About Us

Cumbria Adult Education Service

Cumbria Adult Education Service (CAES) sees its role as one of strengthening and sustaining the people and communities of Cumbria through the power of learning.

Our Key Objectives in 2007/08

CAES will contribute to the achievement of the County Council's Corporate Plan, and the broad strategic objectives of the County Council's Children Services Directorate, through the following key objectives:

1. Increasing the delivery of full Level 2s and 3s within our FE Provision
2. Increasing the number of learners achieving recognised Skills for Life qualifications, with a greater emphasis on numeracy provision.
3. Expanding our employer engagement work through Train to Gain, with a particular focus on the public sector
4. Maintaining the volume of our adapted learning programme, while changing the focus of the curriculum towards fostering the skills for independent living and employability
5. Targeting our delivery of Family Learning programmes on meeting outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda, and ensuring progression onto other qualifications
6. Developing our curriculum in Personal and Community Development Learning (PCDL) in response to the plans emerging from the new PCDL Partnership
7. Promoting equality and diversity in all aspects of the work of the Service
8. Ensuring that all provision and services are of the highest quality through developing a culture of continuous improvement
9. Undertaking a thorough review of our current curriculum offer and infrastructure costs to ensure that the Service can deliver on the LSC's priorities in 2008/09
10. Commissioning the Maryport Educational Settlement as a learning centre for our foundation curriculum  

For further information, you can read the Service Plan for 2007/08:

Service Plan 2007/08

What we deliver

CAES, through its adult education and community development centres and partner organisations, delivers a wide range of learning opportunities in all parts of the county.  There are courses for people at all levels and interests, both qualification bearing and non-accredited, in a wide range of subjects:

• ICT
• Sports and Leisure
• Arts and Crafts
• Languages
• Humanities
• Skills for Life (including English for Speakers of Other Languages)
• Vocational NVQs
• Family Learning    

How we are organised

Courses are organised and delivered through 9 adult learning consortia that are made up of Adult Education Centres and Community Development Centres, and partner providers. Between them they have around 150 outreach locations, meaning that there should always be a course close to you.  All centres are run by a Centre Manager, who would be happy to talk to you about ideas for courses, and your needs as a learner.

View the full list of centres here