Adult learning dips after post-pandemic boom

A post-pandemic boom in adults learning appears to have ended with a sharp dip in the last year, according to a think tank’s annual survey.

The adult participation in learning survey, carried out by Learning and Work Institute (L&W) every year since 1996, found that the number of people “currently” engaging with learning fell nine percentage points to 21 per cent when responding in June and July 2025.

While there has been a “sharp contraction” it is unclear whether this is a long-term downward trend or “a blip”, said L&W.

An analysis of think tank’s survey results suggests that the decline is “largely related” to fewer people participating in learning while at work.

Since last year, the number of full-time employed people engaging in learning also fell by 15 percentage points to 50 per cent.

L&W warns that rates of learning “cannot be left to languish” at current levels amid technological changes to work.

The benefits of learning for careers, health, social interaction and personal enrichment should also be “relentlessly promoted”, the think tank argues.

Boom and bust?

The survey results suggest adult learning participation increased in the UK and across many European countries after the pandemic.

The post-pandemic boom appears to have been partly driven by increased independent learning on online platforms such as YouTube videos, social media and using artificial intelligence.

This year was the first drop in this measure since the pandemic – in 2019 only 17 per cent of people said they were currently learning.

Since 2020, between 22 and 34 per cent of people reported they were currently learning when responding to L&W’s survey each summer.

The decline is also seen in L&W’s “participation rate” – a longer term measure that includes both people reporting engaging in learning currently or in the last three years.

This year, the participation rate was 42 per cent, a ten percentage point drop from a “high water mark” of 52 per cent in 2024.

In 2019, the participation rate hit a record low of 33 per cent before jumping to 44 per cent in 2021.

Trapped in work

Employed people are learning in “greatly reduced” numbers in the last year, the survey suggested.

Rates of full-time employees reporting learning in the last three years fell 15 percentage points to 65 per cent this year.

Currently, only one in five (21 per cent) of people report learning in work, although those paid over £52,200 per year are twice as likely to be receiving training as those earning less than £26,099.

This reveals the “two track character” of the UK labour market that traps “too many” on low-paid work, the report authors argue.

L&W said the increases in work-based learning in 2023 and 2024 could have been driven by increased hiring “acute recruitment challenges” which led to more hiring and training.

Since then, the labour market has cooled and vacancies have fallen.

But online opportunities

A long-term increase in independent learning driven by technology has almost always been associated with technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and online learning platforms.

The use of AI platforms such as Chat GPT has doubled to 31 per cent since 2023 and online learning platforms such as Classroom has risen three percentage points to 39 per cent.

L&W’s researchers believe increased reliance on self-directed learning should be considered against the backdrop of declining employer spending on training.

In the last two years, government figures suggest investment per employee fell £260 to £1,700 between 2022 and 2024, while spend per training dropped £540 to £2,710.

Inequalities self-perpetuating

L&W’s survey continues to find that those leaving school earlier, from lower social grades, earning lower incomes, or of an older age are all less likely to learn in any way.

About half (49 per cent) of people counted as “AB”, the highest of occupation-measured social grades, report learning in the last three years, compared to only a third of people in DE, the lowest grade.

Similarly, people who stay in full time education until age 21 or over report engaging in learning in the past three years, compared to only 23 per cent of those who left education aged 17 or 18.

“These inequalities are at risk of becoming self-perpetuating, with participation in learning increasing your likelihood of learning again in the future,” said the report.

However, learners continue to report a range of benefits including self-confidence, personal development, love of learning and jobs and skills.

‘Longest running’ of its kind

L&W believes the survey is the “longest running study of its kind”, taking a representative sample of around 5,000 people aged 17 and over from across the UK in July and August this year.

The think tank uses a “purposefully broad” definition of learning that includes practicing, studying or reading about something, as well as more traditional education and training.

However, the think tank warns that longer-term comparisons with pre-2021 data should be “treated with some caution” due to a shift to online surveys by the market research firms who conducted the survey.

This has raised “potential issues” around representation of older, disabled and digitally excluded adults that analysts have weighted in an attempt to make the sample representative of the UK population.

‘When adults learn, society thrives’

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute, said: “When adults learn, our society and economy thrive – and this message should ring true for the UK government, given its ambition in the post-16 education and skills white paper to ‘develop a skilled workforce and break down barriers to opportunity.’

“But today’s findings make clear the sheer scale of what needs to be achieved to get the nation learning.

“Government, employers and wider society all have a part to play in setting the country back on course: to increase adult participation in learning, and to close inequalities that harm the prospects and quality of life for so many people.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to building a skills system that works for learners, employers, and the economy.

“That’s why we’re investing a record £3 billion in apprenticeships and cutting their minimum length so people with pre-existing training can secure a new career more quickly.

“Alongside this, our Get Britain Working reforms will boost employment by overhauling Jobcentres and providing personalised work and skills support to help people of all ages get into work under the Plan for Change.”