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.