Would a night school renaissance help further education?

At the start of this year, a long list of MPs, from all over the UK, signed a letter to Apprenticeships and Skills minister Robert Halfon urging him to commit to bringing about a resurgence in adult education to close the country's "skills gap."

The letter was penned by Tottenham MP Chris Lammy and it followed his parliamentary debate on Adult Education and the Future of Night Schools, in which he made the case for the government to increase funding for adult education as a way to help the country "meet the challenges of Brexit."

So why do so many politicians want this adult education resurgence, with an emphasis on night schools, and what will it mean for the further education sector?

Why do politicians want to bring back night schools?

According to Chris Lammy's debate, and to the text of the letter, the "gaping skills gap that is holding back our economy" is one of the main reasons more night schools are needed. According to the group of 61 MPs, one-quarter of UK job positions go unfilled because applicants lack the requisite skills to fill them.

According to a 2016 study entitled Mind The Gap, key areas in which UK workers lack skills include the data, security, Python, Ruby, UI and UX areas of computer technology. As Lammy also highlights, the country's likely exit from the EU Single Market will exacerbate this problem, as UK firms will no longer be able to rely on employing skilled EU migrants to do these jobs.

Another key motivation behind the letter to the Apprenticeships and Skills minister, though, appears to be a concern for people who feel "left behind" in British society. This other gap between those who have benefited from the growth in Britain's economy in past years and those who have not, could also be closed by night schools, according to Lammy.

Lammy says adult education can get working class people the skills they need to "access the growth sectors in our economy", which will help those outside of London and the South East feel the benefits of the country's economic growth.

Could night schools really close these gaps?

The power of further education to contribute to the betterment of individuals and society is a substantial one, but there is one key question MPs should be asking before they go ahead with any night school plans: will people actually enrol?

Though night schools are conveniently held after working hours, people in the UK already work more than their counterparts in most neighbouring EU countries, with the average Briton putting in 38 days of overtime each year.

With these figures in mind, the prospect of doing more work when the workday is over may not be particularly appealing to many of the people who would benefit from learning new skills.

If the government was to listen to Lammy's requests, it would have to make sure it did everything it could to encourage people to go to enrol in night school classes, or else neither the skills gap nor the cultural gap will be closed.

How could we bring back more night schools?

Bringing back night schools would involve increasing government funding for further education, or perhaps implementing a governmental loan system akin to the university tuition fees loan scheme.

Unfortunately, Robert Halfon has yet to formally respond to Lammy's post-debate letter. Since the Public Accounts Committee warned of a "looming crisis" in further education funding just two months ago, it is unlikely that a night school renaissance will be possible without a major change in departmental policy.