Data released this morning by the Department for Education gives us a first look at adult learner participation in further education and skills courses this academic year.
Here’s what we learned from the first quarter (August 2022 – October 2022):
There were 1,056,530 learners recorded this quarter, up 4 per cent, on the same period last year. Most of the extra 43,380 learners so far this year are taking courses at level 4 and above (up 11 per cent) and below level 2 excluding basic skills (up 7 per cent).
However, the number of learners on full level 2 and 3 programmes fell by 9 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, representing nearly 23,000 learners.
