The Scottish Government

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Policy context

In his foreword to the Scottish Executive's Lifelong Learning Strategy ( Life through learning through life: the lifelong learning strategy for Scotland, 2003), the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning set out several key challenges for lifelong learning policy and practice in Scotland:

• We want people who think that learning is 'not for them' to find out that it is.
• We want to build self-confidence in people returning to learning, by giving them the information, support and guidance they need.
• We want people to be motivated to expand their learning and develop their skills and to be enterprising in their attitudes to work.
• We want Scotland's employers, private, public and voluntary, to see for themselves the potential benefits of using and developing skills in the workplace - improved performance, satisfied customers, motivated employees
• We want to make sure that everybody, regardless of personal circumstances, can access the best possible learning opportunities.

The strategy emphasised the importance of building a better evidence base in taking forward and monitoring these people-centred goals. It is in this context that the Scottish Executive commissioned the first Scottish boost to the National Adult Learning Survey. The survey provides detailed evidence on the experiences of and attitudes towards learning of adults (aged 16+) in Scotland. Key topics include: who does and does not participate in different types of learning, motivations and barriers to learning, access to and attitudes towards different sorts of information and guidance, and future learning intentions.

The National Adult Learning Survey ( NALS)

The National Adult Learning Survey ( NALS) series was established by the Department for Education and Employment in 1997 and prior to the 2005 survey covered England and Wales only. In 2005, for the first time, 993 Computer Assisted Personal Interviews were conducted in Scotland, with a randomly selected sample of adults aged 16 and over. The aim of this 'Scottish boost' was two-fold:

• to provide robust data, representative of the Scottish adult population as a whole, which could be used to inform Scottish policy on adult learning, and
• to facilitate comparisons with findings on participation in adult learning in England and Wales.

A separate, more detailed, report of findings for England and Wales is available from the Department for Education and Skills, although comparisons with England and Wales are included where relevant in this report.

Key findings

Participation in adult learning

• Overall participation in adult learning in Scotland is high, with 82% of adults aged under 70 engaging in some form of adult learning. These results are very similar to those in England and Wales (80%). Although these figures are encouraging, there is still a substantial minority (18%) not involved in any of the wide range of learning activities covered by NALS.
• Learning is strongly related to work, with participation in vocational learning ¹ significantly higher (74%) than participation in non-vocational learning (28%).

Learning among different groups

• Participation in learning generally declines with age. While 93% of those aged 16 to 39 are recent learners, this reduces to 83% in the age group 40 to 59 and to 40% among those over 60 years old.
• Men (87%) are more likely than women (78%) to be involved in any type of learning.
• Years in full-time education, qualification levels and parental education are all strongly associated with participation in adult learning. Those who stayed in education past the age of 16, those with higher-level qualifications and those whose parents stayed on at school after age 16 were all more likely to be adult learners.
• Learning is also patterned by class and income. Managers and professionals (94%) were more likely than those in routine or semi-routine occupations (74%) to be adult learners. Those in the highest income group are much more likely than those on low incomes to participate in most types of learning, with the exception of non-vocational learning.

Obstacles and incentives to learning

• The most commonly mentioned barrier to learning is lack of time due to work (45%), followed by family-related time constraints (32%) and preferring to spend time doing other things (32%).
• Non-learners are more likely to state concerns about their personal skills and capacity to learn - they were more likely than learners to say they were not interested in learning (27%, 9%), that they were nervous about going back to the classroom (26%, 13%) and that they were too old to learn (24%, 6%).
• However, in spite of citing wide-ranging barriers to participation in learning the vast majority of both learners (96%) and non-learners (93%) believe that learning is important to success at work (97%) and that it is something people should participate in throughout their lives (89%).
• Moreover, a third of non-learners said they would have liked to do some learning in the last year.
• In terms of incentives and measures to overcome barriers to learning:

o 69% of those who mentioned childcare as a barrier said they would consider learning from home using a computer

o 50% of those for whom transport was a barrier said they would be encouraged to learn if it was easier to get to the venue by public transport

o The vast majority (82%) of those who mentioned obstacles connected with money said payment of their fees would be very or fairly likely to encourage them to learn

o 62% of those who felt courses did not make allowances for their health problem or disability said that they would be very or fairly likely to learn if they received funding to help with this

o 70% of those who did not know where to find information about learning said that advice on local learning opportunities would be very or fairly likely to encourage them to learn

o Two-thirds of those for whom lack of time was a barrier said that they would consider learning from home via the Internet. That said, learners tended to be more open than non-learners to learning in new ways, including via the Internet (76% of learners agreed that they liked this idea, compared with 50% of non-learners).

Taught Learning

• Respondents were asked detailed questions about the taught course they found most useful. The most commonly mentioned providers of taught courses were employers (21%), followed by universities or higher education colleges (18%) and private training providers (17%). The most commonly mentioned subjects were business and administrative studies (15%) and mathematical and computer science (8%).
• The experience of taught learning differs considerably between those on vocational courses and those on non job-related courses. Learners on vocational courses spent more hours studying for their course, were more likely to be studying for a qualification and were more likely than non-vocational learners to have used ICT for their course.
• Employers paid some or all of the fees for 44% of the taught courses respondents found most useful. They paid for 55% of vocational courses compared with 4% of non-vocational courses.
• The majority (72%) of job-related taught learning takes place mostly or wholly during working hours and is not compulsory (61%).
• The most commonly mentioned employment-related motivations for taking vocational courses are gaining job-related skills (65%), career development (58%) and improved job satisfaction (45%). Wider motivators for taught learning included improving knowledge (47%), gaining a certificate or qualification (31%) and gaining skills or knowledge for everyday life (28%).
• These motivations were broadly reflected in perceptions of key outcomes from job-related taught learning: 65% felt they had developed new job-related skills, 49% felt they were able to do their job better and 27% cited improved job-satisfaction. Wider benefits included developing new skills (75%), improved knowledge (74%), interest (67%) and enjoyment (38%).

Self-directed learning

• Two-thirds (67%) of respondents aged 16-69 had undertaken some self-directed learning in the past three years. This includes on-the-job training (31%), professional development (47%) and other activities that improve knowledge or skills without participation in a taught course (32%).
• Participation in self-directed learning varies with socio-economic group and size of the organisation worked for. Those working in managerial or professional occupations are more likely than those in other occupations to undertake professional development and other self-directed learning. Respondents working in larger organisations are more likely than those in smaller organisations to partake in each type of self-directed learning.
• The most common subject of self-directed learning (other than professional development or on-the-job training) is computer use (16%) and the most common modes of learning are using computers (70%) and printed materials (73%).
• Almost all self-directed learners (99%) said they benefited from learning in some way, citing either work-related outcomes such as improving job-related skills (49% of those who said their learning was related to a current or future job) or wider benefits such as finding learning interesting (74% of self-directed learners), learning new skills (70%), enjoyment (69%). A third said it had encouraged to undertake more learning and 3 in 10 (29%) that it had boosted their confidence.

Use of Information and Communication Technology ( ICT)

• In general the use of ICT among respondents is high. Seventy per cent are current computer users and 67% are current Internet users. Fifty-seven per cent of those who have ever used a computer use one every day.
• Use of ICT is closely linked with many of the factors associated with participation in learning, including:

o level of education (17% of those with no qualifications are current ICT users, rising to 97% of those at SVQ level 5)

o socio-economic group (50% of those in routine or semi-routine occupations were ICT users compared with 82% of managers and professionals)

o age (92% of those aged 16-19 are ICT users, compared with 23% of those aged 70+)

o income (39% of those with household incomes of under £10,400 compared with 91% of those with incomes in excess of £31,199)

o and area deprivation (83% of those in the least deprived quintile compared with 54% of those in the most deprived are ICT users).

Information, advice and guidance

• Twice as many learners (72%) as non-learners (31%) received information, advice or guidance about learning in the past year.
• Respondents with higher qualifications (who are also more likely to be learners) are more likely to have received advice about learning (92% of those at SVQ level 5 compared with 24% of those with no qualifications) and to have consulted a higher number of sources of IAG.
• The most common sources of IAG used by learners were employers (30%) and family and friends (26%). Non-learners were most likely to have received IAG through leaflets through the letterbox (17%).
• A small proportion of respondents (11%) said they had looked for IAG in the last year but had been unable to find what they wanted. Of these, 50% had been looking for courses available for particular jobs, while 40% had been searching for courses available locally.
• Those who were likely to use IAG about learning in the next year indicated they would find information on local learning opportunities (50%), courses related to specific jobs (45%) and different ways of learning (41%) useful.
• Educational institutions are the most likely future point of reference for respondents seeking IAG (62%). Seventeen per cent who indicated they were likely to want IAG in the next 12 months said they would use the learndirect scotland website, while 8% would use the telephone helpline and 5% a learndirect scotland learning centre.

Awareness of learning campaigns and other initiatives

• Adult Learners Week is the most well-known recent public campaign about lifelong learning, mentioned by 26% of respondents.
• There was some interest in the idea of a savings account dedicated to learning, to which individuals, the government and employers could contribute - 35% indicated they would be willing to participate in such an initiative. Learners were more likely to say they would definitely be willing to take part, while non-learners were more likely to express uncertainty or indicate that they are unable to save for learning.
• Awareness of learndirect scotland is high, at 82% of all respondents. However, useage is much lower (16%).
• Awareness of learndirect scotland is highest (95%) amongst respondents with qualifications at SVQ level 2, possibly reflecting the recent policy focus on ensuring everyone is qualified to at least this level (equivalent to SCQF level 5). ²

Foreign languages

• Six out of ten adults in Scotland have some knowledge of a language other than their mother tongue. This is most likely to be one of French, German, Spanish or Italian.
• However, the level of proficiency in foreign languages is generally very low. Fifty-eight per cent report knowing a few words or phrases of their first additional language and just 5% describe themselves as fluent.

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