Chapter 4 - Education and Training

• The majority of adults did not experience participation restriction to learning¹ in either wave

• Adults with impairment at both waves were twice as likely to have a participation restriction to learning in at least one wave compared to adults without impairment at both waves

• ‘Financial reasons’2 was the most commonly reported barrier to learning, regardless of an adult’s impairment status

• ‘Too busy/not enough time’ was the second-most common barrier reported by offset adults, onset-acquired adults and adults without impairment at both waves

• For adults with impairment at both waves there is some evidence from the LOS data that they perceive their impairment to have affected their ability to participate in learning opportunities more than other barriers

• There was no apparent relationship between the onset/offset of impairments and impairment based barriers to learning opportunities

Notes for Key findings

1. Education and training is referred to as learning throughout the chapter

2. ‘Financial reasons’ could relate to a variety of things including: course fees; cost of learning resources; cost involved in time away from work; or cost of childcare to enable attendance on a course

We saw in Chapter 2 that adults in the LOS can be classified into four groups for analysis:

1. adults with impairment at both waves

2. offset adults

3. onset-acquired adults

4. adults without impairment at both waves

These groups reflect the diversity of impairment status, in that impairment status may be stable, or may change over time. A person may have impairments at both waves (group 1) or no impairment at both waves (group 4), or they may no longer have impairments (group 2) or they may acquire impairments at Wave Two (group 3).

Chapter 2 of this report explores changes in participation restriction experienced between Wave One and Wave Two. According to the LOS definition, adults who had a participation restriction in one or more life area will experience barriers. Barriers to taking part in learning1 include ‘financial reasons’, ‘too busy /not enough time’, and ‘lack of information’. The barriers reported by adults may change over time. For each life area it is possible to see if a particular barrier was:

i. reported at both waves

ii. reported at Wave One only

iii. reported at Wave Two only

iv. not reported at either wave

This chapter describes the types of barriers to learning experienced by working age adults2, who experienced a participation restriction at any point in the survey (as identified by the dark sections of the pie charts (see Figure 4.1)). For these adults the types of barriers that were reported at both waves or at either wave (groups i, ii, and iii above) will be examined by group.

Figure 4.1 Percentage of working-age adults (16 to 64) with a participation restriction to learning¹, by group²

Adults aged between 16 and 64, who experienced a participation restriction to learning at either or both waves

Source: Life Opportunities Survey - Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Education and training is referred to as learning throughout the table
2. Please refer to definition of longitudinal analysis groups in the Introduction of Life Opportunities Survey - Understanding disability Wave Two Part II report
3. Sample sizes have been rounded independently to the nearest 10
4. All percentages have been rounded to the nearest 1
5. Based on weighted data

As reported in chapter two, we can see in figure 4.1 that adults with impairment at both waves were more likely than other groups to have had a participation restriction to learning opportunities.

Notes for 4.2 Aims of this Chapter

1. Education and training is referred to as learning throughout the chapter

2. All analyses in this chapter will focus on adults of working age (16 to 64) only

Tables 4.1 to 4.4 show the top four barriers that were reported by each group, broken down by whether the specific barriers were reported at both waves or at one wave of the survey¹. The analysis has been approached in this way in order to explore the types of barriers that are reported at both waves (i.e. those that are persistent), compared to those that are reported at one wave only (i.e. those that are transient).

All groups reported similar barriers at both waves, and at one wave only. ‘Financial reasons’ was the most commonly-reported barrier to learning for all of the groups, at both waves, and at one wave. ‘Too busy/not enough time’ and ‘caring responsibilities’ were also among the top four barriers for offset adults, onset-acquired adults and adults without impairment at both waves.

For adults with impairment at both waves there is some evidence that they perceive their impairment to have affected their ability to participate in learning opportunities more than other barriers (Table 4.1). However, there does not appear to be a similar perception in the offset/onset-acquired groups. For adults with impairment at both waves, their ‘health condition, illness or impairment’ was the second most reported barrier, reported either at Wave One only, at Wave Two only, or at both waves. However, it did not appear in the top four most commonly reported barriers for any of the other analysis groups at either or both waves. This may be due to the number and stability of impairment(s) reported by adults with impairment at both waves.

Barriers to learning did not appear to be permanent. In general, for all groups, a higher proportion of adults reported specific barrier types at Wave One or Wave Two only, than at both waves (65.5 Kb Excel sheet) . However, while one barrier may only be experienced for a relatively short time (e.g. Wave One only), a new barrier may have emerged causing a person’s restriction to learning to continue.

Details of all barriers types can be found in the data section of this publication. The data can also be viewed as interactive charts.

Notes for 4.3 Types of Barriers Reported

1. The rankings are calculated based on the percentage of adults who reported each particular barrier at both waves, at Wave One only, or at Wave Two only, out of those adults from that particular group who had a participation restriction to learning at either or both waves