|
EU Adult learning statistics Complementary
methodological information |
version 30/09/2024 |
Section 1 – Adult Education Survey (AES)
The Adult Education Survey (AES) is
part of the EU statistics on adult learning. The survey covers participation in
education and training (formal, non-formal and informal learning). The
reference period for the participation in education and training is the twelve months prior to the interview. Up
to 2016, the AES covers the population aged 25-64, from 2022 onwards the
population aged 18-69.
A voluntary pilot survey was
carried out in 2007 and the survey is based on European legislation as from the
2011 AES. For regulations on EU statistics on education and training see the
dedicated section on Eurostat's website.
1.1 Implementation of the AES
a) 2007 AES
The first AES was carried out on a
voluntary basis by 29 countries in the EU, EFTA and candidate countries
between 2005 and 2008, information on the fieldwork period per country is annexed
to the metadata
page This first AES was a pilot exercise and it is referred to as 2007 AES (and
sometimes as ‘Pilot AES’). The 2007 AES proposed for the first time a common EU
framework including a standard questionnaire and quality reporting. The
participating countries were: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Türkiye.
Of the EU Member States Ireland and Luxembourg did not take part in the pilot
survey.
The 2007 AES was the first survey introducing the Classification of Learning Activities (CLA). The CLA then became the main reference for the implementation of variables on participation in education and training in other surveys.
b) 2011 AES
The 2011 AES was – for the first time – underpinned by a European legal act and thus carried out in all Member States on a mandatory basis. Commission Regulation (EU) 823/2010 sets out the implementing measures of the basic legal act (Regulation (EC) No 452/2008) for the 2011 AES.
The implementation of the 2011 survey was adapted to better match
the structure of the CLA. The fieldwork of the 2011 AES took place between 1 July 2011 and 30
June 2012, information on the
fieldwork period per country is annexed to the metadata
page On the
whole, 31 countries implemented the survey: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway,
Switzerland, Serbia and Türkiye.
c) 2016 AES
Data collection for the 2016 AES took
place between 1 July 2016 and 31 March 2017, information
on the fieldwork period per country is annexed to the metadata
page Implementation
details for the 2016 AES are provided in Commission Regulation (EU) No
1175/2014. The 2016 AES data collection was designed in
a way that took changes and new developments in adult participation
in lifelong learning into account while keeping coherence
with the 2011 AES where appropriate.
The following 35 countries
participated in the 2016 AES: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway,
Switzerland, Serbia and Türkiye. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as North Macedonia also
participated in the 2016 round.
d) 2022 AES
Data collection for the 2022 AES took
place between 1 July 2022 and 31 March 2023, information
on the fieldwork period per country is annexed to the metadata
page.
Implementation details for the 2022 AES are provided in
Commission
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/861. The 2022 AES
data collection was designed in a way that took changes and new developments in
adult participation in
lifelong learning into account while keeping coherence with the 2016 AES where
appropriate.
The following 34 countries
participated in the 2022 AES: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and Türkiye.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as North
Macedonia also participated in the 2022 round.
EU implementation manuals are provided to all participating countries in order to guarantee the quality of the AES data collection at national level:
- AES 2011 Manual and its annexes
- AES 2016 Manual and its annexes
- AES 2022 Manual and its annexes
1.2 AES quality reporting
National and EU quality reports on 2007, 2011 and 2016 AES are available
on Circabc.
More information on the comparability of AES
results with other sources is available in section
4.
1.3 Calculation of AES indicators and reliability
thresholds
This section focuses
on the description of the procedures used for the calculation of AES results
(algorithms and reliability thresholds). The list of main
publications of AES results is available in section
4.
Calculation
of the AES indicators
The technical description of the AES indicators (as published on Eurostat's website) for the four waves are available in Circabc.
It is possible to compute AES indicators on employer-sponsored activities in a similar approach as the one used in CVTS.
Reliability
thresholds
While Eurostat systematically ensures that at least four people of a given sample are used for any estimates computed on that sample, extra reliability thresholds need to be applied. Indeed when it comes to computing results from a survey, one needs to ensure a sufficient statistical robustness of the estimates.
The minimum precision requirement is expressed in terms of number of sample observations on which any statistic is based and the level of item non-response. The following rules are applied to AES results:
1.4 EU implementation
manuals and national questionnaires
The EU implementation manuals and the national
questionnaires used by each country (if available) can be found:
- 2007
AES;
- 2011
AES;
- 2016
AES;
- 2022
AES.