* Playworkers and childminders could benefit from home study courses being offered by the National Extension College (NEC), a charitable trust which aims to widen adults' educational opportunities through distance learning.
The NEC is marking Adult Learners Week (11 to 17 May) by offering a free course to anyone who enrols simultaneously on two or more of its courses during May. The NEC believes the most popular combinations will be two GCSEs or A levels for the price of one. It said, 'Someone qualifying as a childcare professional could use the offer to cut their training costs.'
The NEC, which is accredited by the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council, found in a survey of 2,000 home study students last year that learning at home for pleasure is on the wane and that most people signing up for distance learning courses are aiming to improve their work prospects.
For details of NEC courses log on to its website at www.nec.ac.ukor telephone 01223 450220.
