Adult participation in education:
High participation rate in education among adults
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2014-01-30 9.30
Roughly 3.5 million people aged 25–64 took part in some form of education, course or study circle during a twelve-month period. This corresponds to 72 percent of the adult population, the highest rate in the EU.
13 percent took part in formal education while 67 percent took part in at least one type of non-formal education. The most common type of learning activity was staff training. 59 percent took part in staff training, while 24 percent took courses or joined study circles in their leisure time.
Percent. A person can take part in several different forms of education
| Formal or non-formal | Formal | Non-formal | Staff training | Non-formal education in leisure time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All
|
72 | 13 | 67 | 59 | 24 |
|
Sex
|
|||||
|
Women
|
74 | 16 | 69 | 60 | 27 |
|
Men
|
69 | 11 | 65 | 58 | 21 |
|
Age
|
|||||
|
25-34
|
79 | 28 | 67 | 57 | 28 |
|
35-49
|
77 | 13 | 73 | 67 | 24 |
|
50-64
|
62 | 4 | 61 | 52 | 21 |
Women took part in education and training more often than men. Persons aged 25-49 took part to a greater extent than persons aged 50-64.
Persons at work took part in education and training to a greater degree than others. The high participation rate for staff training contributed to this. However, persons at work had the lowest participation rate for formal education.
Staff training is usually non-formal education, but can also be formal education. Of those who took part in formal or non-formal education, 82 percent had taken part in at least one staff training activity.
More adults want to take part in education
28 percent had not taken part in formal or non-formal education, but one-fourth of those had wanted to take part. The most common reason not to take part was because of a lack of time due to work and family.
One in ten people had neither work nor studies as their main activity, and did not take part in any form of education or training. The women outnumbered the men in this group. A somewhat greater share of the women also reported they would have liked to take part in education and training.
Extensive use of computers and the Internet
The use of computers and the Internet has increased sharply during recent decades at the workplace, during leisure time and when taking part in education and training. To use computers and the Internet often or take part in different forms of learning activities are two different ways to develop and maintain one's skills at problem-solving with the help of computers and the Internet.
86 percent of the adult population had used computers in their current or most recent job. In Sweden 40 percent of the adult population has a good level of knowledge in solving problems with the help of computers and the Internet. Even though Sweden is in good standing compared to other countries, nearly one fourth of the adult population have no computer skills or very little knowledge of how to solve problems with the help of computers and the Internet.
Definitions and explanations
This is a press release concerning the theme report Adult participation in education, published by Statistics Sweden. The report is based on results from two international surveys, as follows: AES (Adult Education Survey) that was conducted during 2012. This survey handled questions mainly about educational activities during the last 12 months. The report is also based on PIAAC (Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies). This survey was conducted during 2011/2012 and measured knowledge and skills of adults in reading, mathematics and problem-solving in an IT environment.
Formal education includes the regular educational system.
Non-formal education is organised outside of the regular educational system. Non-formal education can be broken down into staff training and non-formal education during leisure time.
Staff training has entirely or partly been financed by employers or is conducted during paid working time.
Publication
Read more in the report Adult participation in education 2011/2012.
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.