If you want to study for a degree but need flexibility to study around your current job, family and commitments or you don’t have traditional entry qualification then The Open University may be an option for you.
Adult Education/
Continuing Education
Whether you want to change careers, are looking for promotion or just want to ensure you stay employable, increasing your skills and knowledge is important. It’s never too late and there are lots of opportunities to learn and develop.
Ask yourself whether you need to learn:
a small, specific skill, tool or process that you might be able to learn in a few hours
a skill that requires practice and gradual improvement to help you change jobs
a new set of skills to help you change career
core skills such as English and Maths. These are skills very often needed to access a wide range of jobs.
Once you know this, you’ll have an idea whether the new skills you want are something you can learn yourself, through your employer or something you need help with through a short course or part-time or full-time learning.
Did you know that if you are over 16 and left school and need basic English, Maths and/or IT skills you may be able to get these FREE? See the Adult Learning information below for more information.
Please follow this link for information on financial support available.
Skills health check
The National Careers Service offers a free Skills Health Check. Working through it can help you decide what kind of jobs might be right for you. You’ll be able to download your report once you’ve completed at least one assessment.
Local Authority Adult Education Provision
The Bedfordshire Employment and Skills Service (BESS) provides opportunities for adults to get involved in learning within the community. In particular, we aim to work with people who have not achieved a level 2 (or equivalent) qualification and/or are unemployed.
The BESS adult learning programme can help you:
get back into learning
gain skills and qualifications to help you into work
gain skills and qualifications to help you progress at work
Courses are delivered by our in-house team of tutors as well as a number of other training providers. Here is more information on what we have on offer:
To enquire about our courses please complete the Adult Learning Enquiry form
Free courses
There is also a range of FREE training on offer.
Open Learn aims to break the barriers of education by reaching millions of learners around the world, providing free educational resources and inviting all to sample courses that our registered students take – for free! These are free online courses from the Open University
Future Learn offers a diverse selection of courses from leading universities and cultural institutions from around the world. These are delivered one step at a time, and are accessible on mobile, tablet and desktop, so you can fit learning around your life. They cover subjects such as business management, health and psychology, languages, law, computer science and more
Other ways to self-learn include visiting your local library. You can access books of all kinds including online books and audio books. The libraries also offer learning events throughout the year: Central Bedfordshire Libraries.
Other providers of further education
Further Education
Apprenticeships - Apprenticeships combine practical training in a job with study. More information can be found on the Apprenticeships and Traineeships page.
Higher Education
University of Bedfordshire
University of Northampton
The Open University
Open University
If you want to study for a degree but need flexibility to study around your current job, family and commitments or you don’t have traditional entry qualification then The Open University may be an option for you.
