The EU ADULT EDUCATION SURVEY

History and Latest developments

Lene Mejer and Sadiq Kwesi BOATENG Eurostat - European Commission

INE Seminar 25.11.2009, Lisbon.

Lene.mejer@ec.europa.eu

Content of the AES pilot 2005-2008

The AES in the participating countries focused on the following parameters:

� Participation in formal, non-formal and informal education (FED, NFE, INF), age group 25-64 years old

� Non-participation and obstacles to participation in training� Participation in FED, NFE and INF activities by field of

education/learning� Share of the job related NFE� Volume of instruction hours in FED and NFE� Employer financing and costs of learning in FED and NFE� Module on language and ICT skills of the population� Module on social and cultural participation of the population

Methodology

� Proposed EU standard questionnaire and classification of activities. Also standardised tools for validating data and a standard quality reporting format.

� Different schema for sampling: Simple random, stratified simple random, multi-stage stratified, multi-stage, multi-stratified sampling.

� Interview: CATI (by telephone), CAPI/PAPI or a combination of the two (computer or paper assisted face to face interview)

� Proxy interviews allowed in only a few countries� Weighting methods by mainly gender and age� AES as stand-alone survey in most countries, few included in

other surveys (mainly labour force surveys)� Reference period for education and training activities - 12

months

Status of micro-data

� Micro-data from 26 out of the 29 countries have so far been received by Eurostat

� Data from 18 countries were validated and published in 2008HU, EL, PL, IT, ES, LV, FR, BG, CY, AT, EE, SK, DE, UK, FI, SE, NO

� Micro-data from 8 additional countries have been received in 2009 and 6 have been approved and published – BE, HR, CZ, PT, NL, SI

� Five more data sets to be published by end of 2009: DK, MT, RO, CH, TR

Dissemination� Data from 24 countries are published on the Eurostat website:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat-> switch to ‘data’ mode and click on the following headings:-> Education and Training -> Training -> Adult education survey

� Plans for gradual update of database, complete data set expected by December 2009

� Micro-data for research is ready for 24 countries, 22 EU + NO and HR

� Statistics in Focus (SIF) on the results of AES is published� Results from AES presented in various meetings and

seminars on education and lifelong learning� Further publications are planned

EU

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

FR GR HU BG CY CZ AT IT HR EE DE LV PL ES SK EU LT PT NL SI NO FI BE SE UK

Participation in formal education and training (%)

Males Females

Participation in formal or non-formal education and training

EU

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

HU GR PL IT PT ES LV LT FR EU BG CZ BE CY SI AT EE SK NL DE UK FI SE NO HR

Par

ticip

0atio

n ra

tes

(%)

Participation in non-formal education and training

EU

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

HU GR PL IT PT ES LV LT EU BE FR BG CZ SI CY AT EE UK SK NL DE FI SE NO HR

Par

ticip

atio

n ra

tes

in (

%)

Only job related NFE Both job related and non job related NFE Only non job related NFE

countryParticipation rates in NFE

%avg hours per

activityavg nr of

activities

Ranking participation rates

Ranking avg hours pr activity

SE 69.4 24 3.1 1 23

FI 51.2 43 2.2 2 10

NO 50.6 29 2.7 3 20

DE 43.1 39 2.0 4 11

NL 42.1 28 2.1 5 21

SK 41.2 33 1.8 6 15

UK 40.3 30 1.6 7 18

EE 40.2 29 1.8 8 19

AT 39.8 49 1.9 9 9

CY 39.5 31 2.0 10 17

SI 36.2 36 1.3 11 13

CZ 35.4 35 1.6 12 14

BG 35.2 31 1.4 13 16

FR 34.1 25 2.3 14 22

BE 33.5 52 2.2 15 7

LT 30.9 37 2.1 16 12

LV 30.7 49 1.6 17 8

ES 27.2 74 1.5 18 2

PT 22.5 61 1.5 19 5

IT 20.2 14 3.4 20 24

PL 18.6 54 1.5 21 6

HR 18.4 69 1.6 22 3

GR 12.7 65 1.3 23 4

HU 6.8 95 1.2 24 1

Informal learning from the AES

� Third component of the AES in addition to FED and NFE� Part of the survey in all 29 countries who took part� According to CLA ‘Informal learning is ‘’intentional but less

organised and less structured learning activities and may include for example learning activities that occur in the family, work place and in daily life of every person on a self-directed, family directed or socially directed basis’’

� Main methods of learning are: printed materials, computers, family, friends or colleagues, tv/radio/video, guided tour of musuems, historical and industrial sites, learning centres including libraries

� Participation rates are higher compared to FED and NFE but country positions are similar

Participation in informal learning by method (%)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Learning by using printed materials

Learning by using computers

Learning from family member, friend, colleague

Learning through tv/radio/video

Learning by guided tour of museums,historical/industrial sites

Learning by using learning centres (includinglibraries)

Method of learning (%)

Informal learning by highest level of education %

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

EU BE BG CZ DE EE GR ES FR IT CY LV LT HU AT PL PT SI SK FI SE UK HR NO

AES module: knowledge of foreign languages (%)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

More than 2 foreignlanguages

Tw o foreignlanguages

No foreign language

One foreign language

Number of foreign languages (%)

Proficient in best known foreign language by level of education (%)

EU

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

FR HU IT PL BG UK CZ PT GR EU HR ES FI BE DE AT CY EE SE NO LT SK SI LV

low medium high

No known foreign language by age (%)

EU

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

HU PT ES BG GR FR IT PL EU UK BE CZ HR DE AT FI CY EE SI SK LV SE NO LT

25-34 35-54 55-64

Preparations for the next AES

� The next AES is scheduled for 2011/2012, countries have the option of choosing between late 2011 and early 2012

� A user-survey was launched to gather views of improving the questionnaire for the next AES

� AES Commission regulation is almost completed� A written consultation on the a new questionnaire has been completed with the EU,

EEC and candidate countries� Work has begun on a new manual with methodological and precision requirements

for the AES.� Some of the Eurostat proposals for the next AES include:

– Excluding the 4 modules included in the pilot– Reduction in the number of randomly selected activities– Extending the age-range on a voluntary basis to include 18-24 and 65-69– Including questions to measure outcome of education and training– Including all the 16 core social variables in social surveys (Eurostat)

Meetings and procedures

� The draft Commission regulation and questionnaire will be discussed at the next meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics meeting 24-25 September 2009 in Luxembourg.

� Preparations for the next AES including the draft Commission Regulation and questionnaire will also be on the agenda of the Education and Training Statistics Working Group Meeting in Luxembourg 28-29 September 2009

� The next AES Task Force meeting is at the end of November, the main focus will be the AES questionnaire, manual and the draft Commission regulation

� Winter 2009-2010 will be further written consultations on the draft Regulation

� The AES Commission regulation is planned to be sent to the ESS Committee meeting in May 2010 for adoption

� The Commission regulation, questionnaire and manual will hopefully be ready by the end of 2010.

Thank you for your attention