Adult and Community Learning
Every year Islington Council offers many free adult and community learning courses in different community venues around the borough to help unemployed and low-paid residents develop their skills and confidence. Whether you’re looking to develop your skills for work or further education, learn English, or build your confidence and skills to help your children with their homework, there will be something for you.
The Council also has a partnership with City and Islington College to provide an even greater selection of free and low cost courses, as well as offering better opportunities for you to progress into higher level or accredited courses.
Council courses are free for Islington residents or parents with children in Islington schools. You must be 19 or over, unemployed, or low waged and receiving benefits to qualify.
Some college courses are free and where fees apply, residents may be eligible for financial support.
For more information on the kinds of subjects you can study, and an up-to-date prospectus of all courses, visit the Adult Community Learning website.
The Recovery College
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust runs the Recovery College. All of the courses provided at the college are free and are designed to contribute towards wellbeing and recovery. People who share experiences of mental or physical health challenges teach on the courses with the intention of inspiring hope and embodying the principles of recovery.
The courses vary in length from a couple of hours to a full 9am-3.30pm study day. Courses are held in venues around Islington and Camden.
Expert Patients Programme
The Expert Patients Programme (EPP) is a free six-week course run by Whittington Health for anyone living with one or more long term health conditions such as asthma, chronic fatigue, COPD, depression, diabetes, heart disease, MS, Parkinson’s disease, HIV, ME, on-going back pain, etc.
The course is designed to help people gain greater confidence in their ability to control symptoms and find new ways to reduce the effects their condition has on their life.
You can find out about specific conditions by visiting www.nhs.uk.
Other training and learning opportunities for carers
New or one-off events, programmes and courses for carers are created quite often. You can keep up to date with what’s on offer for carers in Islington by signing up to our e-newsletter. It’s completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time. Alternatively, get in touch with us to become a full member of Islington Carers Hub.
Other links
City and Islington College for courses in Islington.
Voluntary Action Islington has a searchable database of organisations including training providers.
Findcourses.co.uk is a searchable database of courses.
Islington Carers Hub 