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CHAPTER FOUR PARTICIPATION IN ILA FUNDED LEARNING

4.1 Although all respondents had successfully applied for one of the two ILA offers, not all had actually participated in ILA funded courses. As noted in the Introduction, targets were set for ILA Scotland based on "active" learners (those who had actually taken up courses), so it is important to examine the proportions that had taken up ILA courses over the two waves of the study.

Summary of Status

4.2 Chart 4.1 shows the status of respondents by the time of the wave 2 survey. This chart shows firstly the proportions who had undertaken any ILA learning, and this is then broken down into those that had completed a course; those that had dropped out of a course (and had not completed another ILA course); and those still on an ILA course (but had not completed or dropped out of any other course). The chart then shows the proportions who had not undertaken any ILA learning, which are then broken down by those that had booked a course; those that had not booked a course but planned to take one; and those with no plans to take a course.

Chart 4.1: ILA status at wave 2 interview

Base: All wave 2 successful applicants ( ILA200: 628; ILA100: 596)

4.3 The figures were very similar between the two offers, with around three in five having undertaken ILA funded learning in each case. Respondents were around twice as likely to have completed a course as to have left it before it finished. Those on ILA200 were more likely than ILA100 respondents to still be studying their first course at the time of the wave 2 interview (21% compared with 14%). Those who had undertaken learning had mostly been on just one course.

4.4 Of those that had not undertaken ILA learning, few had booked a course, but around half at least planned to take a course. Once again, the findings were very similar between the two offers.

4.5 Table 4.1 shows the proportion who had undertaken any ILA funded learning by the time of the wave 2 interview, broken down by various sub-groups. This table shows the proportion in each sub-group who had undertaken training ( e.g. 53% of men on IL200 had done so). This analysis shows that:

• In the ILA200 offer, women were more likely than men to have undertaken ILA courses (66% compared with 53%), while those aged 60 or over were more likely than those aged 18-59 to have done so (75% compared with 61%).
• There was also an age difference for ILA100: those aged over 40 were more likely to have undertaken ILA courses than people under 40 (64% compared with 51%). In addition, people with higher level qualifications (university or postgraduate degree) were less likely to have undertaken an ILA course (51% compared with 63% of those with lower qualifications). Although there was no significant gender difference in terms of overall participation in ILA100 courses, men were more likely than women to have left a course before it finished (17% compared with 11%).
• Analysis of wave 1 results also shows a link between participation in ILA courses and previous experiences of learning: those who had a positive experience the last time they undertook learning were more likely to take part in an ILA course than those whose experience had been negative. This pattern was stronger for ILA200 than ILA100.

Table 4.1: Proportion of successful applicants who had undertaken ILA funded learning, by gender, age and social grade

Base: All wave 2 successful applicants ( ILA200: 628; ILA100: 596)

Note: table shows the proportion (for ILA200 and ILA100 separately) in each sub-group who had successfully applied for and undertaken ILA funded learning

Non ILA funded courses

4.6 The study also looked at participation in courses that were not funded by ILA. While it is not possible to assess this for the duration of the study, wave 2 findings can provide some information on this, by identifying non ILA courses undertaken between the two survey waves. On both offers, 21% of respondents had booked or undertaken further learning of some kind between the two waves of the survey. On ILA200, half of these (51%) had done so using ILA funding, while the remaining 49% booked or started the course without using ILA funding. The proportion using ILA funding was lower for ILA100: 34% of learners used ILA funding for further learning, while 66% did not use ILA funding for the course. These findings can be interpreted in various ways. Clearly, many learners on ILA are able to undertake courses without ILA funding, but equally it confirms that only a proportion of the courses that learners want to do are covered by ILA funding.

Plans for future learning

4.7 Overall, around half of respondents (52%) said they planned to do some learning in the next 12 months, in addition to any they may have already started, when they were interviewed in the wave 2 survey. This proportion was exactly the same in the two offers, and in both cases people who had already completed an ILA course were more likely than others to say they planned to study in the next 12 months. This ties in with a separate finding that the majority of people (89% in ILA200 and 82% in ILA100) who had undertaken an ILA course said that it had made them more likely to do more learning in the future. Most people planning to study in the next 12 months said they intended to use ILA to fund the future course (81% in ILA200, 71% in ILA100).

4.8 Analysis of respondents' progress between wave 1 and wave 2 can help to predict whether respondents who said they were planning to do courses will actually do so. At the wave 2 interview, only around one in five of those who were planning to do a course at wave 1 had actually done so nine months later (23% for ILA100 and 18% for ILA200). This would suggest that although around half of respondents say they are planning to do a course in the next 12 months, the actual number may be nearer to one in ten. To some extent, these findings may reflect the fact that there is an annual limit to ILA funds ( i.e. those learners who had already reached their annual limit would need to wait until the next year to make use of ILA funding again).

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