Situational and environmental barriers towards participation in adult education in colombo district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

There are many situational and environmental barriers which prevent people in pursuing their adult education. Identifying these barriers and finding the possible solutions is the aim of this article. The analyzed data was collected from an online survey among the 300 of part-time students who are in age group of 25 to 45 years old, the aim of this analysis is to identify the factors for situational and environmental barriers towards participating in adult education. The data has been analyzed by use of factor analysis.. The multiple regression was run to identify the relationship between factors and the barriers towards participating in adult education. Variables included in the adjusted odds model are age, gender, education, employment status, in the analysis the factors were categorized into two main groups as environment barriers and Situational barriers. Three inds of barriers were found to be in operation, They are : Environment barriers, Situational barriers and Lack of Motivation The results indicate that Environmental barriers (47%) and Situational barriers (53%) both has a major effect on the participation.. Analysis also points at a negative attitude towards re-entering education being least likely to be a barrier for self-employed compared to other occupational groups, Insufficient confidence and Lack of Motivation was among the most of the sample (75%). The study results indicates that some initiatives should be taken to increase the participation in adult education, as Programs intended to increase participation in adult education, focus on changing the views about environmental and situational barriers.