Rooted in Community
Learning Matters
In a world where formal education can sometimes feel unachievable due to life’s complexities, it has never felt more important to keep learning accessible and rooted in communities. The Urban Learning Academy (ULA) was officially launched in 2022, where an alliance and large learning provider partnership was formed to bring adult learning community together in Exeter. Instead of asking people to cross thresholds that may feel inaccessible, the ULA brings learning directly into the heart of the community in not just one space but many, opening up many pathways into learning and meaningful activity.
Together we are trying to identify and breakdown the hidden barriers that can keep people from engaging in learning as adults: not just time or money, but confidence, self-belief and belonging. And crucially, at the heart of ULA’s approach is the belief that learning should be accessible, welcoming and flexible for everyone. To enable, empower and transform lives.
At a time when public investment and funding in adult education is declining, the need for accessible, community-rooted learning has never been more urgent. The landscape of adult learning is shifting and the ULA are trying to respond this with passion, innovation and agility. Funding cuts are hitting local authorities, charities, and partner organisations hard, leading to the loss of long-standing courses and the disappearance of trusted learning providers across the city, so this is where the ULA needs to look at long term funding and building a sustainable future.
The impact of reduction of funding goes far beyond fewer opportunities — it means fewer lifelines. For many adults, particularly those experiencing poverty, isolation, or complex lives, community learning is more than just a chance to gain new skills. It’s a chance to begin again, to be seen and heard, to reconnect, and to use learning as a powerful tool for personal and social change and become an active citizen in their community.
Place matters
Learning can feel more accessible when it happens in spaces that already feels familiar. Creating the right environment can bring a sense of belonging, comfort, connection, feeling safe and supported and a sense of ownership.
The Urban Learning Academy understands this deeply. It recognises that community learning is most powerful not just when it happens in the community, but when it grows from the community, from the grass roots. It’s about intentionally co-creating learning with participants, supporting local community learning providers, and rooting learning and development in lived experience. That’s what makes it more relevant, more impactful, and more lasting for people to see and feel change and progression and build opportunities.
And perhaps most importantly, The ULA uses learning as a tool for community cohesion. People come for the courses and opportunities — but they stay for the connections, and we see and hear this time and time again with the ULA often being referred to as ‘a lifeline’. A conversation over art, a shared laugh in a writing session, a sense of routine in a regular group — these small interactions build something much bigger: trust, solidarity, and the slow weaving of community social fabric.
Our Learners voices and experiences matter
At the ULA we want to celebrate every step of the learning journey, because we know small steps lead to big strides in confidence and a positive direction towards building self-belief. Here are just a few examples of some of the words of our learners have said, because their voices matter to us:
“learning with others has given me the chance to connect with my community”
“The course gave me so many ideas that have made me so much more enthusiastic about possibilities for the future. It made me look at and admit to my own skills. I have gained so much inspiration and actual excitement about future possibilities”
Learning helps build stronger communities
There’s a growing recognition across our community of the valuable role the ULA plays in supporting adult learning in Exeter. With that comes an increasing expectation that we’ll continue to grow and broaden what we offer, and we share this aspirational vision for the ULA -but without sustained funding, this level of delivery, collaboration and support can’t continue to grow and flourish. As a community, we must not only acknowledge this reality but also take collective responsibility to address it.
It’s a reminder that learning isn’t about having to find work — it’s about growing roots, taking small steps towards bigger strides and changing futures. And when learning is woven into the everyday fabric of a place, it doesn’t just change individuals — it reduces isolation, rebuilds self-belief, and transforms communities from the inside out.
The Urban Learning Academy is proudly experimental and empowering at its core. We believe that meaningful learning doesn’t have to follow traditional paths — in fact, it often flourishes when we’re willing to try new things, listen deeply, and co-create with the communities we provide so many opportunities for alongside our partners.
We believe in learning as a form of agency — a way for individuals to reclaim confidence, make change, and feel connected to something bigger.
A shared vision for learning
In a city facing deepening inequalities, the ULA is reimagining what learning can look like, to be a learning city, to have a meaningful activity hub in the heart of the city to be a beacon of opportunity for learning and meaningful activity — not just as a course or a classroom, but as a movement for possibility, voice, and transformation. We want to grow with people not just for people. We are here to Enable, Empower and Transform lives together, as an alliance, collective, partnership. We want to continue to co-design the offer with our learners at the centre of all we do and welcome everyone to come on the journey to discovery a sustainable Community Urban Learning Academy rooted in community.
Jo Cuthbertson, Head of Service for Learning