New Research Shows That The “Information Superhighway” Is Bypassing Adult Learners
There is no getting around it – the Internet has become a crucial part of our society and increasingly becoming an integral part of how we learn. It is also the driving force behind the whole idea of a “knowledge economy” but researchers have found that not everyone is able to be a part of it.
Dr. Patrick White, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester, suggests that analysis shows that participation in adult learning has neither increased nor widened during the first part of the 21st century.
His research which is based on analyizing the data of more than 47,000 participants that were a part of annual surveys performed on behalf of the National Insititute of Adult and Continuing Learning (NIACE) concluded that despite a number of government intiatives as well as considerable technological change Britain is nowhere near to being a “learning society” in 2010 that it was previously.
In every survey year from 2002 to 2010 the majority of adults surveyed said that they had not engaged in any form of learning in the three years before being questioned. Those who had participated, however, were likely to be young, well-educated, economically active and working in skilled, non-manual occupations.
Dr White said: “The research found that respondents who were in occupational classes A, B or C1 (non manual jobs) were between one-and-a-half to two times more likely to have recently participated in recent learning than those in manual or unskilled work.
via PhysOrg
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Steven Hodson Steven has been around the tech world long enough to see most of the stuff we think of cool happen before which leads to a certain bit of cynicism that has contributed to him being known as the cranky old fart of the Internet. Besides sharing some of the goodness that he finds with you here at 42x you can also find him curating some digital goodness at Winextra (tech type stuff) and Rotten Gumdrops (for your daily dose of WTF).
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