Government initiatives 'are impeding the main purpose of education'

Lifelong learning has been damaged by government initiatives that have stretched resources and produced a complex and confusing system, according to one lifelong learning professor.

Frank Coffield of Newcastle University told an audience at the Institute of Education that evaluation of any one initiative was virtually impossible.

He said government departments had responded negatively to a paradox faced by society. "As jobs become more complex and skilled, they are likely to require more discretion to carry them out, but instead of trusting individuals to monitor their own performance, government policies are predicated on a deep lack of trust in professionals."

Professor Coffield said that given the huge sums of public money involved in post-16 learning, there was a need for a strong system of accountability and for the removal of incompetent or unprofessional tutors.

He said:"Can the learning and skills sector learn from the heavy audit culture which has been imposed on schools and, to a lesser extent so far, on universities and colleges of further education? I have learned that you cannot dragoon academics into creativity by individual or group targets or by any other type of performance indicator."

Professor Coffield said a cost-benefit analysis of the audit culture was urgently needed to discover whether apparent improvements in results were worth all the pain.

He said: "If the English system was really so successful, why is it not being copied by other European countries? It is revealing that both Wales and Scotland have rejected the more damaging features of the audit culture, for example league tables, tests for seven-year-olds and punitive inspections."

Professor Coffield said that in trying to establish new structures, set ever tougher targets, drive up the quality of teaching and learning, involve more non-traditional learners in education and develop more appropriate funding regimes, the main purpose of such worthy activities could easily be forgotten.

He said: "We want to create learners, young and old, who have a genuine love of learning; who have been imbued with a creative discontent and so wish to improve society for the benefit of all. The question which now cries out to be answered is: are all the reforms in education creating lifelong learners and democratic, active citizens?"