wait – as if in suspended animation – for vital and much needed services to come on tap.
Main image credit: Boston Public Library on Flickr.