Why do people with little formal education not participate in lifelong learning activities? The views of adult educator

Abstract

Adult participation in organized learning activities has been the subject of intensive research since the 1960s. The fact that adults chose to spend otherwise free time on participating in adult education courses used to fascinate researchers. But when lifelong learning was discovered to be a driving force for the economy, participation in learning activities became an adult’s obligation, and thus, those who stay away have become interesting. This is especially true for the segment of society that has a low level of formal education and for whom western societies have actively tried to recruit to increase their education. This paper adds a new point of view to the picture emerging from this field of intensive inquiry by adding the perspective of adult educators;people who have regular interactions with both non-participants and participants, and thus gives a different vantage point than prior research has given. We present the results of a qualitative study based on small focus group interviews with a total of 22 adult educators from eight lifelong learning centres in Iceland. Although the study confirms much of what prior inquiries have found, its major findings lie in an area less emphasized in earlier research: The adult educators witness that a large portion of non-participants with lower levels of formal eduation, express a longstanding desire to further their education but many stay away because of insecurity, distrust in their learning abilities and negative earlier experience of school. Recent studies, based on surveys or interviews with the target group, have uncovered aspects such as “barriers” to participation, and non-participants’ claims that they find trainings and other organized learning events irrelevant to their needs or situation. Our results indicate that a substantial number of nonparticipants in Iceland stay away from organized learning because of prior bad experiences and a lack of self-esteem. Our findings should encourage lifelong learning organizations to design and present their offerings in ways that take this insecurity into account.