Decline in adult learning
Posted: 13 June 2008
NIACE (the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education) has produced a survey linked to Adult Learners' Week which appears to confirm the continuing recent decline of learning amongst adults. Counting the Cost suggests that there has been a further 3% fall in the number of adults participating in learning over the past 12 months - from 41% in 2007 to 38% in 2008.
The figures seem to indicate that the drop in participation affects some groups disproportionately, notably skilled manual workers, part-time workers, and those in the 25-34 age-group. There's also a worryingly drop in the number of adults planning to take up learning in the future (from 45% in 2006, to 43% in 2007 and now to 36% in 2008); this fall is most dramatic among current learners (88 per cent to 72 per cent), surprisingly.