In formulating actions to meet these shared objectives, the working groups of the partnership identified the need for specific research to be undertaken into the barriers to learning in the SELP area and in particular those affecting adults.
The chief barriers were usually considered to be the lack of funding and resources available to a sector of education that was extremely diverse and not compulsory.  Whilst the further and higher education sectors in England are seen as the main progression routes for those post-16, and indeed adults over 21 now form the majority of the student body in these sectors, most adult education has remained peripheral.  The image that participation in adult education is a choice for those who have the time and the money still persists.  This is in part due to the public perception that the further and higher education sectors provide academic and vocational training, and formal provision outside this is focused on non-vocational and leisure courses.

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