Management education trends and gaps – a case study of a community education provision in London (UK)

This study explores trends and gaps in a community education centre in a borough of London in the United Kingdom. The research enquiry revolves around gaining insights into the prior expectations of ‘non-formal’ learners and the perceived gaps in the content and delivery of the curriculum within this space. The main research question is whether craft courses in adult education settings reflect the holistic needs of learners intending to start-up or scale-up their own ventures. Using a mixed-methods approach encompassing participant observations, interviews and a mini survey using structured questionnaires, the study reveals that the skills currently provided by providers of informal adult education did not fully match the expectations of the intended beneficiaries. We observe that learners did not seem quite ready for what the full educational packages involved – in other words there was a misalignment between curriculum design and actual delivery. This revelation has both theoretical and managerial implications, and especially so for unstructured adult learning curriculum development and provision.