Many of these issues have been researched and gleaned from news papers, magazines and the Internet. Please feel free to let me know about new issues so that I can add these to this page for other readers. Click line to email my website Manager : Ref: Hinshelwood Age Issues

Age Issues: Information for the over 40's & 50's

Not only are the elderly wealthier, they are also healthier and have more time to spend their money. A few decades ago, most people had only a few years to live by the time they retired. Most workers retiring today can look forward to 15-20 years of free time and, thanks to medical advances and healthier living, remain active for most of it. A number of women who are in the late 40's  and 50's may be divorced, widowed, or otherwise alone and they are not ready to  throw the towel in. Women with husbands or partners may wish to feel better about themselves due to increasing awareness of health issue for  the over 40's.

Free time and health, combined with relative financial comfort and a greater readiness for self-indulgence, are creating a mature market eager to consume and explore. Over the past two decades, consumption by the over-50s in Europe has increased three times as fast as that by the rest of the population. In industrialized countries, people over 50 buy about half of all new cars and have a weakness for the top end of the range. Even Harley Davidson, the maker of the legendary motorbike, cannot escape the age wave. Long gone are the days of young easy riders: the average age of its customers today is 52.

A marketing challenge

Getting to know long-ignored older customers, however, is hard work for marketing youngsters who are used to lumping all people over the age of 60 into a grey basket of frailty, tweed and stinginess. Advertising's creative types, the people who dream up commercials, are considered ancient by the time they are 35. Finding the right way to communicate with an older audience is a challenge for them.

Many advertisements still caricature older people in order to make younger audiences laugh—as in the soft-drinks advertisement that portrays an adolescent using his grandfather's trembling hand to shake his can. Yet the over-50s make up the largest share of TV audiences, spending 30-40% more time in front of their boxes than the rest of the population.

Better segmentation, however, does not mean that marketing departments always get it right. When Gerber, a maker of baby food, realized that many older consumers with dental and stomach problems were buying its products for their own use, it decided to launch a line of similar food called Senior Citizen. Ageing shoppers, however, had no appetite for showing up at the cash register with purees designed for the elderly, and the product was withdrawn.

The most successful advertising campaigns targeted at mature consumers focus instead on active and healthy lifestyles and introduce positive role models. Rejuvenated patients cycling with their grandchildren or practicing tai chi are far more effective than the stereotype of a frail arthritis sufferer.

Even the youth-obsessed cosmetics industry—Lancôme once ditched Isabella Rossellini as its model because she was considered too old at 42—is getting better at portraying women over 50. Since such women make up more than half the market for face cream in developed countries, that is a wise move. Last year L'Oreal recruited the then 57-year-old French actress Catherine Deneuve to promote its hair-care products, while Estée Lauder asked Karen Graham, its star model in the 1970s, to be the face for a new cream for the mature market.

It is not all about image and communication, however. Products and services also need to suit older consumers. Some companies are catching up with the need to adapt to older users—the food industry in particular. Unilever's margarine products were in decline until it launched its Proactiv spread, which reduces cholesterol. The advertising campaign focused on happy consumers—mostly over 50—attesting to their lower cholesterol levels. According to Jean Marc Liduena of Unilever Best foods Europe, the success of Proactiv was responsible for turning round Unilever's margarine division.

Packaging and design are also slowly adapting to the mature market. When Danone, a food and beverage giant, decided to target older consumers with its new calcium-rich Talians mineral water, it made sure that customers would have no problems with the bottle. The label was designed to be clear and readable, while its larger and easy-grip cap is simpler for arthritic hands to open.

Design for all

A similar approach has been adopted by other industries as well. Once it had identified the older population as a promising growth market, NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese telecoms company, launched a new mobile phone. Called Raku-Raku, or “easy-easy”, it has a panel with larger buttons and easier-to-read figures. After its launch last September, over 200,000 units were sold in less than two months.

Products and services adapted to older customers often benefit everybody. Three years ago RATP, the Paris public-transport network, asked its older passengers what they disliked most. The metro map layout came high up their list. So the RATP introduced 150,000 copies of a simplified and more readable map, originally supposed to co-exist with the old one. But its instant success with all passengers—old and young alike—led to the old map being replaced by the revised one.

Mr. Tréguer argues that designing for the young excludes the old, while designing for the old includes everybody. With its population of over-60s reaching almost 25%, Japan has been at the forefront of a trend to create so-called “universal-design products”—products that can be used by anyone, regardless of age and ability. In 1999, members from 17 industrial associations created the Kyoyo-Hin foundation—the foundation for universal products—and in 1998 the Japanese government proposed to the International Organization for Standardization a new global standard for products and services accessible to people of all ages. New guidelines were published last November.

The approach has worked for Fiskars, an American company: its “soft touch” scissors, which operate like secateurs and are therefore easier to use, but are also modern-looking, have been a hit with people of all ages in America. The same goes for Oxo's arthritis-friendly, contemporary-looking range of cooking utensils.

To help young designers to understand older users' limitations, Age Concern, a British non-profit organization, has developed a “through other eyes” training programmed for retailers. It tries to simulate the physical limitations that older customers experience when shopping. Ford, a car maker, has come up with something called “the third-age suit” to help its design engineers—most of whom are under 40—grasp the needs of ageing drivers. The outfit adds about 30 years to the wearer's age by stiffening the knees, elbows, ankles and wrists. It also adds material at the waist—a rotund stomach affects people's ability to sit easily—and it has gloves that reduce the sense of touch. Ford's lucky designers also have to wear yellow scratched goggles to find out what it is like to have cataracts.

The exercise has been fruitful.

Thanks to the third-age suit, the company's cars are now easier for everyone to get into and out of; their seat belts are more comfortable to wear; glare has been reduced; and the controls are more readable and reachable.

Such initiatives, however, remain the exception rather than the rule. Despite the prevalence of grey hair in boardrooms, companies are only just waking up to the impact that shifting demographics will have on consumption. The vast majority of them are ill prepared for a transformation that, as Mr. Dychtwald puts it, will turn a world focused on the young into a gerontocracy.

'Seniors USA' Article

Why come to terms with who you can meet?

Many committed Christian women are being forced to stay single because of the lack of eligible men within their churches, research has shown.

The prospects of finding a partner get poorer with age as women increasingly outnumber men in church congregations. There are more than twice as many women as men overall in British churches, according to Lorraine Kingsley, who wrote an article, "Looking for Mr. Right," in Christianity magazine, published in the United Kingdom and linked to London's Premier Christian Radio, an Evangelical broadcaster.

For 40-year-old women, the ratio of women to men is four to one; by 50 it is six to one. The article sparked wide media interest, with follow-ups in three British national newspapers and a series of radio interviews in Britain and Ireland.

Kingsley told ENI: "The media interest took me by surprise. To say that women outnumber men is hardly new for church people-but perhaps the problems of single women are new to an outside audience."

In the article Sue Saxon, who runs a Christian introductions agency, is quoted as saying that people who get married at 19 or 20 "don't realize how difficult finding a husband can be." She said finding a partner was like selling a house. "You don't just sit around praying and waiting for someone to turn up. Most people would pray about it, and then they would put their house on the market."

Ian Gregory, who also runs a Christian introductions agency, said many of the Christian agencies were "utterly cringe-worthy [embarrassing] … They have become nerd or anorak magnets. You don't want to be introduced to people who are social misfits. You want to go out with Christians of similar intellect, geographical location and backgrounds."
 

Some of the women interviewed by Kingsley found ways to find partners, but others are still waiting. Laura, a church pastoral assistant, was galled by "how family-oriented the church is." She added: "Marriage is sold as the great utopia, the goal that everyone should aspire towards … People who say that you are 'called to singleness' are basically putting you on the shelf."

Christianity Today, Week of June 5

Making the connection

Finding a suitable and available companion is always a challenge, but there are enough success stories to keep up hope, to take action and make things happen. You've got to do what any woman out to meet Mr./Ms. Right does, and take your chance, just like anyone else, that you'll be lucky.

There ARE quality single people out there looking for relationships. They may not fit your ideal fantasy, but maybe it's time to set realistic standards and look for what really counts, like character and responsibility.

According to Sex in America, most couples are introduced to each other by family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, or neighbours. So look to the people you know—and tell them you'd really appreciate an introduction to a quality person, a serious date. Don't be shy. Your social network has resources for you to tap, but you've got to let your friends know what you're looking for and talk up your hopes. Keep up your connections and your expectations. You never know which blind date may be The One.

Strengthening connections

This is a tough time, and you've had to do a lot of soul-searching with this disease. Maybe the same soul-searching can help you learn how to handle relationships better. Maybe you tend to go after the wrong partner, or send the wrong message. If you've had problems with relationships before breast cancer, those problems are not going to go away. This may be the time in your life for you to look into yourself more closely, perhaps with the help of a therapist

Late-breaking love: Relationships in senior years bring special richness

Doris Martin wasn't sure she wanted to walk through the door of the American Legion hall.

A friend had talked her into visiting. But after 40 years of marriage and eight months as a widow, it felt awfully strange to come to a singles club.

Martin was amazed at the sea of white-haired dancers inside.

"I couldn't believe there were that many single people in the world,'' she said. "I'd lived in a married world.''

Like Martin, thousands of people have re-entered the single world in their golden years, and many more will do so in years to come. And like her, many consider the world of single seniors nearly invisible until they enter it.

If the dating life of young people plays out with the noisy vigour of rock booming from car speakers, that of older adults resonates with the rich subtlety of classical music. Independence and loneliness, old loyalties and new love weave complex counterpoints. Strains of pain and loss echo. Often, swelling above it all is the joy of people who have let go of "happily ever after'' and learned to live happily right now.

"If you think romance is over, don't believe it. Every stage of life has its own romance. It's a slow, tender approach. Love is involved, and everything else, but it's a different time, a different approach,'' said a Hungarian-born widower who met his second love at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg senior centre.

He and his friend spoke eloquently about their feelings, then asked that their names not be printed. That's another thing about later-life love: Often it's not shared casually. Reticence may spring from loyalty to a late spouse, fear of family members' disapproval or a deep sense of privacy about "love and everything else.''

Sometimes, perhaps, there's also a sense that no one else quite understands.

"We don't have a language or a very supportive atmosphere for mature adults to talk about what they're doing and with whom,'' said Diane Zablotsky, a UNC Charlotte assistant professor of sociology who specializes in aging issues. "We don't have any age-appropriate terms. Are you going to introduce that 75-year-old person as your boyfriend?''

"We need to get past some of our ageist ideas and get comfortable with it,'' Zablotsky said. "It's time to stop thinking older couples are cute or quaint. They are older adults who value the same things younger people do.''

Finding new places, people

The Highlighters Singles Dance Club -- no one under 40 admitted -- was Martin's introduction to single-again life.

There are many other options, from nightclubs to a special "Metrolina Singles Senior Profiles'' section in Senior Directions magazine, with such ads as the one from a 62-year-old divorced woman seeking a "Christian male who is financially responsible, respectfully romantic and can drive (carefully).''

But Highlighters and its sister club, the Charlotte Zodiac Club, were created for people who wanted a lower-key setting, a place where it's enough to dance and laugh and greet friends with a hug. Maybe you leave alone, maybe with someone new. Either way is fine, and you're welcomed warmly the next Friday night.

Those hugs, dispensed liberally to old friends and new, mean a lot, Martin learned. Even when you're aching with grief and not ready to think about dating, you miss the warmth of human touch. A few friendly hugs can get you through some lonely nights.

Martin's first dance partner was Wes Cole, a man so dignified and well-dressed she thought he must be a judge. Actually, he was a salesman, he told her. When he was 60, his wife of 23 years had left him and gone home to mama. Now he was dating someone, but enjoying a variety of dance partners.

That's one thing older single men quickly discover: The odds have tilted in their favour. At 65, there are six women alive for every five men; at 85 the ratio is five to two. But the numbers are even more lopsided among singles: Three-quarters of the men over 65 are married, but only 41% of the women are.

Martin and Cole became frequent dance partners. Both began to realize how much those Friday night encounters meant to them. After a fight with his girlfriend, Cole suggested to Martin that she take him out for his birthday -- to Denny's, where the birthday person gets a free meal.

She did. And on Martin's birthday, Cole took her to a nice restaurant and gave her a ring.

"Ever since then, I've never dated anybody else''.

40+ Singles ISO Love on the Internet?

www.aarpmagazine.org

It's a new dating game for 40+ singles, and the Internet is one venue that is being embraced. With more older singles than at any other time in the country's history, many are looking for new outlets to meet people instead of the bar and club scene. AARP The Magazine has new features to help singles with the latest dating information.

AARP The Magazine surveyed single Americans ages 40-69 to find out among many things, their attitudes about being single, their dating behaviour, their sexual activities and overall look on life. To coincide with the new survey,

"Almost one in seven singles that aren't dating say they'd start right now-if they could meet the right person," said Steve Slon, editor of AARP The Magazine. "We hope that the personal ad maker helps singles come up with the perfect ‘ISO’ ad that leads to the perfect date."

To read the survey and other features, please go to www.aarpmagazine.org.

The "Lifestyles, Dating and Romance: A Study of Midlife Singles," conducted in June 2003 by Knowledge Networks, Inc. for AARP The Magazine, surveyed a nationally representative sample of 3,500 single or unmarried Americans aged 40-to-69, as well as members of a large panel, who were asked to respond to an electronic survey via a web-connected television in their homes.

AARP is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization dedicated to making life better for people 50 and over mainly in America. They provide information and resources; engage in legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy; assist members in serving their communities; and offer a wide range of unique benefits, special products, and services for our members

Who are 'older people'?

What is being done to help older people in the third and fourth age.

In a society focused on youth, it is hard to define. The 1993 Carnegie Inquiry into the Third Age for statistical purposes defined the Third Age (stage of life) as 50-75 with those older considered to be in the Fourth Age. In areas of employment, being older often starts at 40 or 45.

Older people are usually distinguished as being marginalised in some small or large way from various aspects of society.

Evidence shows that people over age 45 are excluded from work-based training; those over age 50 are not engaged in employment, education and voluntary activities. Those over 75, it is argued, are discriminated against in health and social care where they may receive little or no opportunities to learn.

The term 'older people' therefore can cover most of our lives, but because of the exclusion and discrimination that being older can bring, does require special attention in adult education and training policy.

It is important, whilst requiring age-related statistical data to inform us of progress, not to categorise people by age but rather be aware of the 'stages' in life achieved and individual need which can arise from learning for and in work to learning in care settings.

This huge age range also indicates that the breadth of opportunity accorded younger people must also be accorded older adults. Many older people still wish to work. The demographic changes currently taking place in our society highlight the urgent need to retain the wealth of experience and maturity within our social economy.

LSCs

Learning and Skills councils

This briefing paper is for local Learning and Skills Councils (LSCs). It aims to provide information on some of the work that is currently being carried out around older people and learning, and to highlight key areas of concern. NIACE hopes this will provide a useful starting point to help LSCs develop their plans to respond to the needs of the ageing population.

"The total economic cost is high. The drop in work rates among the over-50s since 1979 costs the economy about £16 billion a year in lost GDP and costs the public purse £3-5 billion in extra benefits and lost taxes."
Source: Winning the Generation Game, 2000

"The proportion of the population who are aged 50 and over has doubled this century, to one in three as we enter the new millennium. This trend is set to continue with around 25 million people - 40% of the population - likely to be over 50 by 2021."
Source: Making a Difference: Better Government for Older People evaluation report, 2000

In April 2000, NIACE produced a briefing paper encouraging older people and older people's organisations to make contact with their local LSCs, Local Lifelong Learning Partnerships (LLPs) and information, advice and guidance partnerships (IAGs) to ensure that the needs of older people were on the agenda under the new funding arrangements. Since then, some LSCs have started to develop their plans around older people, and there is evidence that a number of LSCs are considering the learning and training needs of older people. The picture, however, remains patchy, and the broader agenda needs to be addressed.

There are a number of recommendations for LSCs that underpin this briefing. LSCs may wish to:

Older people and learning

Participation rates
A recent article written by Jim Soulsby for Help the Aged's Evidence Review on Age Discrimination, 'On the Scrapheap', examined the recruitment and participation of older learners in the sectors of education relevant to older people. It revealed that:

What older people want to learn

Learning to Grow Older & Bolder (Carlton & Soulsby, 1999) identified some key features of older learners' participation:

Examples of the benefits of collaborative working

National Service Framework Standard Eight: The promotion of health and active life in older age
The Local Government Association is promoting pathfinder local authorities that wish to develop policies and actions to help older people retain their independence. One of the tools for this is the new National Service Framework for Older People, which, in Standard Eight, identifies education and leisure as an effective prevention against illness. This co-ordinated programme of action is led by the NHS with support from councils and other agencies, and provides a good example for LSCs of the benefits of relating to other agencies.

Better Government for Older People
The Better Government for Older People programme (BGOP) ran between 1998 and 2000 and was a unique partnership between central and local government, the voluntary sector, the academic community and older people. It aimed to improve public services for older people by better meeting their needs, listening to their views and encouraging and recognising their contribution. Although the initial BGOP programme has now ended, the BGOP Network, a forum for local authorities, other service providers and older people and their organisations, continues alongside the influential Older Peoples Advisory Group (OPAG).

Areas for Action

There are a number of issues that need to be addressed. Here we offer a brief summary of these and highlight the key recommendations for LSCs. We also provide some useful contacts for the range of organisations working in these areas.

Black and minority ethnic elders
Over the next 50 years the current proportion of black and minority ethnic elders is set to grow significantly. (It was estimates in 1993 that the percentage of black elders would increase tenfold in the next 30 years, from 3.2% in 1993 to 32.5%). However, older people from such communities remain absent from existing learning provision for numerous reasons, including the fact that the provision available to them is often irrelevant, culturally inappropriate and inaccessible.

Financial Literacy
A recent pilot study conducted for NIACE among people over the age of 50 revealed that almost 30% experienced some or extreme difficulty understanding their finances. With the pattern of life moving toward more personal control of finances and pensions, there is a need to examine levels of financial literacy and better equip older people to maintain their dignity and independence in old age.

Mid-life planning and pre-retirement education
In such a rapidly changing society, with changing pensions arrangements and work patterns, there is a need for high-quality, widely available 'preparation for later life' education.

4th Age
Investing in more and better learning opportunities for older people has been shown to lessen dependency, improve quality of life and reduce the costs of medication and care.
Demographic trends show that the number and proportion of older people in the UK is increasing, and the costs of long-term care are expected to rise significantly. The patterns of care for older people are changing, with care-planning strategies aimed to keep people in their own homes for longer.

Employability
For many excluded older people, access to relevant, sensitive and timely adult education raises self-esteem and confidence and as a consequence also creates opportunities to consider future employment prospects.

A Government report 'Winning the Generation Game' (published April 2000) put the cost of the drop in the employment rate of the over 50s since 1979 at about £16 billion a year in lost Gross Domestic Product and £3-5 billion in extra benefits and lost taxes. A third of people aged 50 to State Pension Age in Britain are inactive or displaced from the labour market.

The employment rate for the over 50s at 68% falls short of the overall employment rate of 75%. For those over 50 there is a comprehensive range of back to work help including New Deal 50 Plus, New Deal 25 Plus and the New Deal for Disabled People. The employment rate for the over 50s has increased each year for the last four years. Through New Deal 50 Plus alone, since April 2000, almost 62,000 people over 50 have been helped back to work.

New Deal 50 Plus was introduced to address the problems of unemployed older workers and the difficulties they encounter in finding work. The New Deal 50 Plus package consists of payment of a tax-free Employment Credit, a Training Grant once in employment and a wide range of practical support from a Personal Adviser at a Jobcentre.

The area of employability is covered in more detail in a parallel briefing on older people and work from Third Age Employment Network (TAEN). It highlights the fact that the last 25 years has seen a dramatic decline in the number of those in work after the age of 50, and many of those who have left the workforce seem to have done so unwillingly. There are around 2.8 million people aged 50-65 who are economically inactive, of whom about 1 million are 'hidden unemployed' and want to work, at an estimated £31 billion cost to the economy. This coincides with a time of increasing life expectancy and when people are being encouraged to take responsibility for their finances into old age.

Citizenship
It is widely accepted and recognised that participation in learning has much wider benefits than contributing to a competitive economy. Volunteering involves new learning and benefits those participating. Communities can only benefit from an increasingly active, engaged older population that is encouraged to share its vast wealth of experience. Winning the Generation Game refers to the need to encourage older people to volunteer, and this has resulted in the establishment of the Experience Corps.

Advice and guidance
For many older people there can be an uncertainty as to what the future holds in terms of work, income, health and fulfilment. People do need assistance to help them analyse their life successes, present situation and consider future options. This can be through formal advice and guidance agencies or through targeted learning activities such as the 'bite size' programme. The development of Connexions is a positive move to develop a coherent service for younger people. It is to be hoped that the complex needs of adults of all ages and stages of life can also be accommodated in such a coherent way. The sensitisation to age issues of adult services requires consideration. In recent years there has been a proliferation of third age agencies developing such expertise and sensitivities themselves to cover the void in statutory provision.

Gender
The provision of learning activities should take into consideration how older women might have been marginalized through their lives by denial of educational opportunities, by family commitments to children, partners and parents, by lack of access to pensions and benefits and by access to limited and unfulfilling employment opportunities.

Women live longer and are more likely to be the recipients of care which does not necessarily consider gender issues.

The changing employment patterns among older people show that women age 50 plus are more likely to be in work than men, but there are questions around the quality of that work in terms of status, hours worked, wages and security. A report undertaken by the East Midlands Development Agency in 2000 highlighted a survey which revealed that in 2006 the number of women aged 45-59 will form the largest group in the region's labour force, having risen by 54% (113,000) from their 1986 level, compared to a 25% (76,000) rise in the number of men.

What is Older & Bolder?

NIACE's Older & Bolder initiative promotes learning opportunities for older people. This covers the whole range of learning for whatever purposes in whatever setting at times and in ways appropriate to their stated needs.

The work of Older & Bolder includes collecting and disseminating information around issues relevant to older learners. It involves publishing newsletters, briefing papers and policy papers, and organising conferences and seminars. It also includes maintaining a specialist reference library and database of good practice, running email discussion groups for practitioners and older learners themselves, and providing guidance on curriculum and provision.

For further details about Older & Bolder contact Sasha Anderson, Information Officer at NIACE, tel: 0116 2044227, email: sasha.anderson@niace.org.uk. Information about the programme can also be found on the NIACE web site: www.niace.org.uk/research/older_bolder/default.htm

References and Further Reading

Ethnic Minority Communities

Older & Wiser: A Study of Educational Provision for Black and Ethnic Minority Elders. Stella Dadzie. NIACE, 1993. ISBN 1 872941 48 6

Financial Literacy

Summing Up: Bridging the Financial Literacy Divide. National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, 2001.

4th Age

Learning in the Fourth Age. Jim Soulsby. DfEE, May 2000. ISBN 1841852821

Employability

Ageing to Advantage: Work, Learning and Guidance for Older Age Groups. Third Age Employment Network (TAEN) briefing, 2001.

Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment. Department for Work and Pensions Publications, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ. Also available to download from www.agepositive.gov.uk 

Evaluation of the Code of Practice on Age Diversity. Department for Work and Pensions Publications, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ. Also available to download from www.agepositive.gov.uk 

Good Practice in the Recruitment and Retention of Older Workers. Department for Work and Pensions Publications, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ. Also available to download from www.agepositive.gov.uk 

Mature Workforce Development: East Midlands 2000: research and report. Geoff Ford and Jim Soulsby. NIACE, 2001.

Winning the Generation Game: improving opportunities for people aged 50-65 in work and community activity. Performance and Innovation Unit, Cabinet Office. The Stationary Office, April 2000. ISBN 0114301662

General

Discriminaion in Public Policy: A Review of Evidence. Help the Aged, 2002. ISBN 0 905852 67 2

All Our Futures: the report of the Better Government for Older People Steering Committee. Better Government for Older People, 2000. Available to download from www.bettergovernmentforolderpeople.gov.uk 

Better Government for Older People web site:
http://www.bettergovernmentforolderpeople.gov.uk 
for information and on-line subscription to the BGOP Network.

The Learning Divide: A Study of Participation in Adult Learning in the United Kingdom. Naomi Sargant. NIACE, 1997. ISBN 1862010161

Learning in Later Life: Motivation and Impact. Sally Dench and Jo Regan. DfEE, 2000. ISBN 184185199X

Learning to Grow Older & Bolder. Shiela Carlton and Jim Soulsby. NIACE, 1999. ISBN 1 86201 050 1

National Adult Learning Survey 2001. Ivana La Valle and Margaret Blake. DfES, 2001. ISBN 184185 652 5

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back : the NIACE survey on adult participation in learning 2002. Fiona Aldridge and Alan Tuckett. NIACE, 2002. ISBN 1 86201 145 1

http://www.niace.org.uk/information