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CHAPTER THREE Learning among different groups

3.1 In this chapter, learning participation over the previous 3 years is examined in relation to a wide range of background characteristics, including: age; gender; disability; education; main activity; employment; and geography.

3.2 Results in the tables include only respondents under 70, except for tables by age, where those aged 70+ are included.

Demographic characteristics

Age

3.3 There is a clear relationship between learning participation and age (Table 3.1). Key findings include:

• The highest participation rates (93%) are found among those aged 16-39 years.
• Learning participation drops slightly to 83% among those aged 40-59 and then declines steeply to 40% for those over 60.
• A similar pattern is found for taught, self-directed and vocational learning. Rates of participation in these types of learning is highest among 16-39 year olds and then declines as age increased.
• In contrast, non-vocational learning participation increases slightly with age, with those aged 60 and older the age group most likely to take part in this type of learning.

Table 3.1 Percentages of age groups reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents not in continuous full-time education.

3.4 Results for Scotland are broadly similar to those for England and Wales, in showing an overall decline in learning participation as age increases. However, participation in any learning and in taught learning amongst the 16-39 age group was significantly higher in Scotland than in England and Wales (93% compared with 86% and 81% compared with 71%). The reverse was found in the oldest age group - participation among those aged 60 and above was somewhat lower in Scotland (40%) compared with England and Wales (50%).

Gender

3.5 Overall, men are significantly more likely to participate in learning than women (87%, 78% - Table 3.2). Men are also more likely to participate in self-directed and vocational learning. These results are similar to those for England and Wales. However, in contrast with England and Wales men in Scotland were also more likely than women to participate in taught learning (70%, 63% in Scotland and 60%, 64% in England and Wales).

3.6 Although the proportion of men participating in all types of learning was higher in Scotland than in England and Wales, with the exception of taught learning and non-vocational learning these differences are not statistically significant.

Table 3.2 Percentages of men and women reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

Disability

3.7 Eighteen per cent of Scottish respondents to NALS said they had a long term health problem or disability. For 13% of respondents, this affected the type and amount of work they were able to do. Participation in learning was lower among people with a disability (72%) than among those without (88%).

3.8 Respondents with any disability were significantly less likely than those with no disability to take part in all types of learning, with the exception of non-vocational learning (Table 3.3).

Table 3.3 Percentages of respondents with and without a disability reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

3.9 As Table 3.3 shows, people with a work-limiting disability were less likely than those with another sort of long-term disability to have participated in learning over the past 3 years (59% compared with 74%).

Caring responsibilities

3.10 The relationship between learning and caring responsibilities was explored by looking, first, at people with dependent children ¹⁰ in couple and lone parent families and second, those with responsibility for caring for a household member with a long-standing health problem or disability.

3.11 Taking parental responsibilities first, Table 3.4 shows that:

• Parents living as a couple were most likely to report some learning (91%). This is significantly higher than the England and Wales figure of 83%.
• Parents living as a couple were significantly more likely than lone parents to have participated in self-directed or vocational learning.

3.12 The lowest participation rate was among carers (who accounted for 6% of respondents aged under 70). Seventy-one per cent of carers had done some learning, compared with 86% of the rest of the sample. Differences between carers and others were significant for taught, self-directed and vocational learning. Non-vocational learning participation did not vary according to caring responsibilities.

Table 3.4 Percentages of respondents with and without caring responsibilities reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

*This question was not asked if respondents lived in a single person household. As with all other tables, the percentages have been calculated from the responding base.

Educational background

3.13 There is a positive association between years of continuous full-time education and participation in learning. Of those who left continuous full-time education aged 16 or younger, 74% report some learning in the last 3 years, compared to 99% of those who left continuous full-time education aged 21 or older. The differences between those who left continuous full-time education aged 16 or younger and those who left at age 21 or older were significant for all types of learning. ¹¹ (Table 3.5)

Table 3.5 Percentages of respondents leaving continuous full-time education at different ages reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 who have been in continuous full-time education.

Qualification level

3.14 Vocational and academic qualifications were classified according to equivalent SVQ levels ¹². An indication of the academic equivalent for each SVQ level is given below:

• level five: post-graduate qualifications
• level four: first degree or sub-degree qualifications
• level three: highers
• level two: credit standard grade
• level one: general standard grade or lower.

3.15 Predictably, there was a strong association between highest qualification and participation in adult learning - 73% of those at SVQ level 1 were engaged in learning, increasing gradually to 100% of those qualified to SVQ level 5 or equivalent. Those with no qualifications were much less likely than those with any qualifications to have taken part in learning in the last 3 years (28%, compared with 73% of those qualified at level 1). This association between qualifications and recent learning applied to all types of learning.

Table 3.6 Percentages of highest qualification groups reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 who had been in continuous full-time education but were not currently in continuous full-time education.

Educational background of parents

3.16 Respondents were asked about their parents' education level in order to explore the possible links between parental educational attainment and respondents' participation in education (Table 3.7). The results showed that respondents were more likely to report participation in learning if their mother or father had stayed on at school at least until the age 16. It made little difference to respondents' overall learning participation whether or not the parent had acquired a degree, although those whose mother or father had obtained a degree were somewhat more likely to participate in non-vocational learning.

Table 3.7 Percentages reporting different types of learning according to highest level of parental education ¹³

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

Note: 24 respondents did not answer the questions about parental education. As with all other tables, the percentages have been calculated from the responding base.

Current activity

3.17 This section explores the relationship between learning participation and current economic activity, occupational status and financial circumstances.

3.18 Respondents were asked about their main activity (the one they spent most of their time on) at the time of the survey. The results show that paid employment was strongly associated with participation in learning.

• The highest rate of participation was among full-time employees, who were more likely to participate in all forms of learning (except non-vocational) than any other group.
• The lowest rate was among those who were retired or incapable of work due to long-term illness, injury or disability.
• Full-time employees were the group most likely to participate in vocational learning (90%) and unsurprisingly respondents who were retired were the least likely (22%).
• However, retired respondents were the group most likely to participate in non-vocational learning (45%).

Table 3.8 Percentages of main current activity groups reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

As only 24 respondents in the Scottish NALS sample were unemployed, they have not been included as a separate column in this table.

Socio-economic status

3.19 Detailed information was collected on respondents' current or most recent job to explore further the link between learning and occupational status. In line with the occupational analysis in previous NALS, only respondents who were employed at the time of the survey or in the last 10 years have been included in tables in this section. The overall figures for participation in different types of learning presented in these tables are higher than those presented so far, because they exclude people who had not worked in the last 10 years. NALS 2005 classifies occupations according to the Standard Occupational Classification ( SOC2000) and NS- SEC. ¹⁴

• Those in managerial and professional or intermediate occupations were most likely to have participated in some learning in the past 3 years (94%, 93%)
• Those in semi-routine and routine occupations were least likely to have done any learning (74%)
• Managers and professional workers were also most likely to have done taught, self-directed and vocational learning
• Intermediate workers were the group most likely to have done non-vocational learning (33%).

Table 3.9 Percentages of NS- SEC groups reporting different types of learning

Base: Respondents aged 16-69 currently employed or self-employed or who had been in paid employment in the past 10 years.

3.20 Analysis of participation in learning by SOC (2000) categories produces a similar pattern, with respondents in professional occupations most likely (97%) and those in elementary occupations least likely (67%) to report some recent learning.

Table 3.10 Percentages of SOC(2000) groups reporting different types of learning

Base: Respondents aged 16-69 currently employed or self-employed or who had been in paid employment in the past 10 years.

Note that 127 respondents did not give adequate information for calculating SOC. As with all other tables, the percentages have been calculated from the responding base.

3.21 There was a positive relationship between the size of organisation in which respondents worked and their rate of participation in learning, i.e. the bigger the organisations the more likely all types of learning. This pattern was most marked for self-directed learning - 87% of those in large organisations, with 500 or more employees, had participated in self-directed learning (which includes on-the-job learning and professional development), compared with 65% of those in organisations with under 25 employees.

Table 3.11 Percentages of those in different sized organisations reporting different types of learning

Base: Respondents aged 16-69 currently employed or who had been in paid employment in the past 10 years.

Financial circumstances

3.22 Participation in learning was positively associated with household income.

• In the lowest income category, 59% of respondents reported participation in learning, while among those with a household income of £31,300 or more, 93% reported some learning.
• Similar differences by income were evident for taught, self-directed and vocational learning.
• However, for non-vocational learning the difference in participation between the lowest and highest income categories was negligible.

Table 3.12 Percentages of household income groups reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

Note: 88 respondents did not answer the question about household income. As with all other tables, the percentages have been calculated from the responding base.

3.23 Those whose income depends on means-tested benefits were less likely than others to participate in each type of learning explored by NALS (Table 3.13).

Table 3.13 Percentages of benefit dependency groups reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

Note: 52 respondents did not answer the question about benefits. As with all other tables, the percentages have been calculated from the responding base.

Urban and rural areas

3.24 There were no statistically significant differences in overall participation in learning between those living in urban and rural areas of Scotland. Differences in participation in self-directed, vocational and non-vocational learning were also too small to be statistically significant. However, respondents in large urban areas were the group least likely to have participated in taught learning (56%, compared with 68% of those living in accessible rural areas).

Table 3.14 Percentages of respondents in SHS 6-fold urban-rural classification areas reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

Learning and local deprivation

3.25 There was a clear linear association between area deprivation and the likelihood of having done any learning in the past 3 years, with those in the least deprived areas of Scotland (as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ¹⁵) most likely to be classified as learners (92%) and those in the most deprived areas least likely to be learners (69%).

3.26 This pattern was found for all types of learning, except non-vocational which showed no clear pattern.

Table 3.15 Percentage of respondents in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ( SIMD) quintiles reporting different types of learning

Base: All respondents in Scotland aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education.

Future learning

3.27 Respondents were asked how likely they were to do job and non job-related learning in the next two or three years. Overall, 60% thought it very likely and 22% thought it was fairly likely that they would do some job-related learning in the near future.

• The higher the qualification level of respondents, the more likely they were to say they would do this type of learning, with 74% of those at SVQ level 5 saying it was 'very likely' that they would do job-related learning in the future compared to 35% of those at SVQ level 1.

Table 3.16 Percentages of respondents likely to do job-related learning in the future by highest qualification

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education who are currently working or planning to work in the future (excluding those who have never been in full-time education)

• As in England and Wales only 54% of all respondents in Scotland thought that it was likely (either 'very' or 'fairly') that they would do non job-related learning in the future (Table 3.17), reflecting the higher rates of recent participation in vocational than non-vocational learning (see Table 2.1).
• There were substantial differences between respondents with different qualification levels - 40% of respondents at SVQ level 1 thought it likely that they would do this type of learning, compared with 79% at level 5.

Table 3.17 Percentages of respondents likely to do non job-related learning in the future by highest qualification

Base: All respondents aged 16-69 not in continuous full-time education who had been in continuous full-time education.

Conclusion

3.28 This chapter looked at the association between participation in learning and a wide array of socio-demographic characteristics. Findings for Scotland largely mirrored those for England and Wales. Key findings included:

• Participation in learning generally declines with age
• However, older respondents are more likely to take part in non-vocational learning
• Men are more likely to be learners than women
• Rates of learning are lower among respondents with a disability than those without
• Participation is lower among lone parents than partnered parents
• There is a positive association between recent learning participation and years of continuous full-time education, highest qualification level and parental education.
• Learning participation is highest for full-time employees. Retired respondents are least likely to be vocational learners but most likely to be non-vocational learners.
• Learning is also positively associated with household income and occupational class.

3.29 The patterns described above tended to be stronger for taught, self-directed and vocational learning than for non-vocational learning. For example, as described above, the association between learning and age did not apply to non-vocational learning.

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