The world is changing and the way that adults learn and train is changing along with it.
Recently the ABS released a report on Work-Related Training and Adult Learning and we've delved into how this can represent an opportunity for forward-thinking online education providers.
The world is changing and the way that adults learn and train is changing along with it.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that 42% of Australians between 15 and 74 years of age had studied in the previous 12 months. That means that 7.8 million people were engaged in studying in Australia alone during that period. That's quite extraordinary when you stop and think about the number studying.
Key statistics form the report
- 42% of Australians aged 15-74 years had participated in learning in the last 12 months (7.8 million people).
- One in five (21%) were studying for a formal qualification.
- Just under a quarter (23%) did work-related training.
- Online learning was the most common way work-related training was delivered: rates more than doubled from 19% in 2016-17 to 55% in 2020-21.
Lets break down what this means :
A formal qualification is one that leads to a diploma, certificate degree.
The ABS found that
- Only one in five were studied for a formal qualification
- Only 23% were completing work related training.
These are interesting statistics. It means that
- 4/5 of people, that is 80% of the people studying were not taking a formal qualification
- 77% were studying something that was not related to their work.
It is interesting to look behind the story in these statistics.
Does that mean that people are studying –
- For hobbies or interests
- To start a new career
- To train for a different job
- To start their own business
Rather than training for the job that they already hold?
We cannot tell from the ABS figures, but it is interesting to consider that the majority of people surveyed were actually studying for reasons other than training towards their existing job.
Age when studying
ABS also found that younger people were more likely to study for a qualification.
- 87% of 15 – 19 year olds
- 56% of 20 – 24 year olds
People over 25 are more likely to study informal qualifications.
Again, this is interesting.
Many of the people in the 15 – 19 year old age groups are likely to still be in full time education – school, college, TAFE, university. They are likely to be studying for formal qualifications, hence the high percentage.
It is interesting that
- As people get a bit older, the 20 – 24 year old age group, only just over half are studying formal courses.
- Then over 25 years of age and they are more likely to study informal qualifications.
Does that mean that people recognise that formal training courses do not give them the knowledge, skills and experiences they require for the world of work? This is only conjecture, but it would be interesting to see the story behind these statistics also.
Multihyphenates and Digital Nomads
Multihyphenates are generalists. They are good at working in a more general way, something that seems to be more and more sought after in the modern world. They are adaptable, able to move from one career to another with relative ease.
We have also seen the rise of the digital nomads. People who can work anywhere they like as long as they have WiFi.
The ABS found that people with more than one job tend to be likely to be doing some sort of learning. Multihyphenates and digital nomads are likely to have more than one job, or be looking for different careers more often.
This is one likely reason why people with more than one job are more likely to
- be training and keeping up to date
- training in a broad and more diverse way
Why Do People Take Formal Courses?
As we mentioned, formal courses are the more traditional forms of education, such as diplomas, certificates and degrees.
ABS found that people studying formal courses gave their reasons as –
- increasing their job prospects – 49%
- increasing the skills required for their job – 34%
The remaining people said they were studying for -
- enjoyment
- meeting people
- for voluntary work
People over 45 were more likely to want to increase their skills in their existing job than people who were under 45. This is interesting as we have seen trends in recent years for millennials to change jobs more frequently than older people. This suggests that people under 45 are not just looking to increase their skills in the job they have, but are they, perhaps, training to do new jobs, new careers or start new businesses?
How Do People Study?
ABS found that
- 55% of people had studied online in the last year
- 37% classroom based
- 9% other
Remember, these figures related to people from 15 to 74 years of age. How many of that 37% are people still in formal education. If we looked at figures after formal education, it would be interesting to see what the percentage was for online studying.
Studying for Interest
The report found that only 6% of people studied for personal interest, which suggests that the remainder are studying to improve their job and career prospects.
Online Learning
The ABS report also said -
“Online learning was the most common way work-related training was delivered:
rates more than doubled from 19% in 2016-17
to
55% in 2020-21.”
What can we take away from the ABS report?
- More people studying online than ever before
- Over 25s in particular not looking for formal qualifications
- People with more than one job, such as freelancers, are more likely to be studying
- People under 45 are less likely to be studying to improve in their existing career, this suggests that they are willing to train in a wide and diverse range of topics and skills.
How does this represent an opportunity for forward thinking online education providers?
There are obvious opportunities to online education providers –
- More people are studying online
- More people are studying online, which obviously means that more people are willing to take online courses than ever before.
- COVID-19 in particular made people more aware of the opportunities available online that are not available in classroom based settings.
- Online courses are diverse and varied, something that is not always possible in classroom based learning. A person might want to study a specific course and find it is only available in another country or miles away. This doesn’t apply with online learning. People can study what they want where they want.
Opportunity - This means that there is a growth in the online learning market and that growth is going to continue.
Accredited and Non-accredited Qualifications
The majority of people over 25 are not looking for formal courses, the traditional diploma or degree. This suggests that they are open to opportunities for non-accredited qualifications. The importance of accreditation is decreasing.
People are increasingly recognising that they need to learn, improve and develop. That doesn’t mean just passing an exam, but it does mean extending their knowledge and skills in specific topics.
Opportunity - There are more students looking for non-accredited and alternative qualifications in topics that interest them and are useful to them.
Digital Nomads, Multihyphenates, Entrepreneurs
More and more people
- have their own businesses
- work as freelancers
- are multihyphenates
- change careers frequently
These are the people who are most likely to be studying and more and more people are setting up their own businesses, working as freelances, training to be multihyphenates, changing careers frequently.
Opportunity – This means that there is a growing group of people who want to train and learn regularly! Again, a massive growth opportunity for the switched on online provider.
Retraining and Retraining
People under 45 are less likely to be studying to improve in their existing career, this suggests that they are willing to train in a wide and diverse range of topics and skills for new careers or to start their own business.
Opportunity - There is a massive potential market of people who will want to train to start a new career or their own business.
The Opportunities! The Opportunities!
There are obviously a lot of opportunities out there to sell courses for online education providers.
- Have you ever thought of setting up your own online school?
- Do you already have an online school and want to increase the number of courses you offer?
- Do you have your own business, but would like to branch into a new area?
- Why not contact ACS?
- We have over 700 courses!
- We are adding new courses and eBooks regularly.
- We update our courses frequently.
- We were established in 1979 and know what we are doing in online learning!
Benefit from our experience, knowledge and great courses.
Contact us today to find out more about selling our courses.