The contribution of Individual Learning Accounts to the lifelong learning policies of the UK government: a case-study

Abstract

This paper reports on a large-scale quantitative survey of adult learners in Bournemouth, Poole and the County of Dorset who have used the UK government's Individual Learning Account (ILA) initiative to fund their learning. It concludes that while there has been an element of public funding substituting for private and employer sources, the initiative has contributed to lifelong learning objectives by drawing in new participants and by encouraging previous participants to take on more demanding learning tasks. It also emphasises that some groups under-represented in ‘workplace’ learning initiatives (for example older workers, part-timers and the self-employed) have participated in substantial numbers. The importance of advice and guidance in helping people to behave reflexively in a period of intense social and economic change is also stressed. The emphasis throughout is on the empirical data. The evidence is placed, however, within a theoretical framework that sees the outcomes of government policy as fundamentally contested and messy rather than inscribed in the intentions of politicians and civil servants.