Student Demographics & Facts

The typical student is typical no more. Student demographics are changing in the States and around the world. Just a few years ago English as a Second Language (ESL or EsoL) was virtually unheard of in public schools and it certainly wasn’t a feature of many tertiary institutes. Today you will be hard pressed to find a school that doesn’t offer ESL. Likewise, for adult education which has boomed over the past couple of decades. Today’s technological and spirited business environments have professionals across a range of fields’ up-skilling to remain current and competitive. Add to that the ease of online learning and tertiary flexibility like never before and you’ve got more students learning in more ways.

In fact the numbers are staggering.

ESL student facts:

• English language students represent the fastest growing segment of the school age population in the US with growth of 124% in the past four years.
• Estimates suggest that ESL students will comprise over 40% of elementary and secondary school student populations by 2030.
• California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois account for 68% of ESL elementary students in the US.

These student statistics are echoed in Europe’s adult student population:

• In 2006 it was estimated that 600,000 people just in London had an ESL need.
• In some parts of the country, there are as many as 50% of adults with entry level ESL needs.
• ESL is no longer an issue only for urban areas. Between 2004 and 2008 East Anglia attracted 120,000 workers from EU accession countries

Other English speaking countries address the issue of language education in different ways; in Australia, there is a legal entitlement to 500 hours of ESL for new arrivals.

Adult Students

Adult student learning is a boom industry with masses of adults up-skilling or complimenting existing degrees with further study. Technology is partly responsible for this mass return to education as workers in every industry are required to come to terms with increasingly sophisticated work environments. Basic software and computing skills are no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity in virtually every workspace. This reality too is reflected in adult student demographic facts.

Adult Student Facts

• Overall participation in adult education among individuals age 16 or older increased from 40 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2001.
• Though part time study steadily declined in the 1990s, part timers will number more than 7.5 million by 2014.
• Among the various types of adult education student participation individuals aged 16 or older participated most in work-related courses (27 percent), followed by personal interest courses (21 percent), part-time college or university degree programs (5 percent), and other activities (3 percent).
• US proposals to fund short-term training (as little as 10 weeks) and absence of funding for living expenses suggest that new government spending is targeted for non-traditional students seeking training such as adult students and displaced working adults.
• Among those employed in the past 12 months, the overall participation rate in adult student education was higher for those in a professional or managerial occupations (70 percent) than for those employed in service, sales, or support jobs (48 percent) or those in trade occupations (34 percent).
• The overall participation rate in adult student education for bachelor’s degree recipients or higher was greater than for those individuals who had some college or less education.
• In 2005, 1.2 million post-secondary students were enrolled in fully online certificate or degree programs.

That’s all good news for the throngs returning to education. As adults and ESL students increasing fill classrooms and online learning spaces they are being accommodated in their goals by both government and education providers. The typical student today is unrecognizable from the typical student 30 years ago.