Further education, work-based learning and community learning: August 2021 to July 2022

Education provision was disrupted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic from March 2020 onwards and impacts may still be seen in the figures presented in this release.

Main points

• There were 149,350 learners at further education institutions (FEIs), adult learning or work-based learning (WBL) providers during 2021/22.
• There were 119,300 unique learners at FEIs, an increase of around 10% on the previous year.
• This increase was mostly driven by a recovery in the number of part-time learners at FEIs (up 28%).
• The number of full-time learners at FEIs decreased by 5% but learners undertaking WBL at FEIs increased by 7%.
• There were 10,440 unique learners in adult learning, 88% higher than the previous year, so it was at the highest level since 2018/19.
• Total WBL numbers (including those at other training providers) decreased by 15% on the previous year; this can be partly explained by the end of traineeships in March 2022.
• There were around 3% fewer apprenticeship learning programmes started.

Note

This statistical first release summarises data on learners in post-16 education and training, excluding those at Higher Education institutions and schools but including FEIs, other WBL providers and adult learning provision collected via the Welsh Government’s Lifelong Learning Wales Record.