Scottish Government

Introduction

1 The report analyses Scottish data from the 2002 NIACE survey of adult learners. The report is divided into chapters, which look at the following.

• Public engagement in post-school learning in Scotland
• Information channels: how people learn about learning opportunities
• Diversity of learning opportunities: where people choose to learn
• Duration of learning
• Motivation: why people engage in learning
• Subjects: what people choose to learn
• Finance
• Access and barriers
• Attitudes to learning and future plans
• Outcomes of learning
• Role of new technology
• Conclusions and policy implications

2 The results are reported for the total sample, and then usually broken down by gender, social class, current learning status (e.g. current learner, recent learner etc.), urban/rural residence and age band.

3 The relatively small size of the sample in Scotland (475) means that care should be taken when drawing general conclusions about the findings. The researchers did not apply statistical tests for significance.

1. Public engagement in post-school learning in Scotland

4 NIACE chose a broad definition of learning, not only including coaching and instruction, but also self-directed learning and study. The overall figures show that 25% of Scots are involved in some kind of learning activity (UK = 23%) and that 44% were either currently involved in learning or had been in the last three years (UK = 42%). 65% of respondents had undertaken some kind of learning since leaving full-time education.

5 Respondents are split into recent learners and non-recent learners. Recent learners were defined as those currently engaging in learning and those who have engaged in learning in the last three years.

6 Educational background: The results show that participants in adult learning are more likely than non-participants to be well qualified. Recent learners were significantly more likely to have higher levels of initial educational qualifications _ 43% of recent learners compared to only 14% of those who had not undertaken learning had a degree or equivalent qualification. Almost 40% of those with no recent learning had no qualifications compared to only 11% of recent learners.

7 Gender: There was little difference between male and female overall participation rates in adult learning.

8 Social class: The social class profile of learners in the formal sector of post-compulsory education was better in Scotland than for the UK overall. Almost half of those who had not currently/recently participated in learning were in SES group DE (46%) as opposed to 15% from social groups AB.

9 Age: Recent learners were significantly more likely to be in younger age groups _ 58% of recent learners were under 44 compared to 34% of those who hadn't engaged in learning recently.

2. Information channels: how people learn about learning opportunities

10 Information channels: The research highlights the significant differences in the resources, networks and reference groups drawn upon by different social classes and men and women (although it is important to note the small sample size for respondents who answered this section). Learners in Scotland commonly heard about their most recent learning activity through their employers (17%), workmates (14%), friends and family (14%) or newspapers and magazines (13%). Newspapers and magazines were more common in Scotland than in the UK as a whole (7%).

11 Gender: Men were more likely to have obtained information from their employer (23%) or their workmates or colleagues (14%) while the most frequent sources of information for women were newspapers and magazines (16%) and friends and family (14%). Women (25%) were also more likely than men (15%) to cite educational institutions such as schools, colleges and university.

12 Age: There were interesting differences between information channels across age groups. Young people from 17 _ 24 were most likely to have found out about their main subject through school (26%), from friends/family (22%) or from their employer or colleges (both 14%). Those aged between 25 _ 44 were most likely to have acquired information from their work, training office or personnel section (27%), from their workmates and colleagues (19%) or from their friends and family (12%). Older adults (45 _ 64) cited newspapers/magazines (24%), workmates/colleagues (17%), and their employer (14%) as their main sources.

13 Employment status: As would be expected sources of information for those in employment differed to those not in employment, students and the retired.

14 Social class: Social groups AB and DE are more likely to look for information from outside the workplace as opposed to C1 and C2.

3. Diversity of learning opportunities: where people choose to learn

15 Learning location: FE college, tertiary or sixth form college and the workplace were the two most frequently mentioned locations for learning. The research found that the workplace as a location for learning was more common in Scotland (21%) than the UK as a whole (15%). There were also differences between the location for learning of those living in rural and urban areas. Rural respondents were less likely to be learning at work, or in higher or further education and were more likely than urban respondents to be learning informally or through open learning at home. They did not however, make more use of learning through the Internet.

16 Gender: The research identified significant gender patterns for learning. Men were more likely than women to be learning at work or at an FE college, whereas 19% of women, but only 8% of men were studying at University. Women were also slightly more likely to be studying at home through open learning.

17 Age: For the younger age group (17-24) a post-school environment was the most common location whereas for those aged 25 _ 44 the workplace and FE college were the main locations (26% each).

18 Social class: Respondents defined as AB were most likely to be learning at university (28%), with 15% learning in the workplace. The workplace was also the main location for those in categories C1 (29%) and C2 (30%). FE colleges were also the main location for 29% of those in the C2 group and for 30% of group DE.

4. Duration of learning

12 Of learners in Scotland, 54% were undertaking learning lasting for more than a year. In the UK overall the figure was 58%. Learning of less than one month was not particularly common with only 13% of Scottish learners and 9% of UK learners undertaking such learning.

13 Gender: Men expected to study for shorter periods of time than women: 43% of men, but only 30% of women, were expecting to study for up to six months.

14 Age: There is no clear pattern relating to age group.

15 Employment status: There was a relatively high percentage, in all groups apart from the unemployed, who were committed to studying for over two years, including 36% of those not working, 48% of those who had retired and 78% of full-time students.

16 Social class: Respondents in group AB were more likely to be engaged on longer programmes of study, with 59% expecting to study for over two years. Approximately one in three of the learners in the other groups was also expecting to study for over two years.

17 Learners in Scotland appeared slightly more likely to be engaged in learning for 21 or more hours a week than their counterparts throughout the UK and 13% were spending 31 hours or more on their learning activity. The mean number of hours per week spent on learning in Scotland was 14.23 although the majority (54%) spent less than ten hours a week on learning their main subject.

18 Gender: There were significant differences between the numbers of hours spent learning by men and women. 50% of men and 57% of women were spending less than ten hours each week on their learning. One in five of the men but only one in twenty of the women said they were committing over 30 hours a week to learning.

19 Age: Younger age groups were more likely to be committing over 30 hours a week to learning.

20 Employment status: Full-time students comprised only 16% of the 56 people who said they were studying over 20 hours a week. The majority of this group (70%) were in employment and more than half in full-time employment (54%).

5. Motivation: why people engage in learning

21 The NIACE survey presented respondents with a series of options from which they were asked to select those which best fit their reasons for embarking on their most recent learning activity.

22 The most frequently cited reasons for participation by respondents were interest in the subject (35%), the enjoyment of learning (30%) and because they thought it would help in their current job (29%).

23 Younger people and those in group C1 and C2 were most likely to cite educational progression.

24 Qualifications: Fewer respondents in Scotland than the UK as a whole were aiming to achieve a qualification (49% compared to 56%). Of those who were aiming for a qualification, HE level qualifications were by far the most common with almost a third aiming for these. Scottish participants were more likely than UK respondents as a whole to be aiming for HNC/Ds.

25 Gender: Differences are small, with a slightly higher percentage of men not aiming for a qualification, and slightly more women (32%) than men (28%) studying for a degree or level 4/5 qualification.

26 Age: Older students were more likely to be engaged in learning which did not lead to a qualification, and the 17 _ 24 age group included the largest percentage (60%) studying for a degree or level 4/5 qualification.

27 Employment status: Those not in employment (excluding full-time students) were somewhat less likely to be working for some form of qualification than those in employment.

28 65% of recent learners with no qualifications are engaged in learning which will not lead directly to a qualification. This contrasts with the 43% who have already achieved relatively good qualifications who are now seeking to further them.

6. Subjects: what people choose to learn

29 The patterns for Scotland mirror those for the UK. The most popular subjects of recent learning were IT related activities (22%). Other professional and vocational qualifications feature as the second highest category (11%).

30 Gender: Men (30%) were more likely than women (17%) to have taken an IT related course although this was the most popular area of learning for both.

7. Finance

31 Around a third of respondents did not have to pay any fee for their learning activity (including employer provided in-house courses). Undertaking learning funded through government sources was twice as common among the Scottish learners (10%) than UK learners as a whole (5%).

32 Gender: Women were more likely than men to have paid the fees themselves or to have drawn on some form of government funding. Men were more likely to have their fees paid for by their employers.

8. Access and barriers

33 Over a third of respondents felt that there was not enough advice about the different sorts of learning that people could do. Women (40%) appeared to have found more difficulties in finding help or advice about different sorts of learning available (men = 34%). The youngest age group (17 _ 24) were more likely to say that there was not enough help or advice about learning, as were students when analysing the results by employment status. AB respondents were least likely to see a need for more help and advice about training (23%). Interestingly, there was little difference between the views of each learner group on the availability of help and advice.

34 Three quarters of all respondents said they found it easy to get to the place of learning. A further fifth said they didn't have to travel to the place of learning as they were either learning at home or in their workplace.

35 22% of learners in Scotland said they were currently/recently learning either at home or work compared to the UK as a whole (13%). This may account for the fact that, despite the difficulties of rural access in Scotland, slightly fewer reported finding it 'difficult' to get to their place of work.

9. Attitudes to learning and future plans

36 Views on learning were generally positive with around three-quarters of respondents agreeing that learning was enjoyable for its own sake and that people who got training tended to find their jobs more interesting (72%). Almost two-thirds agreed that people who trained at work ended up with better promotion or better pay (63%).

37 Gender: Women (84%) were more likely than men (74%) to find learning enjoyable for its sake and were slightly more optimistic about the benefits of training. Men were more confident about learning new skills compared to women.

38 Age: The results showed a significant decrease in reported confidence in learning new skills from 91% of those aged 17 _ 24 to 36% of those aged 65 or over. The younger age group were far less likely than other groups to find learning enjoyable for its own sake.

39 Employment status: Full-time students were most confident (94%) about learning new skills whilst the retired (41%) and unemployed (74%) were least confident.

40 Social status: AB respondents were more likely to agree that learning is enjoyable for its own sake (89%), to be optimistic about the outcomes of training in terms of finding work more interesting (76%) and gaining promotion (69%). C2 respondents were the most confident about learning (80%) but the least likely to agree that learning was enjoyable (71%). DE respondents were least confident about learning (56%).

41 Around half of respondents objected to having to pay for education, whereas two-thirds felt that it was reasonable to expect people to engage in learning in their own time.

Future plans

42 More than half of respondents in Scotland said that they were unlikely to take up learning in the next three years and just over a third thought it likely. The main reasons given for not engaging in learning were 'not interested' and 'work/time pressures'. A notable finding is that these reasons were less likely to be given by non-participants in Scotland than by the total UK respondents (18% of those in Scotland and 25% of UK respondents cited lack of interest and 17% and 20% respectively mentioned time pressure).

43 Current/recent learners were four times more likely than those with no recent learning to say that they were likely to take up learning in the next three years (64% compared to 16%) and far less inclined to say it was unlikely that they would do so (30% compared to 80%).

44 Gender: 42% of women and 33% of men said they were likely to take up learning in the next three years.

10. Outcomes of learning

45 Learners in Scotland were slightly more likely than UK learners as a whole to give the course up before the end (10% compared to 5%). One possible explanation for this might be that as fewer are working towards qualifications course completion might be perceived as being less important.

46 Respondents in Scotland were more likely than those in the UK as a whole to say that there had not been any benefits (22% compared to 16%).

47 The three benefits cited by more than one-fifth of Scottish respondents were all concerned with social and personal development rather then vocational development even though work related reasons were the most common cited reasons for having undertaken learning.

48 The lesser importance of qualifications to learners in Scotland was again evident in that over a fifth of UK learners but only just over a tenth of respondents in Scotland mentioned gaining qualifications as one of the benefits.

11. Role of new technology

49 Only half of respondents had access to a computer and more than a third to the internet _ although this is higher than the average for Scotland.

50 Of those who had access to the internet over two-thirds used it for browsing/surfing (much of which might be described as learning). Over a third used it to find information for their learning or training and a quarter used it to learn on or off-line.

51 The results indicate some correlation between access to technology and participation in education _ both are, however, closely linked to other variables, in particular socio-economic status.

12. Conclusions and Policy implications

52 Equity and access remain important issues for the policy agenda: Definition of participation is broad. Although a quarter of the adult population in Scotland are currently engaged in some form of learning, around one third has not engaged in learning since leaving full time education. The impact of initial educational background coupled with social class continues to be a determining factor in the likelihood of participation.

53 Employment conditions need to be created to support learning for high priority groups: Although around 30% of those in groups C1 and C2 site the workplace as their main location of learning only 10% of those in the lower skilled groups (DE) indicate that they are participating in learning for work.

54 Inter-generational inequalities in levels of engagement need to be explored.

55 The high proportion of learners who did not obtain a formal qualification merits further investigation.

56 The implications for provision of learning opportunities once the latent demand associated with the demand of older adults to develop ICT skills has been met requires further investigation.

57 The number of respondents indicating that they thought they were unlikely to take up learning within the next three years needs further investigation.