Decision Making of Adult Learners

Qualitative study to gain a detailed understanding of how and why adults decide to undertake learning. The research will develop our understanding of the behavioural drivers for the decisions they take, and it will identify the critical points where adults make decisions and what levers are available to policy makers to influence those.

The aims of this project are to: 1) Identify the motivations to undertaking learning as an adult. 2) Identify the barriers to entering learning as an adult. 3) Identify what information sources and networks potential learners are aware of and interact with. 4) Map the decision making process to adopt a particular learning pathway. This will identify at which points different barriers and motivations affect potential learners, and what trigger points exist in which adults are likely to re-enter learning. 5) Explore how motivations, barriers, awareness, processes and experiences vary for different groups of adults and different types of learning to assist in better targeting interventions. 6) Identify what practical levers exist to encourage more adults into learning, and where, when and with whom they would best be employed in order to have most impact.

We expect that a recognised behaviour theory framework (e.g. COM-B) will be used to conduct a content analysis of 1-1 interviews with adult learners and non-learners. This will lead to a structured method of mapping motivations and barriers to learning in the decision making process and potential opportunities for interventions. WORD LIMIT SHOULD BE NOT LONGER THAN 1,000 WORDS Additional information: CLOSING DATE FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST - MIDDAY 8TH DECEMBER PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENTS FOR INFORMATION/TEMPLATES WORD LIMIT SHOULD BE NO LONGER THAN 1,000 WORDS