UK plc is well on the way to becoming a knowledge-based economy, and we are certainly operating in global marketplace, but we are still not good enough at learning. Around a third of the workforce has never been offered any training by their current employer. Among small firms, only a third provide any kind of off-the-job training.
Last year's Moser Report reminded everyone involved in lifelong learning that one in five people still can't use the Yellow Pages to find a plumber.
On the other hand, we know that knowledge-based industries require high added-value skills - not just IT skills, but communication and higher literacy skills, problem-solving and interpersonal skills as well. We also know that there is a strong link between learning, earnings and job prospects; and we know that more people would get back into learning if it was easier to access.
One way of removing some of the barriers which put people off from learning, or make it hard to come by, is to deliver it at the time, place and pace that people and businesses want it. This kind of flexibility has been a watchword for adult education and company training for at least the last decade. But it has been difficult to achieve. This is because of the in-built inflexibility of much traditional face-to-face learning. There are timetables with fixed classes; there are the cash and time costs involved in travelling; there are childcare costs; and, for employers, there is downtime, which can be particularly difficult for small companies and owner mangers.
At last, with the arrival of the internet, real flexibility is within reach and a revolution in adult learning is under way. At the heart of this revolution is the internet's capacity to cut through many of the usual barriers to learning. It can deliver high-quality courses directly to the desktop - at work, at home, at on-line learning centres or cybercafes, even abroad. In fact, it can deliver learning anywhere the learner can get internet access. So it is not surprising to find that, according to a recent MORI poll, three out of five internet users have already searched the web for training opportunities and one in five has identified a course they could not find elsewhere.
Skills gaps
On-line learning works for companies as well as individuals, and at relatively low cost. Small businesses can use e-learning to offer employees short intensive bursts of training to fill immediate and pressing skills gaps. Large companies can use it to add value to their existing IT investment, typically by networking on-line training materials across the whole company and even its supply chain. e-learning also makes it easier than ever before to offer employees individually tailored, self-managed learning.
All this is happening not just in the area of IT skills, but across all subjects and levels. On-line learning opportunities linked to occupational standards and national qualifications are now available or being developed from entry level right through to specialist courses supporting continuing professional development.
Learning through using computers, wanting to be able to use the internet and being part of the digital society are also emerging as strong motivators which can draw adults with poor levels of literacy and numeracy into learning.
As e-learning is still in its infancy, skills and standards in on-line support, tutoring and mentoring are still being developed. However, early feedback to Ufi from learners experiencing e-learning for the first time through learndirect is very encouraging. They like e-learning and nine out of ten surveyed have said that they have or would recommend it to other people.
Classrooms may not yet be, and may never be, a thing of the past; and there are some hands-on skills that do not lend themselves to an e-learning solution. But there is little doubt that as competition between the telecommunications companies reduces internet costs and improves connectivity, e-learning will transform the adult learning landscape.
• Dr Anne Wright is chief executive of Ufi Ltd, the government-backed lifelong learning initiative, which is creating learndirect, the nation-wide on-line learning network.
• learndirect is Ufi's network of on-line learning and information services, which is being rolled out nationwide across England, Wales and Northern Ireland following a successful national pilot.
• A Fresh Start by Sir Claus Moser was issued in March 1999, as a result of the working group set up to advise the government on developing and supporting basic skills provision.
