Adult Learning and Social Division : A Persistent Pattern - v. 1

Adult learning and social division: a persistent pattern continues a series of surveys on adult participation in learning.

Using responses of 5000 adults aged 17 and over in the UK, this report identifies key indicators of participation in learning as well as reporting on how adults spend their leisure time; what adults are learning about; their sources of information about learning, its location and length; the role of qualifications; motivations and outcomes of learning; barriers to learning; and the information divide. The 2002 survey shows a high degree of stability with those undertaken in 1996 (The Learning Divide) and in 1999 (The Learning Divide Revisited), and confirms that the UK still faces an enormous task in involving all its people in the learning society, and that the learning divide between the learning-rich and the learning-poor continues to exist. The report provides trend data to illustrate how patterns of participation have changed over time as well as offering a benchmark against which future changes can be measured. Adult learning and social division: a persistent pattern is absolutely essential for an up-to-date illustration of how adults are taking part in, and how they are being excluded from learning in the UK.

Comprehensive data in table form gives researchers, academics and educational managers real ammunition with which to distil important policy imperatives from the analysis. See also: Adult learning and social division: A persistent pattern Volume 2