Adult education providers need to radically re-think their policies and practices to encourage more men back into learning.

That's the conclusion of research carried out by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's Education and Lifelong Learning department which looked into why more women than men take up learning opportunities.

The Male Adult Learning Experience (MALE) project, sponsored by the Lancashire Learning Skills Council, worked closely with a cross-section of Blackburn and Darwen men aged 16 to 60 plus. They ranged from refuse collectors, taxi drivers and funeral directors to those without jobs. The project has just published its findings.

The results were presented at a Learning Dinner at King George's Hall, in Blackburn on December 4.

"It's a very complex issue but we did find broad themes emerging which call for a radical re-think of how adult education is organised to meet the specific needs of men," said Councillor Mahfooz Hussain, Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning.

"The most surprising finding is that men see education as something for women, not for themselves. There's a lack of male role models in adult education and they feel education providers aren't taking men's needs into account.

"The research also showed that men who reject learning had negative experiences at school. They associate learning with feeling inadequate and worthless and simply don't want to go through that again so they brand it useless and irrelevant." he added.

Men responded more positively to learning which focused on their existing strengths.

The research will now be used to tailor learning programmes to men in Blackburn with Darwen and to produce a good practice toolkit.