A place to share my experiences as a TTOC and Middle School Teacher. Resources, ideas and important issues in education.
Showing posts with label adult education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adult education. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Free ride over for some adult ed classes
Free ride over for some adult ed classes
Vancouver Sun
Janet Steffenhagen
May 22, 2012
A government program that offers free courses for high school graduates who want to upgrade their skills has been radically scaled back after the Education Ministry decided it had expanded far beyond its original intent.
Under the program, tuition fees were abolished in 2008 but the mandate was left openended. That allowed B.C. school districts to offer free online courses for adults in a range of subjects such as photography, hair design, drawing, guitar, film and television, outdoor pursuits, computers, cosmetology, horsemanship and more than half a dozen languages.
Education Minister George Abbott said the program, called the Education Guarantee, was never intended to provide "personal interest" courses. "There's been a huge proliferation in personal-interest courses like rock-and-roll history, body toning, hip-hop, Latin and ballroom dance. I mean, these are fine things in their own right ... [but] are they consistent with an education guarantee? I don't think so."
The ministry could not confirm that all of the online courses mentioned by Abbott have been offered tuitionfree but said they were among 3,000 permitted under the Education Guarantee.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Free+ride+over+some+adult+classes/6657316/story.html#ixzz1vfP65M13
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Adult Education Program Changes
BC's
adult education program victim of "choice"
The BC government has announced that it will no longer fund many of the adult education courses that were previously available at no cost, unless they are taken online. Among those courses on the chopping block are Grade 12 courses in physics, calculus, financial accounting, law, social justice, comparative civilizations, marketing, tourism and geography. (See the Vancouver Sun article here: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/adult+education+with+funding+cuts/6589057/story.html)
Under the guise of "choice" and "flexibility", this government is in fact reducing choice for the purposes of cost cutting. They do not want to fund classrooms and teachers to provide adult education, but they are willing to pay the much smaller cost of an online course, despite the evidence that for many learners, this is not effective.
Adult education programs provide excellent opportunities for adult learners to complete or improve their secondary level coursework. Often this enables further post-secondary educational opportunities. It is one of the pathways to improved education, employment and a higher standard of living. Creating a cost for these programs creates a barrier for those needing the upgrade and will result in fewer adults making this decision. This decision is short sighted and irrational.
Read More Here from Staffroom Confidential - Education Blog
The BC government has announced that it will no longer fund many of the adult education courses that were previously available at no cost, unless they are taken online. Among those courses on the chopping block are Grade 12 courses in physics, calculus, financial accounting, law, social justice, comparative civilizations, marketing, tourism and geography. (See the Vancouver Sun article here: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/adult+education+with+funding+cuts/6589057/story.html)
Under the guise of "choice" and "flexibility", this government is in fact reducing choice for the purposes of cost cutting. They do not want to fund classrooms and teachers to provide adult education, but they are willing to pay the much smaller cost of an online course, despite the evidence that for many learners, this is not effective.
Adult education programs provide excellent opportunities for adult learners to complete or improve their secondary level coursework. Often this enables further post-secondary educational opportunities. It is one of the pathways to improved education, employment and a higher standard of living. Creating a cost for these programs creates a barrier for those needing the upgrade and will result in fewer adults making this decision. This decision is short sighted and irrational.
Read More Here from Staffroom Confidential - Education Blog
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