Welcome to Adult Education

Key contact details

If you cannot get to your class (whatever the reason) or need to get a message to your tutor urgently, you can call us on 01908 252500.

You can also email us anytime.

Our main office hours are: Monday to Thursday - 9am - 5pm, Friday - 9am-4.30pm

You will get more out of your course if you talk to your tutor about why you have chosen it and what you would like to achieve.

Before the first session

Please read these questions and be ready to share your answers with your tutor at your first session.

Why did you choose to do this course?
Have you done a similar course before? If so, how long ago?
Have you learned about this subject without doing a course e.g. by reading, joining a club, travelling or at work?
What would help you to succeed in your course?
Do you prefer working alone or as part of a group?
Do you learn best by being given set tasks to complete or by discovering how to do things yourself?
Do you like to watch demonstrations, then have a go yourself, or do you prefer to have printed instructions?

The first sessions

Your tutor should talk to you about the following:

The structure of the course and key dates
Essential Health & Safety
Any ground rules for the course
Any accreditation or qualifications this course involves
The group learning goals as listed on the Course Information Sheet under “What will I learn”
Your motivation for joining the course
Your own learning goals and what you want to achieve
Extra help we can offer if you have any disabilities or learning difficulties

During the course – getting feedback on your progress

Your tutor should:

Consider your personal learning goals
Talk to you about what could help you improve your skills
Help you use your ILP (Individual Learning Plan) effectively to recognise and record your progress

At the end of the course

Your tutor should:

Help you look back over the course to see what you have achieved
Give you advice about further learning and opportunities
Identify if you have met your learning goals

Your views – the learner voice

Please put forward suggestions at any point in your course, either via your tutor or directly to us.

You can also attend our Learner Forum; email Jane Sharp for more information.

Help for learners with disabilities

We are committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are not disadvantaged.

We will make reasonable changes to meet your specific needs. For example, we can adapt learning materials, provide specialist equipment and make special arrangements for examinations.

Most of the venues we use are fully accessible and have disabled parking facilities.

For more information, or if you have any concerns, contact us.

Resources and materials for learning

Materials, other than handouts, are not usually included in the course fees. Your course information sheet should give you some guidance on additional costs for essential materials. Your tutor will provide ongoing advice on where to source good quality materials at a reasonable price.

If you need to use the internet for research and do not have access at home you can get help at your local library.

Not Satisfied?

If you have any complaints or concerns regarding our service please speak first with the staff member concerned, who will try to resolve the problem immediately.

Should the problem continue or you are dissatisfied with the response then you can ask for further investigation by a more senior person.

Any written complaints will be acknowledged within 7 days and a response provided within 21 days.

For further details or advice about the council’s comments and complaints procedure call 01908 691691 or use the MKCC comments, complaints and compliments form

Our Policies and Procedures

We have a range of policies and procedures to ensure that all our learners receive a high quality learning experience and stay safe. You can view our Fee Policy and Terms and Conditions here.

Safeguarding

The health and wellbeing of our learners is very important to us. We are committed to making sure that all of our learners and staff feel safe by ensuring that:

All people who engage with the service know that they are expected to respect staff, learners and venues
Tutors are informed if assistance is required to evacuate a building in an emergency, eg, mobility or hearing impairments
All learners are taught in safe places by carrying out regular health and safety checks at all of our venues
We strictly follow safer recruitment processes and all of our staff have undergone a DBS check

Any incidents or disclosures will be treated seriously and sensitively in accordance with our Safeguarding Policy.

If you want to talk about any Safeguarding concerns you can speak to your tutor or contact Reception and ask to speak to one of the Safeguarding officers.

The Prevent Duty

Prevent is one of the elements of the government’s counter terrorism strategy. Section 21 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty on certain bodies to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.”

It is about safeguarding you as a learner to keep you safe and within the law. The Prevent Duty is not about preventing you from having political and religious views and concerns but about supporting you to use or act on those concerns in non-extremist ways.

The government has defined extremism as: “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.” This also includes calls for the death of members of the British armed forces.

Staying Safe

These guidelines are meant to be a common sense approach which reduces the chances of abuse and helps to protect staff, learners and volunteers.

To safeguard other learners and staff you are expected to:

Follow the rules of the service, including no drinking of alcohol, using illegal drugs or other banned substances
Follow smoking rules and laws which state that smoking is only allowed in certain areas
Follow all safety/emergency rules such as fire drills
Understand that there is a zero tolerance for behaviour such as aggression, bullying, cyberbullying, harassment or any types of abuse, damage to property and the use of indecent language

Stay Safe Online

We want you to use the internet safely whilst on your course. You can do this by:

Keeping your personal information safe
Protecting your passwords
Checking your privacy settings
Thinking carefully before uploading photos or tagging locations

Remember, not everyone online is who they say they are

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is when a person uses technology, i.e. mobile phones, social networking sites or instant messenger, to deliberately upset someone.

Cyberbullying can be considered a criminal offence under several acts including:

Protection from Harassment Act (1997), Malicious Communications Act (1988), Communications Act (2003), Obscene Publications Act (1959) and Computer Misuse Act (1990)

Learner Charter

Our promise to you

We will

Be courteous, efficient and helpful at all times
Treat everyone as an individual and ensure personal information is kept confidential
Ensure those with specific learning needs or language requirements are able to access our services fully
Make continuous improvements in all our services by listening to you, striving to achieve national standards and learning from our mistakes

Our service standards