Adult education
It is never too late to learn – even if you didn’t like school, or have been working for years. There are many courses and resources available to people over 18 who wish to study. You might want to gain a qualification to enhance your career prospects or pave the way for changing professions. Or you might want to pursue a subject you love and study literature, Thai cookery or even belly-dancing!
Choosing a course
London has many adult education opportunities, with thousands of subjects on offer at many centres throughout the city.
Different ways of studying
Adult learning often has to be fitted around a full or part-time job or bringing up a family. Flexibility is the name of the game – and there are a host of different types of courses on offer to enable you to fit learning in to your life.
- The Universities amp; Colleges Admissions Service’s (UCAS) contains a searchable database of
the whole range of courses available.
- Distance learning involves studying from home, and communicating periodically with your tutor online or by phone or email. Open
University and Birkbeck College, University of London are well known
for their distance learning programmes.
- Intensive courses pack learning into a short period – perhaps with classes twice a week, or a class that moves faster than usual,
with extra study you can do at home.
- Modular courses allow full-time workers to study for a new qualification and accumulate credits - while they continue working.
It is an ideal way to retrain for a new career whilst keeping the money coming in.
- Part-time courses can be held in the daytime or evening, and fit easily into students’ working or family lives. Courses can take a couple
of hours a week for anything from two to thirty weeks. Part-time first and postgraduate degrees take several years.
- Short courses pack a lot of learning into one session. They can range from a half or full day at the weekend to several days or even weeks.
Helpful Adult Education sites
- Learn Direct is a one-stop shop for all you need to think through when considering adult education.
- Get informed with the Lifelong learning site.
- You don’t need to have a private income to be able to access adult education. Options include free courses, funding, career
development loans, benefits and grants. More
about financial help.
- If you are currently employed and want to enhance your career, see progressing at work in the Business and Jobs section.
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