Knowsley FACE - 0151 443 2026/2052

We are KMBC's Adult and Community Education Service. We offer a range of affordable and accessible qualification based and community learning courses.

Knowsley Family And Community Education (FACE) aims to provide a friendly and supportive service where adults can learn in a non-threatening environment. We offer adult education provision throughout the Borough and are committed to:

o Enabling all learners to fulfil their educational potential
o Encouraging all learners to take up adult education opportunities

We provide adult, community and family learning provision in a range of venues across Knowsley including Centres for Learning, Libraries, Children’s Centres, Primary Schools and Community Venues.

In order to carry out our mission and to contribute to wider Council strategies of active citizenship, healthy living, community cohesion and social inclusion, the Local Authority seeks to extend wider learning. This is achieved through links with extended services and employing the voluntary and community sector to reach out to disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the community.

Our courses are accredited or formal (certificated) and non-accredited (community learning).

Accredited means that at the end of your course you will receive a certificate from a recognised Examination or Awarding Body. It does not mean you have to sit an exam or test in all cases, but that the work you produce is marked or assessed to the standards set by the Examination or Awarding Body. All our Further Education provision is accredited.

You may feel nervous about taking an accredited course because of lack of confidence, being out of learning for a long time, frightened of being assessed, having to pay etc. Help and support is available all the way through your course to ensure you achieve!

Non-Accredited means that there is no external assessment at the end of your course but you will receive an internal certificate of achievement or participation. These courses are usually shorter in time and once completed, you will be encouraged and supported to progress to a different or higher level course (which may be accredited or non-accredited). We consider our non-accredited provision to be our main CL (Community Learning) provision.


Community Learning is about learning for personal development and enjoyment. It is also learning that is developed with local residents and other learners to build the skills, knowledge and understanding for social and community action.

Community Learning is about:
• Learning to know – becoming inspired, discovering and exploring, developing a passion for learning, acquiring knowledge and understanding of ourselves, our immediate world and beyond
• Learning to do – gaining skills, confidence, competence and practical abilities
• Learning to live together – learning tolerance, mutual understanding and interdependence, sharing the experience of learning with family and friends
• Learning to be - developing ourselves, our mental and physical capacity, wellbeing and autonomy, and our ability to take control of our lives and influence the world around us.

The benefits of Community Learning:
• Builds communities of active, confident, enthusiastic, critical, creative people, who also help others to learn
• Promotes empowerment, civic participation and engagement
• Contributes to mental and physical well being
• Enables individuals and groups to prepare for, and respond, to change
• Supports choice and diversity
• Supports social contact and independent living for older people and people with learning difficulties or disabilities
• Stimulates all aspects of people’s lives, promoting intergenerational learning and improving employment prospects.

What might Community Learning include:
• It encompasses a huge variety of activities: it could be a dance class at a church hall, a book group at a local library, cookery skills learnt in a community centre, a guided visit to a nature reserve or stately home, researching the National Gallery collection on-line, writing a Wikipedia entry or taking part in a volunteer project to record the living history of particular community.
• People participate for enjoyment and are driven by their desire for personal fulfillment or intellectual, creative and physical stimulation. Such activity also contributes to the health and well-being of communities by building the confidence and resilience of the individuals involved.
• The social relationships that develop as a result of this informal learning can provide networks of support and solidarity. For the low-skilled and under-confident, informal learning can be an important stepping stone to further learning and a more skilled future.