Nationality - analysis of results
The following article examines the findings of the 2008 Lifelong Learning Index in terms of Irish and non-Irish respondents.
Ireland has a strong reputation for its quality of education, so it is slightly surprising to discover that just 30% of non-national adult learners were ‘very satisfied’ with the standard of teaching in their most recent course, compared with 45% of Irish respondents. Furthermore, more non-nationals (7%) than Irish respondents (5%) described themselves as ‘not at all satisfied’. Whether this discrepancy is due to issues such as language difficulties is worthy of further investigation.
Despite the fact that more non-nationals (26%) than Irish (12%) cite ‘business studies’ as the subject that they would ‘most like to take a course in’, the survey reveals that Irish learners are more optimistic about how adult education can benefit their career ambitions. 62% of Irish respondents believe part time education has improved their job prospects, compared with 53% of non-nationals.
The trend continues with Question 27, where 71% of Irish learners and 64% of non-nationals state part time education/training is ‘very important’ for their career development. And further evidence of this trend is to be found in replies to Question 28: ‘what would be your strongest reason for taking a course?’ 11% of Irish respondents chose ‘take advantage of promotion opportunities’, compared with just 1% of non-nationals. ‘Personal development and learning new life skills’ is the key motivation for more non-nationals (51%) than Irish part time learners (41%).
Enrolling in a nightcourse ‘is out of the question’ due to caring responsibilities for a fairly significant number of non-national respondents (11%); just 4% of Irish respondents felt the same. Hopefully more can be done to improve access for all these potential learners who are missing out.
A lack of awareness among non-national learners of programmes such as the Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) is also restricting their access to lifelong learning, as just 23% are aware of the supports available to part time learners, compared with 43% of Irish adult learners.
