Vocational training on the job is not always an advantage

There may be more lifelong learning going on than generally thought, but it can mean substantial financial penalties rather than economic gains, a Scottish lifelong learning conference has warned.

Gavan Conlon, of the research centre for the economics of education at the London School of Economics, has found that a third of the hours devoted to education and training by the working-age population are undertaken by over-25s.

"This figure is substantially higher than the received wisdom in the academic arena," he told the Scottish forum on lifelong learning at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Dr Conlon said that the costs and benefits of lifelong learning were hard to compute and more data were needed. But he said there could be a "sizeable penalty" in terms of lower wages and hours worked while studying.

He said that having vocational qualifications as well as high-level academic qualifications could drag down earnings. Figures showed that men with high-level academic qualifications not only earned more than men with vocational qualifications, but also more than men with the same level of academic qualification who had also taken vocational qualifications.

Helen Connor, of the Institute for Employment Studies, said that while university education might improve career prospects, it might not reverse earlier educational and social disadvantage.

Jim Gallagher, co-director of the centre for lifelong learning, said: "The question is whether the gains are being equally spread, and quite clearly they are not."