Adult Learning in Harrow is delivered through partnership with 20 providers (13 of whom are actively delivering in 2021-2023) as well as some direct delivery.
Funding of Adult, Community Learning in Harrow broadly fall into two types, accredited programmes through the Adult Skills Budget and Community Learning. Click on the type link for more information and priority groups. The service also funds some Innovation Projects.
Strategic Priorities
To secure the delivery of an accessible, coherent and high-quality learning programme for adults and families in Harrow. The aim is to increase and widen participation in learning, promote the wider benefits of learning, enable people to develop skills, knowledge and confidence, and encourage a culture of life-long learning through progressing learners to further study.
The overall objectives are set out in the Community Learning Strategy as:
- Widening participation in learning through targeting community learning and providing a means for learners who do not currently participate to gain access to the learning process
- Enhancing individuals’ quality of life by providing a wide range of learning opportunities that contribute to health and well-being, community cohesion and citizenship, employability skills and stronger family relationships
- Developing local learning communities by enhancing the capacity of new providers, particularly community and voluntary organisations, to develop learning programmes for their immediate communities
- Developing high quality teaching and learning by enhancing the professional status and on-going professional development of those engaged in the delivery of community learning
Local Context
- The Learn Harrow Service is part of the Coimmunity Directorate and contributes to the Council’s overall vision of Making a Difference for the vulnerable, communities, local businesses and families
- Harrow is an outer London Borough with an estimated population of around 246,000, a 14% growth over the last ten years. The population is increasingly diverse. White British make up 42% of the population, compared to 60% for London and 82% for England as a whole.
- The proportion of residents aged over 65 at 14.8% is higher than the London average of 11.6%.
- The borough overall is one of contrasts. Harrow is among the top eight most affluent boroughs in London but also ranks among the top eight for high rates of low income linked to employment. There are pockets of severe deprivation, mainly in the central and south west areas in the wards of Roxbourne, Wealdstone, Greenhill and Marlborough.