Die Länder: Groß Britannien - The Countries: Great Britain

Key Findings

1. The Learning Divide reports on a survey funded by the Department for Education and Employment, and carried out for NIAGE, the national organisation for adult learning, by the Gallup Organisation. Between 24th January and 6th February 1996 4673 adults aged 17 and over across the UK nations were interviewed.

2. In Northern Ireland a booster sample of 528 adults was interviewed to enable separate results to be analysed for the first such survey in the province.

3. The survey confirms that the UK still faces an enormous task in involving all its people in the learning society, and the that learning divide between the learning-rich and the learning poor is growing.

Current Participation

4. Nearly ¼ (23%) of all adults say they are currently learning. A further 17% have been learning in the last 3years. 3 in 5 of all adults have not participated in the last 3 years.

5. More men (25%) than women (21%) are currently learning. Men also outnumber women when current and recent learners are taken together (43% against 38%).

• Significantly more women (41%) than men (31%) report undertaking no learning since leaving full-time education. This is partially but not entirely accounted for by the higher proportion of older women in the population, and the lower levels of older people's participation (see point 12 below).
  
• Social class continues to be the key discriminator in understanding participation in learning. Over half of all upper and middle-class (AB) respondents are current or recent learners, compared with 1/3 of the skilled working class (C2) and ¼ of unskilled working people on limited incomes.
  
• Almost twice as many white collar worker, C1s, 23% as currently participate. A comparable NIACE survey in 1990 showed31% of CI's currently studying and/leaving informally and 21% C2s. 42% of C2s. And 53% of DE's have done learning since completing full -time education.
  

9. Employment status affects people's opportunities for learning at work, provides resources to take up learning opportunities and, for many, the motivation to learn. Effectively half (49%) of full time workers are current/recent learners, compared with42% of part-time workers and 40% of unemployed people.

10. Those who are not working (23%) and retired people (20%) have almost half the levels of participation of people in work or seeking work.

11. The length of initial education continues to be the best single predictor of participation in adult learning. The more initial education and training people receive, the greater the likelihood of their learning later on. Only 20% of people leaving full-time education below the age of 16 are current/recent learners. 39% of people leaving at 16 or 17, and 59% of those leaving at 18 or later are current/recent learners.

12. Current and recent participation in learning is greatest among young people, and decreases with each successive age cohort - with 86% of 17-19 years old; 43% of 35-44 years olds, 19% of 65-74 years olds, and 15% of the 75-plus

13. Where people live has a major impact on whether they are likely to participate.

14. There are marked national differences in levels of participation. Overall 40% of the UK population are current/ recent learners. The national totals are England 42%; Scotland 38%; Wales 37% and Northern Ireland 28%.

15. There are striking differences, too, in the English regions with Yorkshire and Humberside (52%) topping the list; and the East Midlands (50%), the North (45%), London (44%) and East Anglia enjoying the higher- than-average proportions of current/recent learners, and West Midlands (35%), and the North West (35%) having the lowest proportion.

16. Less than 2 in 5 adults (38%) say they are very or fairly likely to take up learning in the next three years.

17. More than half (55%) say that they are very fairly unlikely to take up any learning in the future.

• Recent experience of learning is a powerful influence on whether adults expect to study in the future. While nearly ¾ (72%) of current learners and 59% of recent learners are likely to learn in the next 3 years, the figures drops to ¼ (26%) among past learners and 13% among non-learners.

19. 81% of people who have done no learning since completing full-time education say they are unlikely to learn in the future.

20. Among people of working age, 54% of people who are not working, 51% of those working part-time, and 41% of unemployed people say they are unlikely to learn in the future.

Weitere Informationen:

1. Zur landesweiten Kampagne zum lebenslangen Lernen unter http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk
2. Über den "smarter learning guide" (als PDF-Datei ,ca. 12kb)
3. Zum Life long Learning in England and Wales (ca. 95 KB)