Block of ages

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The choice of education for many adults is limited

The choice of education for many adults is limited Photograph: David Levene

Older victims of the recession struggling to get back into work would no doubt scoff at the suggestion that age discrimination poses any problems for people in their 20s. But it is being argued that there is one sphere in which turning 25 puts you at a serious disadvantage. "Educationally, ageism begins at 25," says Professor John Field, co-director of the centre for research in lifelong learning at Stirling University.

Despite the increasing recognition that adult learning improves people's general wellbeing and mental state, for too many adults the choice of education is largely restricted to narrow skills-for-work programmes, he says. Policies such as the New Deal prioritise the under-25s, he adds, and most public education spending is focused on the same group. Alistair Darling's budget pledge of training or a job for all applied only to those under 25. Further education funding prioritises lower-level skills and qualifications, which is of scant value to the over-25s. "After 25, you increasingly have to find your own way," Field says.

Sense of wellbeing

Interest among policymakers and academics about people's sense of wellbeing in affluent societies has been growing since the 1970s, he notes in a new study for the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning sponsored by the National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (Niace).

There is particular concern that levels of depression and stress should be rising in Britain and about the resulting costs to society, organisations and individuals. A recent report for the King's Fund put the total economic cost of mental illness in England at £49bn in 2007. Although helping people to get jobs boosts wellbeing, the solution is not simply a matter of creating more wealth, he says. "Analyses of survey data have repeatedly shown that, once a society reaches a particular level of affluence, further increases in material wealth produce very limited changes in people's self-reported happiness."

On the other hand, surveys since the 1970s have shown positive direct and indirect links between education and wellbeing, which has been defined as "a dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others, and contribute to their community".

When people fulfil personal goals and achieve a sense of purpose in society, their wellbeing is boosted, Field says. He does not argue that the government is wrong to improve education for the under-25s: "It's clear that if you invest in young people, you make an impact that is lasting."

Field and other supporters of lifelong learning are arguing for more public money. It makes more sense, they say, to take a preventative approach to, for instance, mental health problems than to pay the much bigger price of treating them after they have occurred.

But if learning boosts wellbeing and staves off mental deterioration, won't people pay for it themselves in the way that they are prepared to pay for cosmetic surgery or gym membership?

No guarantees

"There are several reasons why that doesn't happen in practice," Field says. First, not everyone will stave off mental deterioration by learning. "We know on the aggregate level it works. For individuals it probably works, but there are no guarantees."

Then there is the problem of convincing people to do something now for their medium- or longer-term benefit.

Chris Ball, chief executive of the Age and Employment Network, agrees that opportunities for lifelong learning narrow significantly at 25, not least because of the axing of funds for people wanting to study for qualifications at an equivalent or lower level than any they already have. He, too, thinks it unrealistic to leave adult learning entirely up to the market.

"There are so many things competing and so many other things going on in people's lives," he says. "No doubt many people of 25 have student loans they are paying off. Putting all this together, you can see that lack of support for lifelong learning is a disincentive."

Funding cuts for general adult education have caused colleges to cut courses, which has left limited opportunities for people to learn, he says. "You have this kind of spiral of philistinism that sets in."

Ball believes the government should support adult education more. "We should do everything we can to encourage a broadly shared learning culture where it's seen as thoroughly good for people to learn for learning's sake, because they are inquisitive and want to learn more - that's got to be good for society and for their economic wellbeing."

A number of schemes in which people at risk of mental health problems were prescribed adult education as a possible therapy have fizzled out for want of further funding. "If somebody went into a doctor's surgery and the doctor felt they would benefit from participation in education, they were referred to the learning adviser," says Kathryn James, a development officer with Niace, who made an official appraisal of one of the schemes, in Nottingham.

Of the people she interviewed, among those who had taken the learning option, nearly all reported benefits. These included improved mental health; decisions to improve their physical health by, for instance, stopping smoking or eating more healthily; improved employment prospects; raised self-esteem; increased social contacts; and fun and pleasure in learning.

But as the initial funding ran out, arguments broke out over responsibility for carrying on, James says. The health service reckoned that the education budget should bear the cost, since the benefits were largely educational - and education argued the opposite.

A spokesman for the new department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "The government is spending more than ever in ensuring people of all ages can benefit from learning opportunities ... Some £5bn is being invested in supporting adult skills in 2009-10.

"The government recognises the enormous contribution learning makes to an individual's quality of life, health and wellbeing, and has made a commitment to sustain funding for informal learning."

16/07/2009