SURVEY SHOWS FURTHER FALL IN NUMBER OF ADULTS WHO LEARN

There has been a fall of 3 per cent in the number of adults participating in learning in the last year. This is the headline finding of the annual Adult Learners’ Week survey – Counting the cost - to be published tomorrow (Wednesday 14th May 2008) by NIACE. The survey shows the proportion of adults currently learning, or having done so in the last 3 years, has fallen from 41% in 2007 to 38% in 2008.

The survey illustrates that the drop in participation has affected some groups disproportionately, notably:

• C2s’ (skilled manual workers’) learning has fallen from 40 per cent to 33 per cent in a single year, reversing their participation gains of the last ten years;
• full-time workers’ participation has fallen from 51 per cent in 2006 to 49 per cent last year and to 45 per cent in the current survey;
• part-time workers’ participation fell from 55 per cent in 2006 to 47 per cent in 2007, and just 48 per cent in 2008 (see Table 8);
• the numbers of 25–34s learning has fallen from 50 per cent to 43 per cent in a single year;
• no increase in participation at all has been secured over the last ten years for those in socio-economic groups DE, the semi and unskilled workers, unemployed and retired people.

There is also a sharp drop in the number of adults planning to take up learning in the future (45 per cent in 2006, 43 per cent in 2007 and 36 per cent in 2008) and surprisingly the fall is most dramatic among current learners (88 per cent to 72 per cent).

Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE, said, “This survey poses sharp challenges. Its major finding, that participation has fallen among key target groups for the government’s learning and skills strategy, calls into question the balance of current policy instruments. One goal of policy is to engage those who say they have done no learning since school, the findings that over two-thirds of them agree that learning and training can have a positive impact upon their working and family lives yet just 15 per cent plan to get involved shows the size of the task if the Government’s goals are to be realised.”

He continued, “Despite the real gains of the Skills for Life and Train to Gain Strategies, the very groups identified as key to the achievement of the Skills Strategy and in the Leitch Review are bearing the heaviest burden of the re-balancing of funding. The findings suggest that the price of investment in key groups of adults in workplace learning is being paid for by reduced participation by other adults from exactly the same groups. This is either because other workplace learning opportunities are being offered to those already with higher skills, or because those adults can no longer access public provision they previously chose for themselves.”

He ended, “Since the object of policy continues to be to secure increased investment by individuals, and employers; as well as the state, the survey suggests the time has come for Government to count the cost, as well as the benefits, of its current policies for adult learning.”


For further information on Adult Learners’ Week please contact :
Ed Melia, NIACE Press Officer, on 0116 204 4248 or 07795 358 870.

Notes to Editors :

1. Counting the cost the NIACE survey on Adult Participation in Learning, authored by Fiona Aldridge and Alan Tuckett, is published by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. Copies are available to journalists on approval. Please contact Ed Melia, NIACE Press Officer, on 0116 204 4248, 07795 358 870 or email: ed.melia@niace.org.uk

2. This survey, undertaken for NIACE, by RSGB, interviewed a weighted sample of 4,932 adults, aged 17 and over, in the UK in the period 20th February – 20th March 2008.

3. This report is mainly concerned with the findings from the following two questions on participation in learning -

‘Learning can mean practising, studying or reading about something. It can also mean being taught, instructed or coached. This is so you can develop skills, knowledge, abilities or understanding of something. Learning can also be called education or training. You can do it regularly (each day or month) or you can do it for a short period of time. It can be full time, or part time, done at home, at work, or in another place like a college. Learning does not have to lead to a qualification. We are interested in any learning you have done, whether or not it was finished.’

Which of the following statements most applies to you?

01: I am currently doing some learning activity
02: I have done some learning activity in the last three years
03: I have studied or learned but it was over three years ago
04: I have not studied or learned since I left full-time education
05: Don’t know

How likely are you to take up learning in the next three years?

01: Very likely
02: Fairly likely
03: Fairly unlikely
04: Very unlikely
05: Don’t know

4. Adult Learners’ Week, 17th–23rd May 2008, is the largest annual celebration of adult learning in the UK. It is supported by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the European Social Fund, learndirect, the National Learning and Skills Council, Ofcom - the Office of Communications, the Quality Improvement Agency, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and City and Guilds. More details at: www.alw.org.uk

5. Adult Learners’ Week 2008 will include the following national events:

Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th May: Cultural Diversity Weekend
Monday 19th May: Adult Learners’ Week National Award Ceremony - QEII Conference Centre, London
Tuesday 20th May: National Policy Conference Adult Learning and Culture to be held at the London Chamber of Commerce
Wednesday 21st May: Quick Reads Learners’ Favourite Award and Voice on a Page to be held at The Globe Theatre
Thursday 22nd May: Learning at Work Day – What makes learning at work, work at the Victory Services Club, Marble Arch
Friday 23rd May: Silver Surfers Day

6. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) is the leading non-government organisation for lifelong learning in England, and exists to encourage more and different adults to engage in better-quality learning of all kinds. It campaigns for, and celebrates the achievements of, all adult learners.