Lifelong learning

Concepts and definitions in the LFS are in accordance with recommendations given by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and EU/Eurostat.

According to the international recommendations, persons above a specified age should be classified by their attachment to the labour market in a specified, short period, either a day or a week. In the Norwegian LFS the reference period is one week, and the sample of persons are classified in relation to their situation in that reference week.

Employed persons are persons aged 15-74 who performed work for pay or profit for at least one hour in the reference week, or who were temporarily absent from work because of illness, holidays etc. Conscripts are classified as employed persons. Persons engaged by government measures to promote employment are also included if they receive wages.

Lifelong learning is here defined as all organised learning activity undertaken throughout life, and which results in improving knowledge, know-how, skills, competences and/or qualifications for personal, social and/or professional reasons.

Education refers to formal education as defined below.

Formal education includes all education leading to a qualification which is recognised in a (or the equivalent of a) national framework of qualification, e.g. elementary school, lower secondary school, modules or courses in upper secondary school, apprentices and practice candidates in upper secondary education, technical vocational schools, tertiary education giving official credit points and further education leading to a professional specialisation. Persons older than 60 years are not asked about their participation in formal education, as SSBs register based statistics show that there are only few students being 60 years or older. In this statistics, fomal education includes persons aged 15-59 years.

Formal supplementary education includes education leading to a qualification which is recognised in a (or the equivalent of a) national framework of qualification. All formal supplementary education is also regarded as formal education, but not the other way around. Formal supplementary education is, in many cases, a specialization or an extention of a previously compleded education. In this statistics, formal supplementary education is defined as formal education taken by the following groups: 1) all persons aged 35-59 years that at the time of interview state that they have participated in formal education within the 12 past months, and 2) persons aged 22-34 years that at the time of interview state that thay have participated in formal education within the 12 past months, and at the same time have had a break/pause in their education of at least 3 years since they first entered. In this statistics, formal supplementary education includes persons aged 22-59 years. 

Non-formal education/training is any organised learning activity that is not formal education. It includes courses, seminars and conferences (where learning is the main purpose), public lectures and private lessons not part of formal education. The definition of non-formal education/training used in the Learning Conditions Monitor does not include guided on-the-job training.

Both formal education and non-formal education/training are institutionalised forms of learning. This entails that there is an organisation providing structured arrangements (which must include something similar to a student-teacher-relationship) especially designed for education and learning.

Training refers to non-formal education/training as defined here.

Informal learning is not institutionalised learning. Thus, it is less organised and less structured than formal education and non-formal education/training, often undertaken by the individual on his/her own. It may include watching TV or reading a book with the intention to learn, intentional learning from colleagues or family members, guided tours in a museum etc. The importance of the intention to learn when undertaking an activity separates informal learning from random learning.

Learning-intensive work refers to employment that requiers updating of skills and acquiring of new ones, with good possibilities to develop new skills during the daily work.

For discussions and examples used to clarify the differences between formal, non-formal and informal learning, see Eurostats Classification of Learning activities - Manual.

The industrial classification of economic activities is in accordance with the Standard industrial Classification (SN2002) until 2007, and SN2007 from 2008 onwards. The standard is based on the EU standard if NACE rev. 1.1.

Occupation is coded in accordance with the Standard classification of occupations, based on ISCO-08.

Educational attainment level is primarily based on information from register information in the National Education Database.

Name: Lifelong learning
Topic: Education

Division for Education and Culture Statistics

Figures are presented at national level.

The Learning Conditions Monitor (LCM) is an annual ad hoc module to Statistic Norway’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) in the first quarter. The reference-period for this survey is the last 12 months prior to the interview.

Not relevant

The basic material (survey results from the interviewers) as well as the statistical files (on the basis of revision and estimation procedures) are stored. Anonymized microdata are sent to Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD).

The main purpose of the LFS is to provide data on employment and unemployment, and data on the labour force participation in different sections of the population. The Norwegian LFS started in 1972. For information about the history of the survey, and about breaks in the time-series, please cf. Labour Force Survey 2001 (NOS C748).

The Learning Conditions Monitor has provided valuable information on adult learning. The LCM is developed by the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research and financed by the Ministry of Education and Research. Since 2015, Skills Norway is responsible for the LCM. The LCM has been conducted as an annual ad hoc module to the LFS from 2003-2006, and from 2008. The sample size is about 20 000 respondents. The Norwegian AES has been adapted to assure the continuation of time series on some main indicators from the LCM such as learning demands and possibilities through the daily work, adult participation in formal education, further education and non-formal training and providers of job related non-formal training.  

By providing the relevant authorities and other users with information about the scope, form, content, and financing of adult learning, as well as the motivation and obstacles for education and training, the LCM contributes to the knowledge base for policy development.

Key users in Norway include the Ministry of Education and Research as well as some other Ministries, trade unions, research institutions, international organisations etc.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

This statistic is a part of the statistics of adult education and other tuition in Norway. For international comparisons, se the Adult Education Survey: www.ssb.no/vol_en

The Statistics Act §§ 2-1, 2-2 and 2-3.

LFS: Council Regulation (EC) nos 577/98, 1991/2002 and 2257/2003, and Commission Regulation nos 1575/2000, 1897/2000, 2104/2002, 430/2005 and 377/2008.

The total population aged 15-74 is covered by the LFS. Up to 2006, the group was 16-74 and age was defined as completed years at the end of the year. As from 2006, age is defined as completed years at the time of the reference week. Observation unit: person.

The main source for the LFS is quarterly, representative sample surveys based on interview by telephone. The questions in LCM is only asked in the first quarter.

Inhabitants in all municipalities are randomly selected, on the basis of a register of family units. The sample consists of about 12 000 family units (24 000 persons) each quarter. Each family member aged 15-74 participates in the survey, answering questions about their situation during a specified reference week. As from 1996 each family participates in the survey 8 times during a period of 8 quarters (before 1996: 4 times during 6 quarters). Up to 1996 a two stage sampling procedure was applied. For more information, please cf. Labour Force Survey 2001 (NOS C748).

A sample of LFS respondents are asked to answer the questions in the LCM. LCM includes persons aged 15-66 years.

Sample surveys LCM (in Norwegian)

Data collection: Interviews in the LFS are conducted by telephone. Information from previous interviews are used while asking about any changes in the situation, instead of the same, comprehensive data collection every time. For the coding of industry, information from some registers is also used. Demographic data are collected from the Central Population Register, and data on education are based on a register of individual data collected by Statistics Norway from the educational institutions (but questions are also asked to get more updated information). The respondent is usually the same person as the observation unit (but proxy interviews are done if it is not possible to get in contact with the observation unit; 14-15 per cent of the interviews are done by asking near family members). Proxy interviews are not used for the LCM. Data are collected weekly, i.e. the LFS is a continuous survey (all weeks are covered). Up to 1st quarter 1996 (from 2nd quarter 1988) the survey was based on one reference week each month, and in previous years on one week each quarter. Participation in the survey is compulsory, but compulsory fines are not used.

Editing: Editing includes both control and revision. Several automatic checks have been implemented in the electronic questionnaires to prevent erroneous/inconsistent answers, flagging warnings when such errors occur asking the respondent to provide a new and valid answer.

Estimation: Person is the unit for analysis. The accurate number of persons in the population being represented by one person in the sample, the inflation factor, varies, with 170 on an average for quarterly figures. From 2018, estimations are done by a (multiple) calibration model.

For detailed information about the estimation method launched in 2018, see se Documents 2018/16 [https://www.ssb.no/en/arbeid-og-lonn/artikler-og-publikasjoner/new-estimation-methodology-for-the-norwegian-labour-force-survey].

Not relevant

Not relevant

It is possible to compare results on certain indicators in the AES with results on similar indicators in the Learning Conditions Monitors. Some additional questions have been added to the AES 2007 questionnaire to assure correspondence with filters and concepts used in these surveys.

In all surveys, errors may occur in connection with both the collection and the processing of data.

The response rate in the LFS is about 85 per cent. Correction for total non-response is done in the estimating procedure. Partial non-response is adjusted for some variables.

The estimates from the LFS are based on a sample of family units. Somewhat different results might have been obtained if a different sample or a complete census had been taken using the same questionnaires, interviewers, processing, etc. as those actually used in the LFS. The uncertainty introduced by sampling is called the sampling error or standard deviation of the estimates.

From 2019, estimates based on less than 5 000 weighted observations are not presented. Estimates based on weighted observations between 5 000 and 17 000 are regarded as uncertain estimates. 

See principles for revisions in Statistics Norway.