Pressure of work is main barrier to further education
Published: 17 July 2006
In 2004, the Danish government appointed a tripartite committee on lifelong qualifications development and education for all labour market participants. The committee consists of the social partners at national level and the relevant government ministries. It aims to ensure the continuous skills and competence development of Danish employees in the face of technological development and globalisation.
Acting on a mandate from the tripartite committee on lifelong education and qualifications, the Danish Technological Institute has mapped the motivational factors for and barriers to employees’ participation in further education. Personal development, professional advancement and maintaining knowledge and capabilities are found to be the main reasons why employees participate in supplementary educational activities. However, both pressure of work and being busy at work appear to create a barrier for the competence and skills development of approximately one third of employees.
Background
In 2004, the Danish government appointed a tripartite committee on lifelong qualifications development and education for all labour market participants. The committee consists of the social partners at national level and the relevant government ministries. It aims to ensure the continuous skills and competence development of Danish employees in the face of technological development and globalisation.
Against this background, the Danish Technological Institute was commissioned to investigate motivational factors for and barriers to further education among employees.
Motivational factors
The main reasons motivating employees to pursue further education are: personal development (reported by 75% of respondents), desire to maintain knowledge and capabilities (68%), desire to improve performance (63%) and necessity (50%). Further reasons for choosing further education include: ensuring job opportunities in the future (reported by 43% of those surveyed), viewing education as a stepping stone towards further learning (31%), increasing the chances of keeping the job (30%) and the introduction of new work tasks (25%).
Male employees are more likely to view further training as necessary, are slightly more eager to improve performance, are more worried about losing their jobs and, perhaps as a consequence, are more concerned about ensuring their chances of employment in the future.
Very few people say that they attend further training due to having a lack of work tasks. Table 1 lists the main findings of the study regarding motivational factors.
| Reasons for participating in further education | Men (%) | Women (%) | Total (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional reasons | |||
| New employee | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Necessary for the job | 55 | 46 | 50 |
| New work tasks | 26 | 24 | 25 |
| To improve performance | 67 | 61 | 63 |
| Not enough to do at work | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| To increase chances of keeping the job | 36 | 25 | 30 |
| Personal reasons | |||
| To maintain knowledge and capabilities | 70 | 65 | 68 |
| As a stepping stone to further education | 31 | 30 | 31 |
| To have better job opportunities in the future | 47 | 40 | 43 |
| Personal development | 74 | 76 | 75 |
* No. of respondents = 3,851.
Source: Holsbo et al, 2005
Educational level
An analysis of the relationship between educational background and the motivation for pursuing further education revealed some interesting findings (see Table 2 below):
There is a linear relationship between people’s educational level and their desire to improve work performance: the higher the educational level, the greater the desire to improve in the job. Most likely, the differences in the desire to improve one’s own abilities reflect the generally lower levels of job decision latitude in positions that demand less education, leading to less involvement in the job.
Workers who are unskilled, skilled or have attended short-cycle higher education are more motivated by the incentive to keep their job – thus seeking to enhance job security through further training – than those who have attended medium- and long-cycle higher education.
Using further education as a stepping stone to more learning opportunities relates to educational levels in the sense that less education increases the likelihood of this answer. Presumably, these figures reflect individuals who are proactively seeking new or better jobs.
Unskilled employees are somewhat more likely to participate in further education or training to improve future employability than are the other educational groups.
| Reasons for participating in further education | Unskilled (%) | Skilled (%) | Short-cycle higher education* (%) | Medium-cycle higher education* (%) | Long-cycle higher education* (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional reasons | |||||
| New employee | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Necessary for the job | 51 | 50 | 45 | 47 | 55 |
| New work tasks | 23 | 27 | 20 | 26 | 26 |
| To improve performance | 56 | 62 | 67 | 68 | 72 |
| Not enough to do at work | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| To increase chances of keeping the job | 35 | 33 | 32 | 21 | 24 |
| Personal reasons | |||||
| To maintain knowledge and capabilities | 64 | 68 | 70 | 69 | 66 |
| As a stepping stone to further education | 33 | 33 | 31 | 28 | 18 |
| To have better job opportunities in the future | 50 | 42 | 45 | 34 | 44 |
| Personal development | 73 | 76 | 79 | 76 | 70 |
* Short-cycle higher education incorporates less than three years of education, medium-cycle comprises three to four years of education and higher-cycle corresponds to more than four years of education.
** No. of respondents = 3,851.
Source: Holsbo et al, 2005
Barriers to further training
The most prevalent barrier to participating in further education reported is pressure of work: being busy at work and having no one to cover for the employee during educational activities. One third of all men and just over a fifth of women report this to be the main problem (see Table 3). Skilled workers and employees with long-cycle higher education are most likely to report work pressure as an obstacle to further education.
Approximately 9% of respondents report that they are not allowed to take courses during normal working hours. Other barriers include: being new in the job (8%), constantly changing task requirements (7%) and lack of relevant courses (7%).
| Reasons for not participating in further education | Men (%) | Women (%) | Total (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New in the job | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| Tasks to be performed continuously change | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| Pressure of work, being busy, no one to provide cover | 33 | 21 | 27 |
| Not allowed to take courses during normal working hours | 6 | 11 | 9 |
| Employer does not find it relevant | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Cannot afford it | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Have not taken the initiative to do so | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| No interest in pursuing a course | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Lack qualifications to take courses (it is too difficult) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Family reasons | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Do not know enough about the options | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Relevant courses do not exist | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| Course is at an awkward time | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| The course is fully booked | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| The course takes place too far away | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 13 | 18 | 16 |
| Do not know | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Not reported | 2 | 2 | 2 |
* No. of respondents = 2,547.
Source: Holsbo et al, 2005
About the study
The study by the Danish Technological Institute consists of four reports (in Danish), which are available on their website. The quantitative part of the study is based on a telephone survey that was carried out by the Danish National Institute of Social Research (Socialforskningsinstituttet, SFI) between February and May 2005. In all, an attempt was made to contact 14,488 persons; of these, 8,599 were interviewed, representing a response rate of 59.4%.
The tripartite committee’s reports are available on the website of the Ministry of Finance (in Danish only). See also DK0602103F.
Reference and further information
Holsbo, A., Lotz, C.F., Nielsen, L.M., Johannsen, L.W. and Christensen, S.S., Deltagelse i VEU – motivation og barrierer for ansatte, Danish Technological Institute, Taastrup, 2005.
See also trade union concerns about the financing of continuing training (DK0604019I).
Rune Holm Christiansen and Henrik Stener Pedersen, Oxford Research
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2006), Pressure of work is main barrier to further education, article.
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