Measuring the benefits of lifelong learning

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Measuring the benefits of lifelong learning

• John Preston
• Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of
  Learning
• Institute of Education, London

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Overburdened education? Education is the best
economic policy we have Tony Blair,
1998 education is the best and most reliable
route out of poverty and disadvantage (The
Future of Higher Education, DfES, 2003)
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learning offers excitement and the opportunity
for discovery. It stimulates enquiring minds and
nourishes our souls. It takes us in directions we
never expected, sometimes changing our lives.
Learning helps create and sustain our culture. It
helps all of us to improve our chances of getting
a job and of getting on. Learning increases our
earning power, helps older people to stay healthy
and active, strengthens families and the wider
community, and encourages independence. There are
many people for whom learning has opened up, for
the first time in their lives, the chance to
explore art, music, literature, film, and the
theatre, or to become creative themselves.
Learning has enabled many people to help others
to experience these joys too (Learning Age,
DfES, 1998)
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learning contributes to social cohesion and
fosters a sense of belonging, responsibility and
identity. In communities affected by rapid
economic change and industrial restructuring,
learning builds local capacity to respond to this
change (Learning Age, DfES, 1998)
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What are the benefits of learning?

• Pecuniary those involving direct monetary gain
  (higher wages, better investments)
• Non-pecuniary those involving indirect benefit
  to the individual (health, civic participation,
  active ageing)
• Externalities those involving benefits to
  communities / society (crime, social capital,
  social cohesion)
• Public goods?
• Intrinsic benefits of learning?

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Personal identity
CAPITALS IN MOTION
Self concept
1. Other forms of capital- Cultural
capital Economic capital Emotional capital
Plans / goals
Enjoyment
Motivation to learn
2. Structural constraints
Attitudes and values (e.g. trust)
Health
Family
Skills
Friends / Networks
Knowledge
Civic Participation
Qualifications
Human capital
Social capital
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Research to date

• Quantitative research
• Longitudinal research
• Cross-sectional (comparative) research
• Survey research
• Qualitative research
• i) Biographical research

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Overview of data and methods used in longitudinal
research

• NCDS primarily data from sweeps at age 33
  (1991) and 42 (2000)
• Participation in learning
• Changes in health and social outcomes
• Estimate associations between participation in
  learning and changes in outcomes

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Take-up of learning between 33 and 42
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Percentages participating in types of courses
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Outcomes - health

• 3 health behaviours
• Giving up smoking
• Change in alcohol consumption
• Increase in level of exercise taken
• Change in life satisfaction
• Depression
• Onset of depression
• Recovery from depression

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Outcomes social capital

• Social and political attitudes
• Change in race tolerance
• Change in political cynicism
• Change in authoritarianism
• Increased political interest
• Civic participation
• Increased number of memberships
• Voting in 97 having abstained in 87

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Health behaviours
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Well being and depression
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Attitudes
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Interest / engagement
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Main findings

• Participation in learning between 33 and 42 leads
  to wide range of health and social benefits
• Relationships between learning and outcomes are
  dynamic progression
• Learning can be associated with outcomes that are
  normatively bad as well as good
• Relationships depend upon type of course taken
  and characteristics of participants

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ButDistributions matter

• Increasing level of education mostly leads to
  individual and social benefits
• Distribution of income / skills are invisible
  in micro-social analysis (individual data)

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Skill and income inequality
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Educational inequality and general trust
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And context mattersFraser (Civic participation)

• Mid 30s
• Black British, Black Carrib., Black European..
• Working class background

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Called up

• I dont work. I havent been able to work
  for over ten years because of disability spine
  disability. Over the years Ive just been doing
  writing courses and things, just finding my way
  and in 1994 I did a photography course and it was
  for those with learning difficulties. About
  three years I think after that I did an exam but
  I dropped out because it was just too expensive.
  I didnt have the finance for it so I just went
  back to doing writing courses. In 1998 I was
  called up for a Back to Work scheme but that
  hasnt worked out and now Ive gone back to
  myIve had a chance to go back to my photography
  and I do that once a week on a Thursday evening.

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Friendships

• Fraser Everyone bar one, everyone was new. I
  think there was one lady who had been there
  before, a year before. I was sitting with some
  other I think his name was Tom and we would
  just sit down and wed talk about what we have
  done, what we havent done and we talked about
  the kind of cameras we had. He had like a
  semi-automatic when it wasand we talked about
  the manual and just talking about how you cant
  get things through using the automatic. I told
  him theyve got some manual ones there, to ask
  the teachers to borrow one of them, things like
  that. I made friendships like that in that
  sense.
• Interviewer Have you continued the friendships?
• Fraser No I havent, like I said, I had to drop
  out.
• Interviewer Oh yes.
• Fraser So I havent seen anyone for three
  years.
• Interviewer Oh
• Fraser Three, four years.

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What not to wear

• Interviewer OK, what does the Back to Work
  course involve?
• Fraser Oh, finding work. Its about writing
  CVs, preparation of CVs and how not to over-delve
  in your past. Just write out the basics and its
  also about how you dress when going for an
  interview and then what they do is they give you
  some advertising things and you look up for some
  companies and youre given the phone which is at
  the far end of the room and you phone up for work
  and thats basically it.

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Frustration

• you very rarely get an answer back. If you
  havent got the job I think they should have the
  decency to tell you but you dont know. I mean
  like, I sent off for one about five months ago
  and it was about a month ago he the employer
  phoned me out of the blue to say that it wasnt
  the kind of job that I thought it would be. I
  didnt recognize him at first. That was months
  ago. If I had taken that time in sending off the
  application form, you would be annoyed your
  reply to me is wrong, its too long and theres
  no apology, no nothing and thats wrong. I feel
  thats wrong.

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Cracks in the pavement

• maybe on the Open University late at night you
  might see something and it comes from there or
  through bookshops Ive read a small book on I
  think its Tolstoy and Ive read Thomas Hardy.
  Up at Waterstones I just sit there and read.

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Fraser conclusions

• Informal learning
• Barriers to study / participation (material /
  access)
• Importance of structural considerations

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Policy potential?

• Social benefits
• Adult education role in health promotion /
  socialisation
• Academic / vocational divide? Still differential
  effects
• Effects of unaccredited courses

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Policy problematics

• Certain areas where no effects / negative effects
• Importance of distributions
• Importance of context (Bernstein - can education
  compensate for society?)
• Non-participants and widening participation
  agenda