ES2.1
Adult Learning for Work
Training
Education and Skills
Adult Learning for Work
What do we mean by “Adult Learning for Work”?
The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) includes variables related to adult learning, such as whether someone is taking a part-time course, has received a qualification, and the reasons for undertaking the learning.
The Learning and Work Institute says that improving our skills can lead to more freedom, better opportunities, better adaptability in changing times, as well as increasing social mobility, inclusion, and wellbeing.
Adult learning can include lifelong learning, employability skills, life skills, technical education, social skills, or skills and knowledge related to our society. Our MeasureUp value is focused on adult learning for or within a work based context.
Key Value
A monetised social value of £1,100
Monetised social value of undertaking a part-time course for work over the past year for one person.
Where does this headline value come from?
The headline value of adult learning is derived from the estimations made by Dolan and Fujiwara in their 2012 study1. In this research, they explore the relationship between adult learning and well-being. Specifically, they focus on how the benefits of adult learning contribute to both individual and societal well-being. The sample is restricted to individuals aged 18 and over, excluding those currently undertaking full-time education. The study identifies 10 benefits of adult learning:
- Led to a certificate or qualification;
- Enabled you to progress in work or a career;
- Enabled you to improve your knowledge or skills;
- Enabled you to progress into further learning;
- Helped you to feel more confident in being with family and other people;
- Helped to keep your body and mind active;
- Improved your happiness on a day-to-day basis;
- Made you more satisfied with your life overall;
- To become a more confident parent;
- To be able to help your children with school.
The wellbeing valuation step aims to quantify the impact of adult learning on life satisfaction. Essentially, it measures the income equivalent that would result in the same change in life satisfaction as that brought about by participating in adult learning. The data used for this valuation comes from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), a nationally representative sample of over 10,000 adult individuals. Conducted annually between September and December from 1991 onwards, the BHPS collects information on various aspects of respondents’ lives, including income and life satisfaction. Individuals are asked ‘How dissatisfied or satisfied are you with your life overall?’ and then asked to rate their level of satisfaction on a scale of 1 (not satisfied at all) to 7 (completely satisfied).
The study reveals that only one adult learning variable significantly impacts life satisfaction. Specifically, this variable is a binary indicator denoting whether an individual has taken a part-time course to enhance job prospects. The results indicate that participating in a part-time course leads to an increase in life satisfaction by 0.045 index points. We standardize this coefficient based on the assumption that 1 WELLBY corresponds to one person moving 1 point on a 11-point scale for one year due to the policy or program. Given the original coefficient of 0.045, we calculate the adjusted coefficient as 0.045*11/7=0.0707. Applying the recommended rate of £13,000 per WELLBY, the value of adult learning for work is estimated at £919 and rounded to £900 in 2019 prices.
Inflation adjusted value: £1078 rounded to £1100 in 2023 prices. Our approach to inflation adjustments is explained on our Methodology page HERE
Wellbeing value is uplifted to 2023 prices using GDP deflator (fiscal year), and real GDP per capita growth in conjunction with the marginal utility of income elasticity parameter of 1.3 as recommended the Green Book Wellbeing guidance.
The State of Life WELLBY Guide also includes a value for attending a Government funded training scheme using Understanding Society data. The value for one person is stated as £1,008 (or approximately £1000) which adjusted for inflation would give a figure of approximately £1,175. This is a similar value to the one above providing a secondary source giving more confidence in the valuation. We have decided to publish using the lower more conservative figure as a part of not overclaiming value.
If you’re just starting out, start with Bronze first. The result of a Bronze measurement is just an estimate, but requires the least effort; whereas Silver, Gold and Gold+ give more accurate results but require more effort.
Each level has an effort to accuracy indicator, choose the one that’s right for you.
Bronze
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Monetised social value: Multiply the number of people that you expect to attend an adult learning programme for work by £1,100
If you are unable to capture information about the benefits of adult learning, or this is a plan for a future project, then you can use this value as a proxy for the benefits of future adult learning.
Here’s an example:
Suppose you’re working on a project to improve adult learning opportunities for work in your community. You want to estimate the monetized social value of your initiative. Assume that you expect 100 adults to participate in your adult learning programs.
Monetized Social Value = 100×£1,100=£110,000.
If you don’t have specific data on the benefits of adult learning, you can use the calculated value (£110,000) as a proxy for the positive impact of your program.
Silver
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Monetised social value: Consider realistically what benefits your participants are likely to experience. Then use the more accurate assumption to calculate a more specific value of the adult learning for work.
Consider which specific benefits are improved after the course for the participants you are supporting. Each benefit has a different value associated with it.
| Benefit of adult learning | Inflation adjusted and rounded £ value |
| A. Led to a certificate or qualification; | £1,200 |
| B. Enabled you to progress in work or a career; | £1,400 |
| C. Enabled you to improve your knowledge or skills; | £1,100 |
| D. Enabled you to progress into further learning; | £1,200 |
| E. Helped you to feel more confident in being with family and other people; | £900 |
| F. Helped to keep your body and mind active; | £900 |
| G. Improved your happiness on a day-to-day basis; | £1,100 |
| H. Made you more satisfied with your life overall; | £1,300 |
| I. To become a more confident parent; | £800 |
| J. To be able to help your children with school. | £600 |
The initial values in the report are in 2012 prices. All values here are adjusted with economic inflation, rather than the WELLBY inflation adjustment, because they are not wellbeing valuation, rather WTP (Willingness To Pay) values.
It is important to note that the study ‘Valuing Adult Learning: Comparing Wellbeing Valuation to Contingent Valuation’ takes a mean of all of these values for the overall ‘value of adult learning’. They state “[i]f we added all the amounts together, we would get a total average WTP of £7953 but it would be wrong to do this as respondents valued each benefit separately, considering their budget constraint separately in each case.”
This means when using these values at a Silver level you should only use one per person. If you believe your participants experience more than one of the benefits, then you can use the values from the shortlist of benefits to calculate a more accurate mean representative of the value for your group rather than the average person.
Here’s an example:
Imagine a scenario where someone takes an adult learning course related to project management.
As a result, they gain new skills and knowledge in project planning, communication, and team coordination. In this case, the value of the adult learning course can be aligned to ‘improving knowledge and skills’. The value associated with this benefit is £1,100. If there are 30 people on the project management course, then the value can be calculated as:
- Monetised social value = 30 ×£1,100 = £33,000
If we also imagine that the participants then progress with their career we can use the values for both benefits; ‘Progress in work or career’: £1,400, and ‘Improving knowledge and skills’: £1,100; to calculate a more accurate mean for our participants:
- Monetised social value = Mean of £1,400 and £1,100 = £1,250 x 30 = £37,500
Gold
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Monetised social value: Measure actual amounts of difference that adult learning makes to people’s lives. Use the results to more accurately calculate the value to them based on their input.
At Gold level you are looking to build on your silver estimations by engaging with the person or people affected.
Therefore, at the Gold level, you should survey users about their actual levels of wellbeing rather than using the proxy value.
There are many options for surveying people on their wellbeing.
A good starting point for questions to ask directly through primary research with your stakeholders is the Maximise Your Impact Guide. This guide covers 10 overall impact questions. For Gold level practice you would be looking to understand the question ‘what changes do people experience?’ and ‘how much of each change happened’. Questions you might want to include in your survey to uncover the outcomes they experience could include:
- What changed for you (or happened to you) as a result of our activity or programme?
- Were there any other changes?
- Did these changes lead on to anything else?
- Were the changes all positive?
- Were any of them unexpected?
- What did you want to happen?
- How did your situation/ circumstances affect your experience?
A starting point for questions related to wellbeing is to look at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing website: https://whatworkswellbeing.org/about-wellbeing/how-to-measure-wellbeing/ .
As you start to measure wellbeing directly from the people affected, one set of questions it is important to consider is the ONS4 – the national measures for subjective wellbeing in the UK which asks the following 4 questions on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘completely’:
- Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
- Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things that you do in your life are worthwhile?
- Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
- On a scale where 0 is ‘not at all anxious’ and 10 is ‘completely anxious’, how anxious did you feel yesterday overall?
You could also consider other data gathering activities, including direct observation, or focus groups.
Support in developing your Gold survey approach is available through the Measure Up partners, so please do reach out to Impact, State of Life or PRD.
How to measure adult learning?
For measuring the change related to adult learning directly with your stakeholders at Gold level, it is best to ask the validated question as used in the Contingent Valuation Survey – Questionnaire made by Dolan and Fujiwara in their 2012 study. Using the same question and asking it in the same way allows you to most accurately and comparatively calculate the values. To ask the question in exactly the same way, the following should be used:
I am going to ask how much you would pay per month for one year for learning that gave you each of the eight benefits we just talked about.
Include all of the options A-J below. These can be randomised. I and J are only to be included if the person being asked is a parent or carer for children/young people.
Q5 If you did some learning that…
A It led to a certificate or qualification
B It enabled you to progress in work or a career
C It enabled you to improve your knowledge or skills
D It enabled you to progress into further learning
E It helped you to feel more confident in being with family and other people
F It helped to keep your body and mind active
G It improved your happiness on a day-to-day basis
H It made you more satisfied with your life overall
If they are a parent also include:
I It helped you to become a more confident parent
J It helped you to help your children with school
As a slightly easier alternative at Gold level you can ask ‘Which of the following benefits have you experienced which are related to your training course?
A It led to a certificate or qualification
B It enabled you to progress in work or a career
C It enabled you to improve your knowledge or skills
D It enabled you to progress into further learning
E It helped you to feel more confident in being with family and other people
F It helped to keep your body and mind active
G It improved your happiness on a day-to-day basis
H It made you more satisfied with your life overall
If they are a parent also include:
I It helped you to become a more confident parent
J It helped you to help your children with school
You can then use the responses to calculate the values based on the list of benefits.
Here’s an example:
You survey 10 people asking them which of the 10 benefits they experienced.
5 respond that they experienced (sub group 1): A, B, and C
5 respond that they experienced (sub group 2): E, F, and G
Sub group 1 = A. Led to a certificate or qualification; £1,200 B. Enabled you to progress in work or a career; £1,400 C. Enabled you to improve your knowledge or skills; £1,100 = mean of £1,230 (rounded to nearest 10)
Sub group 2 = E. Helped you to feel more confident in being with family and other people; £900 F. Helped to keep your body and mind active; £900 G. Improved your happiness on a day-to-day basis; £1,100 = mean of £960 (rounded to nearest 10)
Monetised social value:
Sub group 1 = 5 x £1,100 = £6,150
Sub group 2 = 5 x £960 = £4,800
For whole group = £10,950
Gold+
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Gold+ level, you are building on your Gold value calculation by assessing the value against the counterfactual, or ‘what would have happened anyway’.
At the Gold+ level, you are building on your Gold value calculation by assessing the value against the counterfactual, or ‘what would have happened anyway’.
To do this you should identify a control group suitable to assess in line with your intervention, in order to more accurately attribute any changes to your intervention.
You could also consider any other discount or causality elements linked to your job creation activity.
Support in developing your Gold+ counterfactual, causality and discount approach is available through the Measure Up partners, so please do reach out to Impact, State of Life or PRD.
| Value Type: | Activity |
What's this?
This is the type of value. Some values are outcomes, which means many different interventions might lead to them, others are specific interventions that have a set value. |
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| UN SDG Categories: |
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What's this?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are global goals adopted in 2015 for all signed up nations to achieve for us to have a sustainable global future by 2030. There are 17 Goals that address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. |
| PN06/20 Categories: |
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What's this?
PPN 06/20 Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts introduced the Central Government Social Value Model in 2020 which all Central Government contracting authorities must use in their in scope procurements. It consists of 5 themes, 8 policy outcomes, and 24 Model Award Criteria which outline key priority areas to achieve more social value. |
Measure Up focuses on empowering you to numerically measure the impact you’re having. We recommend that numeric reports are backed up with stories and other types of evidence to help illustrate, in human terms, the impact that’s being made on individuals.
We recommend seeking consent from participants in your intervention to collect and tell their story. This should include a little background on the participant, a summing up of life before the intervention, the human impact of the intervention, and the longer term (if known) impact on the person’s life outside of, and after, the intervention.
Providing photographs, audio recordings, video interviews or even artefacts from the intervention (for example, writing, paintings, music from creative interventions) can add more to the story, and convey the emotional impact of interventions more directly.
In some cases it’s appropriate to anonymise or abbreviate the personal information of case study participants. No story should be published or shared without the recorded consent of the individual(s) it concerns. Individuals continue to own the rights to their stories and if they request you stop sharing the story or making it available online you should do so promptly and without need for justification.
Measure Up is open, collaborative and transparent. If you have any suggestions or feedback on our pragmatic, recommended approach to measuring and valuing social value, including wellbeing, economic, and fiscal impact, and effects on our environment, please get in touch so we can share and discuss this at our next Advisory Group meeting.
We want to empower anyone to perform and improve their impact measurement – without needing a degree in economics.
If you need any more help, or just someone to do the legwork for you we can help signpost you to software, training and consultancy to help you get to grips with the impact you’re having and value you are creating.
