lifelong learning for employment and equity: the role of part-time degrees

Lifelong Learning forEmployment and Equity: theRole of Part-time DegreesJohn Brennan, Jonathan Mills, Tarla Shah and Alan WoodleyThe Open University

Abstract

The last few years have seen a growing debate and new initiatives by govern-ment and other agencies on the concept of lifelong learning. The objectives ofthese have been to provide better access to a broad knowledge base and todevelop individuals’ employability and economic success. But lifelong learningis not a new phenomenon. In the UK and elsewhere many adults have alwaysstudied for a variety of reasons and in a variety of ways. Study through part-time degrees has long been one option for many adult learners. This paperdraws on data from a study undertaken for the Department for Education andEmployment on the employment of part-time students and considers whetherpart-time study benefits people’s careers and whether some people benefit morethan others.

Introduction

Despite recent publicity lifelong learning is not an entirely newphenomenon. Adults have always studied, for a variety of purposes, ina variety of forms, and at a variety of institutions. There is much thatcan be learned from these existing and familiar forms of ‘lifelong learn-ing’ that could inform contemporary policy initiatives at both nationaland institutional levels.

One important type of lifelong learning is to be found in part-timestudy for degree qualifications. Around 200,000 students are enrolledon part-time degree courses (HESA, 2000) in the UK. Their ages rangefrom the early twenties to well beyond retirement age. Why do they doit? What do they get out of if?

Much of the British policy debate on lifelong learning has empha-sised its importance to continuing employment success for individualsand to economic success for the nation as a whole (DfEE, 1991 and1998). More widely, lifelong learning is seen to have an important role

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to play in ensuring greater equity and social cohesion (Council ofEurope, 1998; EC, 1995). What can the experiences of students onpart-time degree courses tell us about the wisdom and likely success oflifelong learning policies?

Students enter part-time degree courses with a much wider range ofqualifications than their counterparts entering full-time higher educa-tion. Some already have degrees. Others have few or no formal educa-tional qualifications. The wider range of previous educationalqualifications might indicate a wider range of reasons for study. Forthose already well qualified, part-time study for a degree might indicatea wish to change career direction. For others it might indicate a belatedattempt to obtain qualifications increasingly necessary for access torewarding, high-level jobs. For still others, it might have nothing to dowith jobs at all.

Part-time study is different from full-time study in several ways. AsBourner et al have pointed out,

Part-time students in employment can combine study with full-time employ-ment or with substantial family or domestic commitments. This enablesthem to relate their learning not only to their prior experience but also totheir concurrent experience at work or at home. This in turn enhances thequality and relevance of the learning experience and, where appropriate,enables the learning to be applied as it is acquired. (Bourner et al , 1991, p9)

Today, of course, more and more of these characteristics apply tofull-time students as well, especially with the growing number of maturestudents and students from diverse backgrounds entering higher educa-tion. Many full-time students work part-time to support themselvesthrough their higher education.

Learning as an adult is likely to be a part-time experience: the major-ity of adult learners study part-time whatever the form, level or purposeof their studies. What then can the experiences of part-time students ondegree courses tell us about the work-related benefits of lifelong learn-ing? In this paper, we draw on a recent study carried out for the Depart-ment for Education and Employment into the employment of part-timestudents (Brennan et al , 1999) to consider the prospects and challengesfor lifelong learning in achieving both employment and equity goals.

The data used in this paper come from nearly 2000 students andgraduates. Around half of them had completed their courses the previ-ous year while the remainder were still studying, generally at a mid-point in their courses. The sample was selected from six institutions: theOpen University and five post-1992 universities – Anglia Polytechnic,Nottingham Trent, Sheffield Hallam, Westminster and Wolverhampton.

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The returned questionnaires represented a 36 per cent response rate.In this paper, we shall try to answer two main questions about part-

time study for a degree:

(i) how far does it really benefit people’s careers? (the employmentquestion)

(ii) do some people benefit more than others? (the equity question)

In so doing we shall also consider the reasons people have for part-timedegree study and the role which employers have in supporting andencouraging part-time study.

The Benefits to Employment

Obtaining a job is not an issue for most part-time degree students. Eightout of ten respondents to the survey had been in employment before,during and – where applicable – after their studies. Seventy per centwere in full-time employment and 13 per cent part-time.

If there was little change in employment status, there were changesin income with a modal increase since enrolment of 28 per cent forgraduates and 14 per cent for current students. Increased staff manage-ment responsibilities – another potential indicator of employmentimpact – were experienced by 30 per cent of graduates and 17 per centof current students.

Employment changes can be caused by all sorts of things and theabove figures cannot be interpreted as direct evidence of benefits accru-ing from part-time study. However, from the perspective of the respon-dents themselves, 55 per cent of the graduates and 37 per cent ofcurrent students felt that they had made career changes for which theirpart-time course had been either crucial or helpful. As might beexpected, there were big differences according to what students hadchosen to study. Thus, 84 per cent of the graduates from technology-related subjects reported that their courses had been crucial or helpfulto career changes. The equivalent figure for social science, humanitiesand education graduates was 43 per cent.

In interpreting the above figures, it is important to acknowledge thedifferent reasons that people have for part-time study and how these varybetween groups of students and types of course. Thus, 61 per cent of thetechnology graduates but only 27 per cent of the social science/humani-ties/education graduates reported strong career-orientations towardsstudy. Differences in the employment benefits accruing to studentsfrom different courses occur partly because different courses attract

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different people (with different motivations). Certain courses are delib-erately chosen because they are seen as offering better employmentprospects.

Reasons for study varied according to other factors as well. Fifty-seven per cent of men, but only 49 per cent of women, had predomi-nantly career-related reasons for study. But most spectacular of all wereage-related differences in reasons for study. Figure 1 shows the balancebetween career and interest related reasons for study according toage. Career-related reasons predominate for the under 40s while inter-est-related reasons are clearly the most important for people in their50s.

Who Benefits Most?

The different reasons for study should be borne in mind when consid-ering which students receive most career benefits from it.

Men benefited more than women. Sixty-two per cent of mencompared with 49 per cent of women graduates said that their courseshad been crucial, or helpful, to career changes. Men graduates reportedbigger income increases than women – 30 per cent compared with 21per cent. Men were more likely to have increased their managerial



Figure 1 Reasons for study according to age of student

responsibilities – 34 per cent compared with 26 per cent. However, wemust remember that women were less likely than men to have career-related reasons for study in the first place.

The same is not true for people from ethnic minorities. Indeed, notonly are ethnic minority students more likely to study for career-relatedreasons, they tend to be younger and more likely to be taking vocation-ally relevant subjects. Bearing these characteristics in mind, their careerbenefits could be regarded as disappointing. Thus, graduates fromethnic minorities reported income increases of 21 per cent comparedwith an average of 28 per cent for white graduates. However, there wereno differences between white and ethnic minority graduates in terms ofthe likelihood of experiencing career changes and ethnic minority grad-uates were actually more likely to ascribe these changes to the effects oftheir courses.

As far as age is concerned, there were massive differences in changesin income and in the extent to which career changes were ascribed tothe effects of part-time study. Figures 2 and 3 show these differences.The income changes for the under 26s are more than double those forpeople in their fifties. The 26 to 29 age group is most likely to ascribecareer changes to their courses (76 per cent doing so) and the over 49sleast likely to do so (28 per cent).



Figure 2 Changes in income according to age (graduates)

The Role of Employers

What role does employer support have in producing these differences?Causality is of course difficult to determine and differences in reasonsfor study must be borne in mind. But even when differences in reasonsfor study are controlled for, it is clear that employers are more likely tosupport the under 30s. A majority of students in this age group receiveboth time off and support with fees. Figure 4 shows employer supportfor different age groups of students.

Again controlling for differences in reasons for study, men are much



Figure 3 Role of course in making career changes according to age (graduates)

Figure 4 Employer support by age group, controlling for reasons for study

more likely to receive time off and a contribution towards fees – 60 percent of men receiving these benefits compared with 34 per cent forwomen. Even bigger differences in employer support occurred accord-ing to ethnicity. Only 15 per cent of the ethnic minority studentsobtained time off and a contribution towards fees compared to 51 percent for white students.

How much does employer support matter? Well, if one is looking forcareer benefits from part-time study, it appears to matter greatly. Figure5 summarises the career benefits to graduates from part-time studyaccording to the level of employer support. Whether benefits are seen interms of increased income, increased management responsibilities orgraduates’ perceptions of their courses helping a career change, thedifferences according to employer support are massive.

Conclusions

What are the lessons here for the wider agenda of lifelong learning? It isnecessary of course to recognise that part-time degree courses are onlyone form of lifelong learning. Other forms of study exist and providedifferent kinds of learning opportunities for different people with different



Figure 5 Career benefits to graduates according to level of employer support

reasons for study, both career and interest related. But part-time degreecourses are important and not just because they are taken by largenumbers of people. As employment data of all kinds show, graduatestatus confers massive employment benefits. Average earnings forBritish graduates are approaching double those for people with A levelsaccording to recent OECD data (OECD, 1998). A degree is also a pre-requisite for entry into a wide range of professional and postgraduatecourses, which bring with them a whole new set of potential careerbenefits.

As we noted at the outset of this paper, lifelong learning is aboutemployment and it is about equity. Our study confirms that there arereal employment benefits from part-time degrees but it also reminds usthat people study for many different reasons. Lifelong learning foremployment reasons appears not to be all that lifelong. After 40, inter-est-related reasons for study become increasingly important.

From an equity point of view, the results of our study give rise forconcern. Those who benefit most appear to be young white males. Andone of the chief reasons for this seems to be that employers give themthe most support. Rather than promoting equity, lifelong learning – ifpart-time degrees are anything to go by – may be a source of furtherinequality in labour market opportunities, those already at a relativedisadvantage being further disadvantaged by its effects.

References

Bourner T, Barnett R, Hamed M, Reynolds A (1991), Part-time Students and their Expe-rience of Higher Education (Buckingham, SRHE/Open University Press).

Brennan J, Mills J, Shah T and Woodley A (1999), Part-time Students and Employment:Report of a Study of the Collection and Use of Information on the Employment of Part-timeStudents, Graduates and Diplomates (Sheffield, DfEE/QSC).

Council of Europe (1998), Lifelong Learning for Equity and Social Cohesion: A New Chal-lenge for Higher Education (Strasbourg, Council of Europe).

Department of Education and Science (DES) for Secretaries of State for Education andScience, and for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, (1991), Higher Education. ANew Framework (White Paper), Cm 1541 (London, HMSO).

Department for Education and Employment (1998), The Learning Age (London, TheStationery Office).

European Commission (1995), Teaching and Learning: Towards The Learning Society(Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities).

Higher Education Statistics Agency (2000), Students in Higher Education Institutions1998/99 (Cheltenham, HESA).

OECD (1998), Education At-a-Glance: OECD Indicators (Paris, Centre for EducationalResearch Indicators).



lifelong learning for employment and equity: the role of part-time degrees

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