We can expect fewer educational opportunities and fewer providers; it looks rather gloomy. Do we have to accept this or do we find ways to prevent the educational landscape from becoming desolate?
This article was first published on EPALE: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/advocacy-der-erwachsenenbildung-stimme-und-gesicht-geben
We do not need to read tea-leaves to foretell how difficult it will be for adult education in the future, because the first consequences of the coronavirus are already becoming apparent. Some educational providers are already insolvent, because they could not cope with the losses caused by the closures. Other providers will probably have to follow or at least reduce offers because:
- A higher rate of unemployment leads to less money in households and can mean a decline in registrations and thus in income.
- Municipal funding will be significantly lower, as municipal revenues from taxes etc. will fall and at the same time the spending, e.g. on social assistance, will increase. As a result, more offers become more expensive, which can also have a negative impact on the number of registrations. It is foreseeable that very few municipalities will recover from the crisis in the next twelve months. The same can also be assumed for state funding.
- Funding is often based on the hours worked in the current year and in 2020 there will be significantly fewer hours due to closures.
- As long as the distancing rules must be followed, many face-to-face sessions will no longer be able to take place with the calculated number of participants, which also leads to financial losses.
- New funding pools, whether from federal, state or EU funds, are only likely for vocational education and training because all institutions are spending a great deal of money to combat the immediate consequences of the crisis. Money that will be lacking to further promote adult education as a whole.
In short: We can expect fewer educational opportunities and fewer providers; it looks rather gloomy. Do we have to accept this or do we find ways to prevent the educational landscape from becoming desolate?
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