The Learning Divide A Report of the Findings of a UK-wide Survey on Adult Participation in Education and Learning Carried Out for NIACE, the National Organisation for Adult Learning, by the Gallup Organisation

The learning divide reports on a survey funded by the department for Education and Employment, which was carried out for NIACE by the Gallup Organisation in early 1996. The survey highlights the full scale of the challenge which the UK faces in involving all its people in the learning society, and shows that the learning divide between the learning- rich and the learning-poor is growing. It shows that: three in five of all adults have not taken part in adult learning in the last three years; more men than women are currently learning or have been recent learners; age is a barrier to participation; social class continues to be the key discriminator in participation; adults who are not in work have almost half the levels of participation as those in work or seeking work; length of initial education is still the best single predictor of participation in adult learning; there are major national and regional variations. The report includes the first full study of participation in Northern Ireland and, with national studies of Scotland and Wales, gives the most comprehensive coverage of the United Kingdom.The learning divide is packed with interesting information, and will be important to practitioners, researchers, education activists and policy-makers.