The key message of the annual NIACE Survey on Adult Participation for 2011 is that recession is bad for lifelong learning for anyone over the age of 25. The survey highlights the central importance of workplaces as sites of adult learning – and of the challenges posed to a learning society when opportunities to learn reduce.

This survey continues the series documenting adult participation in learning in the UK. Using responses of around 5,000 adults in the UK, it offers key findings, breaking down participation, trends in participation and future intentions to learn by gender, socio-economic class, age, employment and the regions. It provides up-to-date data as well as a valuable means for comparison over time.