PARTICIPATION IN, AND PROVISION OF, ACE PROGRAMS

BEYOND CINDERELLA: Towards a learning society
CONTENTS

Chapter 3

PARTICIPATION IN, AND PROVISION OF, ACE PROGRAMS

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN PATTERNS AND LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION

Data and research

One of the low-key, `backroom' but nonetheless critical developments in adult and community education since 1991 is the flourishing of research on participation in the sector. This development is acknowledged as a response to the Committee's call in Come in Cinderella for high quality, rigorous research in this area. [1] Such research, the Committee noted in 1991, was conspicuous by its virtual absence, [2] but there have since been some encouraging developments. The significant improvements in the amount and quality of data now available has assisted researchers in their analysis of the ACE sector and its contribution to national goals.

Much of the data and analysis that informs this chapter is derived from a survey conducted for the AAACE as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Population Survey Monitor in May 1995. [3] Employing data gathered from 2400 households across Australia, the survey was described by researchers in the field as the most authoritative to date. [4] The results of this survey largely mirror the aggregate patterns which have emerged from research at the state level, mainly NSW and Victoria. Some of the parallels evident between the national and state levels also surfaced in the evidence to this inquiry.

Despite the quantity and quality of recent data and research, identifying changes in participation since 1991 is problematic, mainly because of the dearth of reliable data for the pre-1991 period. This means we do not have accurate figures that provide a solid baseline from which comparisons can be made. [5] It is therefore not possible to measure precisely the extent to which changes in participation have occurred, although the estimates that have appeared in various sources provide some guidance. Not surprisingly, much of the evidence to the Committee and the research available focuses on current patterns and levels of participation, rather than changes since 1991.

As well as the ABS material, comprehensive sets of data are being collected through the Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information and Statistical Standard (AVETMISS). This gathers enrolment and associated data concerning participation by Australians in accredited training. Because AVETMISS excludes non-accredited programs it does not present an adequate account of ACE activity. AVETMISS captures only that proportion of ACE activity which is devoted to acredited trainingestimated at around 8 per cent nationally.

General levels and patterns of participation

The level of participation in ACE since 1991 reveals two general points. First, the overall numbers of people participating in ACE have grown strongly. Participation has increased by roughly 20 to 25 per cent over this period, expanding from an estimated level of 750,000800,000 in 1991 to about 1 million in 1996. [6]

The second point to note is that this rate of growth has been steady over the period. This suggests that structural trends and currents are propelling participation more than cyclical changes in the economy. With the impact also of demographic forces such as the `baby boom' generation of employees reaching retirement age, the strong growth in participation during the first half of the 1990s appears set to continue over the longer term, although the composition of ACE participants may alter. [7]

In terms of the current composition of the ACE population, the following key patterns have emerged from recent national and state (primarily NSW and Victoria) surveys.

A recent survey in NSW showed that 63 per cent of male participants and 55 per cent of female participants were employed and had post-school qualifications. [8] This result appears to apply nationally. One of the key findings of the ABS Population Survey Monitor of households across Australia was that those most likely to participate in ACE represent the advantaged in terms of education, employment and income. [9] According to a leading researcher in the field, `[i]t is undeniable that the better educated you are, the more qualified you are and the higher your personal income decile, the more you will have participated in the last 12 months'. [10] As a reflection of this point, people with professional jobs participate in ACE more than people from other occupations. [11] The user-pays system is likely to bias participation further in favour of this group of learners, those who can afford to pay, a trend that may increase the representation of this group over time.

Women account for roughly three-quarters (75 per cent) of ACE participants. This level of numerical dominance was consistent in evidence to the Committee. [12] It appears to be generally the level of female participation in ACE across Australia with little variation regionally. Data on participation in NSW and Victoria supports this view. Likewise, the estimate in Tasmania was that women comprise 75 per cent of ACE participants. [13] In the Riverina area, the level is thought to be closer to 70 per cent. [14] Moreover, the identity of the main ACE participant is female, qualified and employed, from an English speaking background and aged between 25 and 40. [15]

Employment is important not only because employed people participate more than part-time employed and unemployed persons. It is also a vital ingredient in access to ACE courses. Employers and bodies related to employment, such as unions and professional associations, are the largest providers of training courses for adults: [16] it is claimed that they account for over half the educational participation of adult Australians. [17]

Despite the growth in overall enrolments since 1991, the ACE sector is still mostly populated by the same groups of learners it has catered for traditionally. As Dr Crombie of AAACE observed, `we are doing rather well in getting more recruits of the same sort'. [18] Groups traditionally under-represented in the ACE sector, on the other hand, remain on the margins particularly in general education programs, the core area of ACE. Recent developments in other areas of ACE, such as special targeted programs, are, however, reaching some pockets of disadvantage. Labour market training programs are taking in unemployed people, while English language literacy schemes are targeting not only migrant groups but also people from English speaking backgrounds with limited levels of education (see the case study on WELL in Appendix 2). Despite these moves, addressing disparities in access and equity are recognised as a key challenge facing the sector.

The sum of ACE's participants

The overall picture of participation in ACE was summed up by Mr John McIntyre of AAACE's Participation Research Committee:

Unemployed people are not flocking to general education programs delivered by ACE providers. This is borne out by participation data for NSW which showed that only seven percent of women and two percent of male participants in ACE programs were neither employed nor qualified. [20]

This thumbnail sketch helps portray the upper and lower ends of the scale of ACE participation, but it does not do justice to the sector's attraction to the diverse cross-section of society enrolled in its programs. A major study by the NSW Board of Adult and Community Education concluded that it is mistaken to see the ACE profile as unrepresentative of the community or skewed towards a select group of occupations. On the contrary, participation in the sector spans a broad social and occupational spectrum. In the view of the NSW Board:

One of the weaknesses of the data on participation -whether measured by AVETMISS or the ABS National Social Science Survey - is that the information is not sufficiently disaggregated to provide an accurate picture of the patterns of overall participation across target equity groups. AVETMISS may capture data about disadvantaged groups participation to the extent that such participation is in accredited courses (including literacy and ESL programs), but it fails to capture participation in other programsfor example basic adult education, personal development or pre-vocational courses which may attract participants from disadvantaged groups. The ABS survey data does not distinguish participation according to socio-economic disadvantage, ethnicity, or Aboriginality for example, although it does consider the previous educational attainment of those surveyed. This provides little more than a crude indication of disadvantage. The need for more sophisticated data and research on this issue is widely accepted amongst researchers working on participation in ACE. It is discussed later in the chapter.

The segmented ACE market

As the research data and analysis of participation in ACE has gradually improved since 1991, a more sharply defined and detailed picture of the ACE landscape has emerged. One important finding is that the ACE sector is a `segmented market', rather than a homogenous one. What this means is that particular groups of learners choose to take particular types of courses. For example, the group most attracted to language and communication courses is male professionals. Women, particularly professionals and clerical workers, dominate health courses. Female clerical workers, followed by male professionals, are the largest group participating in courses on business and computing skills. [22]

By `mapping' the connections between groups of learners and fields of study the ACE sector has acquired a clearer understanding of the reasons why particular groups participate in particular courses. Professionals enrol in communications courses in order to brush-up on written and oral skills. Female clerical workers presumably enrol in business and computing courses to not only expand their computer literacy but also to acquire office management, accounting and related skills that will strengthen their claims to senior office positions or assist them in self-employment. The predominance of women in health-related courses suggests that these careers still carry the stereotype of `women's work'.

A crucial dimension of the question of participation relates to identifying those who are not participating. People with low levels of education, older people, people with disabilities, the unemployed and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the main groups which have low participation levels in education and training or are under-represented in proportion to their position in the workforce or population at large. Less is known about the reasons for these groups being under-represented than is the case with explaining why other groups participate in ACE. While research into the profiles and patterns of enrolment of participants is blossoming, research into non-participation remains neglected, a deficiency acknowledged by the ACE research community and marked for attention (see the later section on Future Research).

The value of identifying non-participating groups is that it enables providers to pinpoint and target areas of need. As Mr McIntyre stated, `the heightened awareness of the `segmented' nature of the adult community education `market' ... [has] encouraged providers to focus on the disparities in participation by social groups and to target their provision moreparticularly in general courses, the largest sector of ACE provision'. [23]

Women's participation in ACE

ACE has traditionally served the learning needs of women. The Committee noted the `numerical ascendancy of women' in ACE in Cinderella in 1991. [24] The current predominance of women participants in ACE has a long history. According to a report cited by ANTA, `women comprise 75 per cent of all participants in ACE and this proportion has remained steady for 75 years or more'. [25] A similar view was presented to the Committee in Tasmania. [26]

The high numbers of womenin terms of both students and providersinvolved in ACE is commonly seen as one of the sector's defining features. The prevalence of women in the ACE workforce partly explains the sector's attraction to women participants. [27] The inherent flexibility of the ACE sector also means it is well placed to cater to the particular learning needs of its various women participants. As one witness in Tasmania stated:

The user-friendly nature of ACE for women is said to distinguish it from other educational sectors. According to National VET Statistics, for instance, women constituted 45 percent of vocational enrolments in 1994, [29] compared with women's traditional 75 per cent level of enrolments in ACE. A recent study in Victoria of participation in Stream 2000 and above courses (ie, basic employment skills, operatives, trades, para-professional streams) also revealed that in the community-based sector 67 per cent of participants were women. In contrast, women accounted for 38 per cent of participants in comparable courses in TAFE institutions. [30]

The recent report Think Local and Compete, produced for ANTA, referred to data suggesting a disparity between the overall level of participation by women in ACE and their presence in VET courses delivered through ACE. [31] The reasons for this situation are unclear and no doubt complex. The proportionately low number of women enrolling in accredited vocational courses may be partly attributed to the limited extent to which ACE providers currently offer vocational courses. Only 8 per cent of ACE provision is accredited, and this in turn is estimated to represent around 1.5 per cent of national VET courses. [32] Women's low participation in accredited programs may also have something to do with the fact that the history of accredited training ties such courses very strongly to industries which have traditionally been the province of a male workforce.

Women may comprise the majority of ACE participants, but their presence is not spread evenly across fields or levels of study. Men are clearly in the minority numerically, but they are represented strongly in ACE in terms of credentialled or award courses and fields related to high-income professions. Women, on the other hand, tend to be concentrated in non-credentialled courses, often in `lower streams' and in fields traditionally seen as `women's work' (eg, nursing, community services). The Network of Women in Further Education situation saw this situation as raising questions about equity:

On this account, inequities in women's participation found in workplace training and formal vocational education are also apparent in the ACE sector. [34] On the face of it, this view would seem to be contradicted by the highly feminised nature of ACE, its traditional role in addressing the educational needs of women and its widely-accepted reputation as a sector that is highly flexible and responsive to the interests of its clients.

There are grounds for suggesting that the ACE sector mirrors quite closely the social and economic stratification of Australian society in general. This is apparent from the occupational status of ACE participants. Women in clerical jobs comprise the largest group (almost 25 per cent) of women participants in ACE; clerical work also accounts for the largest group of women workers (29 per cent, based on NSW figures). The second largest group of female participants in ACE is from professional occupations: almost 20 per cent of females in ACE are professionals, whereas they comprise only 13.5 per cent of the female workforce in NSW. [35] Both female and male professionals have a level of participation in ACE higher than their presence in the workforce, a point that reinforces the general pattern that those who are already relatively highly qualified and in higher-income jobs are more likely to participate in ACE.

In contrast, unemployed people with limited educational attainment are decidedly in the minority in ACE. Women who are unemployed and unqualified accounted for between seven and ten percent of women in ACE according to different surveys. Unemployed men without qualifications participate even less: only 2 per cent of male participants in one survey were out of work and lacking qualifications. [36] On the basis of these figures, access and targeting for equity groups regardless of gender remain issues for the ACE sector. Much more research needs to be done on this aspect of participationor rather non-participation.

Given the sensitivity of the ACE sector to the learning needs of women, the concentration of women in non-accredited, lower level courses may say more about the constraints some groups of women face in participating in education than it does about the sector itself. As one witness pointed out, higher levels of education maybe beyond the horizon for many women:

The relatively large number of women at the `lower' end of ACE tends to undermine claims that such students can use ACE as a pathway for accessing other sectors of education. The Network of Women in Further Education claimed:

There is another dimension to the analysis of women's participation in ACE which looks beyond numbers and percentages. It concerns what some have claimed to be the `silence' about women in reports dealing with ACEincluding Cinderella and statements such as the National ACE Policy. These reports have been accused of `paint[ing] a picture of adult learning as a gender neutral activity'. [39] On this account it is a silence which persists, notwithstanding the acknowledgment of the high levels of participation of women in ACE

The policy suggests that `ACE gives women access to educational opportunities which are shaped in content, method and style by women' (1992 p 5) and implicitly suggests that these opportunities will therefore be appropriate for other women learners. There is no analysis of how particular groups of women may get to determine the `content, method and style', what limits are set to their own practice as educators or how it is determined that these activities are naturally appropriate for women learners. In the rest of the document women are submerged under the category `special needs' and the gendered construction of learning and provision, as well as the `interlocking effects' (Tidsell 1993) of race and class differences, are rendered invisible. [40]

The Committee is alert to the difficulties of ensuring that the concerns described above are properly taken into account in the description of ACE and in the development of relevant policy. It is appropriate that, in the process of revising the National ACE Policy, the MCEETYA Taskforce should explicitly attend to such concerns.

The Committee RECOMMENDS that the Commonwealth seek a formal response to a draft of the revised National ACE Policy from key women's organisations such as the Network of Women in Further Education and from independent assessors with expertise in the analysis of gender issues.

Childcare

The Come in Cinderella report noted the inadequacy of childcare arrangements to be a major barrier to participation in ACE by women. [41] While significant improvements have been made in childcare provision generally over the past few years, this has largely benefited women in the workforce. For women involved in ACE programs, the childcare situation has improved little since 1991.

Conventional child care centres are not entirely suitable for the purpose of releasing carers of children to engage in adult and community education due to two main reasons. The most obvious is cost. Carers of children often do not have a large disposable income and tend to eliminate such `luxuries' for themselves from the budget in times of economic hardship [45]. Secondly, the spasmodic patterns of childcare required by ACE studentsfor only 40 weeks of the year, or for short courses even less, and over a variety of time slotsusually preclude the use of conventional child care centres. As one would expect, this problem is exacerbated in rural areas where the distance between, and lack of availability of, suitable facilities is more pronounced. [46]

On the other hand, the Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres in Victoria have seen a notable increase of mothers of young children using child rearing years to acquire new vocational skills in recent years. [47] They attribute subsidised childcare as an important factor facilitating this increased participation. [48] In Armadale Western Australia, the Learning Centre Link found that the range of women reached and the learning outcomes were improved by providing `affordable and appropriate on-site child care'. [49] Several submissions reported similar findings. In the Committee's view, access to child care facilities is a key to increasing the participation rates of women in ACE. This is an area in which collaboration and sharing of facilities at the local level must be encouraged.

Men in ACE

The picture above of male ACE participants being heavily outnumbered by females only tells half the story of male involvement in ACE. Some groups of men are strongly represented in particular areas of the ACE sector. As noted already, the over-representation of female professionals in ACE is even more strongly the case for male professionals: `ACE has almost twice the proportion of male professionals found in the workforce'. [50] Men are more likely to take courses run by employers, unions or industry bodies than women, [51] a point which may be related to a perception embedded amongst men that ACE courses run by community-based bodies or neighbourhood centres are the preserve of women.

At the other end of the scale, unemployed men account for only about 10 percent male participants in ACE. Men in a more acutely disadvantaged positionunemployed and unqualifiedamount for a mere two percent of male participants. [52] The under-presentation of this group of men is the reverse of their over-representation amongst the long-term unemployed of Australia. [53] This reinforces the bleak conclusion cited above that the ACE sector is not playing as significant a role as it might for unemployed people looking for `second chance' education in their bid to return to work. [54]

The exact reasons for this situation are not revealed in current research on ACEa deficiency that is symptomatic of the poverty of research on non-participation in ACE generally. Clearly it is an issue warranting deeper probing by ACE researchers if the sector hopes to play a stronger part in assisting the unemployed.

 

Footnotes

[1] Submission no 34, vol 3, p 95 (AAACE)

[2] Senate Employment, Education and Training Committee. Come in Cinderella: the emergence of adult and community education, pp 154-157

[3] The results of this survey are reproduced in a refined form in AAACE, Who are Australia's adult learners? September 1995

[4] Submission no 82, vol, 6 p 37 (Mr McIntyre)

[5] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, pp 10-11 (Dr Crombie)

[6] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, pp 10-11 (Dr Crombie)

[7] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, pp 10-11 (Dr Crombie)

[8] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 41 (Mr McIntyre), citing ACE Works: The Vocational Outcomes of Adult and Community Education Courses in New South Wales, NSW Board of ACE, 1995

[9] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 41 (Mr McIntyre)

[10] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 58 (Mr McIntyre)

[11] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 37 (Mr McIntyre)

[12] Transcript of Evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 12 (Ms Thomas); Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 58 (Mr McIntyre)

[13] Transcript of evidence, Hobart, p 160 (Ms Bloomfield)

[14] Transcript of evidence, Albury, p 245 (Mr Jones)

[15] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 10 (Ms Thomas)

[16] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 37 (Mr McIntyre)

[17] AAACE. Who are Australia's adult learners? September 1995, p 1

[18] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 11 (Dr Crombie)

[19] Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 59 (Mr McIntyre)

[20] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 41 (Mr McIntyre)

[21] John McIntyre et al. ACE Works: The Vocational Outcomes of Adult and Community Education Courses in New South Wales, 1995, p 155

[22] Submission no 82, vol 6, pp 44-45 (Mr McIntyre); Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 59 (Mr McIntyre)

[23] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 44 (Mr McIntyre)

[24] SCEET. Come in Cinderella, p 172

[25] Submission no 67, vol 5, p 38 (ANTA)

[26] Transcript of evidence, Hobart, p 160 (Ms Bloomfield)

[27] Submission no 94, vol 8, p 1 (Network of Women in Further Education) (Supplement to submission no 30)

[28] Transcript of evidence, Hobart, pp 172-173 (Ms Taylor)

[29] Submission no 67, vol 5, p 38 (ANTA)

[30] Submission no 94, vol 8, p 1 (Network of Women in Further Education Educationdata from ACFEB) (Supplement to submission no 30)

[31] Kaye Schofield and Robyn Dryen. Think local and compete, An analysis of the role of Adult and Community Education in the implementation of a national system for Vocational and Education and Training, ANTA, August 1996, p 25

[32] Schofield and Dryen. Think local and compete, p vi

[33] Transcript of evidence, Melbourne, pp 195-196 (Ms Clemens)

[34] Submission no 94, vol 8, p 1 (Network of Women in Further Education Education) (Supplement to submission no 30)

[35] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 43 (Mr McIntyre)

[36] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 41 (Mr McIntyre)

[37] Submission no 62, vol 4, p 178 (Ms Madsen)

[38] Submission no 94, vol 8, p 1 (Network of Women in Further Education Education) (Supplement to submission no 30)

[39] Submission no 88, vol 7, pp 8-9 (Ms Shore)

[40] Submission no 88, vol 7, p 10 (Ms Shore)

[41] SCEET. Come in Cinderella, pp 120, 121

[42] Submission no 64, vol 4, p 189 (Community and Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association Inc)

[43] Submission no 35, vol 3, p 109 (NSW Association of Community Adult Education Centres Inc)

[44] Kate Barnett. Swings and roundabouts: the open training market and women's participation in TAFE. National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd, 1993, p 27

[45] Submission no 54, vol 4, p 113 (Association of Neighbourhood Houses Learning Centres of Vic Inc)

[46] Submission no 35, vol 3, p 111 (NSW ACAEC Inc); Barnett. Swings and roundabouts, pp 26, 27

[47] Submission no 54, vol 4, p 111 (ANHLC of Vic Inc)

[48] Submission no 54, vol 4, pp 109-110 (ANHLC of Vic Inc)

[49] Submission no 15, vol 1, p 117 (Learning Centre Link)

[50] Submission no 82, vol 6, p 43 (Mr McIntyre)

[51] AAACE. Who are Australia's adult learners? p 4

[52] Submission no 82, vol 6, pp 41-42 (Mr McIntyre)

[53] See this Committee's report on the inquiry into long term unemployment, October 1995, pp 19, 41

[54] See also Transcript of evidence, Canberra, 1 August 1996, p 59 (Mr McIntyre)