26-05-09 (Work-)Lifelong Learning
Last week, the Belgian Federal Government Department’s General Executive Board of Statistics and Economic Information published the results of the Adult Education Survey 2008. More than 40% of the respondents 25 years old or older, participate in some form of continued education. The big motivator behind continued education seems to be work-related. Expanding work opportunities or increasing the likelihood of professional advancement are sited as the reason for taking a particular course 64% of the time.
The study distinguishes between formal and informal education. Formal education is defined as being organised by a regularized educational institute. Courses are taught by a teacher and the persons taking the course are regarded as students. In contrast, informal education is usually set outside regularized education institutes but courses also take place in a teacher-student setting. The most popular formula for informal education appears to be on-the-job training with one in five adults having experienced this.
Among formal education the top three solely consists of business oriented courses:
1) Practical use of software (e.g.: word-processing, spreadsheets…): 15,9 %
2) Business administration (e.g. management skills, accountancy): 15,1%
3) Foreign languages: 14,5%
With regard to informal education there is room for something other than work-related topics with a top three including:
1) Business administration: 22,2%
2) Science, math and IT (including practical use of software): 18,8%
3) Health & wellbeing: 15,5%
Source
FOD Economie – Algemene directie statistiek en economische informatie persbericht 7 mei 2009 ‘Levenslang leren in België – een stand van zaken in 2008’
