Characteristics and Outcomes of Lifelong Learning Participation Among Working Adults by Education Level: A Latent Class Analysis

The purpose of this study is to identify types of lifelong learning participation of working adults by their education level and investigate how predictors and outcomes of participation vary in different groups. The data was drawn from the Korean Adult Lifelong Learning Survey conducted in 2022, and a total of 6,663 working adults were analyzed. A latent class analysis was performed using non-formal education and informal learning participation responses. The main findings are: first, four types of lifelong learning participation by education level were identified. They were categorized as follows: (1) less-educated, low-participation, (2) well-educated, high-participation, (3) less-educated, traditional learning methods-based, and (4) well-educated, media-based. Higher possibilities in lifelong learning participation were found in well-educated groups compared to their less-educated counterparts. Differences in education level were closely associated with the possibility of non-formal education participation. In the context of informal learning participation, less-educated groups tended to rely heavily on traditional learning methods, whereas the well-educated were more likely to prefer new learning platforms. Second, age, lifelong learning participation motivations, and firm size were the significant factors influencing class membership of lifelong learning participation by education level. Third, scores for lifelong learning participation outcomes were found to be higher in less-educated groups than in the well-educated. Based on the findings, we suggested implications for policy and practice to build an inclusive adult learning system coping with social inequalities.