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Westminster Institute of Education,
Harcourt Hill Campus,
Oxford OX2 9AT

Meeting the needs of younger learners in further education

The Westminster Institute is part of a Learning and Skills Development Agency research project researching the needs of younger learners in further education. Currently, over 80,000 young people of 14-16 are attending college as part of the DfES Increased Flexibility programme. Since the research began, government policy is to expand the Increased Flexibility Programme, which increases the importance of researching the cognitive, social and emotional needs of younger learners in college settings.

The rationale for this research lies in a widespread belief among FE teachers that they need help to meet the needs of 14-16 year old learners. The Times Educational Supplement (TES 2002) reported that ‘Disruptive 14–16 year olds are driving college lecturers to take stress-related sick leave.’ Whatever teaching difficulties some FE staff may have in working with younger learners, the first phase of the research has found that most younger learners like being in college very much. The current, second, phase of the project is researching the responses of school and college teachers to the perceptions of younger learners, in order to determine what additional training and support staff may need to work with them.

Click here for a feature article in the Learning and Skills Development Agency briefing for January 2005, which disseminated news about the project nationally.