Background
to the
Research
- Modern educational policies
place great emphasis on learning in adult life. Across Western Europe,
governments are exploring new measures designed to promote the continuous
improvement of skills and capacities among the adult workforce.
- Previous research on lifelong
learning in NI has generally concluded that participation in organised
adult learning tends to be at a somewhat lower rate than in the rest
of the United Kingdom.
- This chapter examines attitudes
towards lifelong learning in NI in 2001.
Research
Approach
- The data used by the author come from the
2001 NILT survey.
- The NILT survey began in 1998 and is carried
out annually. Interviews are conducted with a random selection of
adults (aged 18 years and over) who live in private households in
NI.
- The sample size for the 2001 NILT survey
was 1,800 respondents.
Main
Findings
- 86% of respondents agree that 'learning
in later life opens up a whole new world'.
- Just over one third (36%) of respondents
believe that taking a course is only worthwhile if it leads to something
useful, like a job or promotion, with 51% disagreeing.
- Young people are more likely to agree
with this view of adult learning than older people and men are more
likely to agree than women.
- People with no qualifications and those
in skilled manual work are most likely to believe that taking a course
is only worthwhile if it leads to something useful.
- Most respondents (70%) agree with the view
that learning 'doesn't necessarily lead to a better job or promotion'
and 47% believe that most employers value experience
above qualifications.
- 57% of respondents agree that it is impossible
to 'keep up with all the new technology around at work these days'.
- 57% of respondents agree that lifelong
learning makes people better citizens.
- Most respondents (80%) believe that their
family would encourage them if they decided to take an evening class.
- Less than one quarter (24%) of respondents
believe that school opened their mind and made them want to learn
while 70% disagree with the statement that 'school taught me the skills and knowledge
I really needed later in life'.
- 55% of respondents believe that the 11+
system means that most children in NI feel they are failures. Levels of agreement are lower among young
people and older people, and reach a peak among the 35 to 44 years
age group.
- 82% of respondents agree that 'if the
NI economy is to be successful, workers will have to take responsibility
for learning the skills that keep them up to date'.
- Almost three quarters (73%) of respondents
agree that the government should be spending more on lifelong learning
for everyone.
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