For most adults, participation in learning activities is a matter of choice that must be fitted into work, family and community responsibilities, and other interests and obligations. Participants in formal educational activities are more likely to be those with higher educational attainment and those between 18 and 50 years. Non-participants are more likely to be members of racial or ethnic minorities, persons over 50 years, and persons with low literacy skills, low income, and physical, sensory or learning disabilities. The Adult Education and Training Survey indicates that only 37% of adult Canadians participate in formal learning activities while the New Approach to Lifelong Learning Survey indicates that 96% participate in intentional and incidental informal learning activities.
The concept of “barriers” to participation in learning opportunities has been important in the adult education literature over the past 50 years. Barriers are classified as situational, institutional, dispositional or attitudinal, and academic. Situational barriers consist of broad circumstantial conditions that hamper the ability of adult learners to gain access to and pursue learning opportunities. The situational barriers most frequently discussed in the literature include: multiple conflicting responsibilities for home, family, children and work; financial problems; lack of adequate and affordable childcare services; job commitments; transportation problems; having a mobility, sensory or learning disability; and lack of support from others.
Institutional barriers consist of limitations inherent in the methods institutions use to design, deliver and administer learning activities. These methods are frequently biased against or ignorant of the needs of adult learners. The institutional barriers most frequently discussed in the literature include: the complexities of providing financial support to learners to pay for tuition fees and the resources needed for learning activities; negative attitudes toward adult learners; a general lack of support services at times and places suitable to adult learners; and recognition of prior learning and previously obtained academic credentials.
Dispositional or attitudinal barriers relate to learners' perceptions of their ability to seek out, register in, attend and successfully complete learning activities. The attitudinal barriers most frequently discussed in the literature include: low self-esteem; negative attitudes about being an adult learner– too old, too busy, too tired, too sick, not smart enough, not rich enough, don't have enough time; don't need any more education; don't have adequate language skills; and not interested.
Academic barriers relate to the skills that are essential to successful learning. The academic skills most frequently discussed in the literature include: literacy, numeracy, and computer-related skills; ability to access and understand information; critical and reflective thinking skills; and skills in writing essays, examinations and tests. Academic skills that are not mastered in childhood and adolescence remain problems for adult learners; and skills that are learned early can decline through lack of use.
The literature review also identified two additional groups of barriers: pedagogical and employment training. Pedagogical barriers are largely based on lack of understanding on the part of instructors, facilitators and administrators about: how adults learn; the benefits of learner-centred teaching and active learning; diversity among adult learners in terms of learning style and preferred types of learning activities and information; and adult learners' needs for relevancy in content, recognition of prior learning, respect from others, and a responsive lifelong learning system.