Approaching limits of participation? Trends in demand for non-formal education in the Czech Republic

The paper deals with the long-term participation of adults in non-formal education (NFE). It is based on the thesis that although the average participation in the NFE has increased in the past two decades, this has not taken place across the board. In countries where participation in the NFE reached 45-60% of adults as early as in year 2000, participation tends to stagnate or decline rather than continue to grow. Based on these findings, we believe that the development of adult participation in the NFE suggests that the saturation threshold has been reached. The aim of the study is to discuss whether, in the case of available empirical data on the participation of adults in NFE in the Czech Republic, a tendency towards the saturation threshold reaching can be observed. For this purpose, the paper uses secondary data from the CZ 2005 and AES 2007, 2011 and 2016 surveys. Based on a descriptive analysis of data in the form of time series, we have found that with the increase in NFE participation, the adult demand for further participation in education and training has substantially decreased. It has fallen significantly in those who have not previously had experience with NFE, and especially in those who had participated before. As a result, the saturation of adult participation in NFE has increased significantly and demand for it has decreased. (C) 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.UKCzech Science Foundation through the project Blind Spots of Non-formal Education in the Czech Republic: Non-participants and their Social Worlds [GA_ 19-00987S