Working with wood or working with wool? An NVQ or an ITQ? Fluent French or flower arranging?
These are just a few of the huge number of adult education courses being offered in Eden in a new brochure launched this week (Thursday 17 August).
The brochure is packed with details of around 200 courses available in the Eden district and over 800 altogether across Cumbria, all run by the county council. You can learn a new skill to help you get a job or improve the skills you already use at work. There are courses to help you find out more about subjects and activities you already love or maybe want to try your hand at for the first time.
The brochure features each course, where it will be held, how many weeks it runs for and whether it is a daytime or evening course. For many of the courses the learner only pays around 50 per cent of the cost of providing it. The courses are even cheaper for unemployed people receiving benefits and people who are over sixty.
Over 200,000 copies of the brochure are currently being distributed to households throughout the county, and you can select a course in any location.
The Government has recently changed its funding priorities to focus on skills that will be useful in getting or progressing in a job and this brochure features many courses that will help people brush up on their skills for work. However, the Council's adult education service has still managed to offer a wide range of courses that offer value for money.
Amongst the many other very different courses available are 'Pilates for all', Applied A Level business studies, flamenco dancing, digital photography, touch typing and dog obedience.
For further information about a course contact the centre running it, and watch out for local information and enrolment sessions. If you are unsure about which course to take or want to know where it might lead, 'nextstep' is a local service for adults provided by Connexions Cumbria on 0800 435709. There is also a national advice line, 'learndirerct' on 0800 100 900.
The brochure also contains an application to post off with the correct fee once you have decided which course or courses you want to take.
County Councillor Alan Bobbett is assistant cabinet member for education in Children's Services. He said:
"There's an amazingly wide choice of courses on offer in this new adult education brochure, whether you want to get your body or your brain moving.
"Because of the Government's changing funding priorities there had been concerns in some quarters that adult education would disappear completely but this brochure shows that nothing could be further from the truth.
"I hope you will find time to read through the brochure, and enrol on a course that we can guarantee will be of high quality, and improve your quality of life."
Anyone who hasn't received a copy of the 2006/2007 adult education programme through their door by the end of August should call (01228) 607304.
Notes for Editors
Through its adult education centres and partner organisations, Cumbria Adult Education Service (CAES) delivers a wide range of learning opportunities in all parts of the county.
Currently CAES provides courses to around 20,000 adults in the county. The courses are for people at all levels and interest
Cumbria County Council sees adult education as crucial to achieving one of its key objectives: promoting learning in the county for all age groups and across all its communities. CAES has a particular commitment to involve in learning those adults who, for one reason or another, have missed out on education earlier in their lives.