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NIACE's annual survey of current and recent adult participation in learning is bad news for anyone over the age of 25 trying to improve their prospects through learning, especially men, older people, the least skilled and those outside the labour market.

These are the main findings of the 2011 survey - Tough times for adult learners - which is published today ahead of the 20th Adult Learners' Week (14 - 20 May). The number of adults who have taken part in learning over the last three years has fallen from 43 per cent in 2010 to 39 per cent.

At a time when provision for young adults (aged 17-24) is increasing, the key findings from the survey include:

• the number of men who have learnt over the past three years (37 per cent) is now at its lowest level since the NIACE annual survey series began in 1996;
• the least skilled and those outside the labour market (DEs) are participating in learning at the lowest reported total over 20 years, 23 per cent, a fall of seven percentage points from 2010;
• professional and managerial groups (ABs) are twice as likely (52 per cent) to participate in learning than DEs (23 per cent);
• participation in learning has increased among those aged 17-24 but has decreased across all other age groups. For 17-19-year-olds current participation has soared from 58 per cent to 71 per cent. However there has been a loss of over a quarter of learning opportunities for adults aged 65-74 (23 per cent to 17 per cent);
• 37 per cent of adults who have left full-time education say that they are likely to take up learning in the next three years, down from 47 per cent in 2010;
• minority ethnic participation shows a drop of 6 per cent since 2010, whilst the drop for white Britons is just 3 per cent;
• nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of current or recent learners said that they had learnt for work or career reasons, including more than 80 per cent of respondents aged 17-54; and
• over 80 per cent of those aged 65 and over are learning for personal and leisure interests.

Article continues here (with comment by Alan Truckett, NIACE)

Source: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)