Sta/Medr/06/2025: Further education, work-based learning and community learning, August 2023 to July 2024

Note

This release has been updated with local authority community learning statistics. Previously these were excluded due to data quality issues.

One local authority had been submitting learning to the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR) which should not have been included. The correct data for the 2023/24 academic year has been manually identified by the local authority, and we have removed the incorrect data from our statistics. The investigation revealed that these data quality issues also existed in previous years, these have not been corrected.

Please see the Quality and methodology information for details.

Local Authority Community Learning statistics for all years before 2023/24 are likely to be overcounted. As a result, figures from 2023/24 that include Local Authority Community Learning data are not comparable to previous years.

The revision will affect “all learner” figures which include learners across further education, work-based learning and adult community learning. Please contact us if you need breakdowns of the previous all learner statistics that excluded adult community learning.

Main points

• There were 166,385 learners in further education, local authority community learning, apprenticeships or other work-based learning during the 2023/24 academic year (revised).
• Part-time learning numbers are recovering, after a long decline.
• The number of apprenticeships started fell by 5%, compared to the previous year.
• Level 3 apprenticeships are rising, foundation apprenticeships are falling, compared to the previous year.
• More learners are studying at least partly in Welsh.
• There has been an increase in Preparation for Life and Work activities.
• There has been an increase in the percentage of work-based learning taken by learners with ethnic minority backgrounds other than White.
• A levels are less likely to be taken by learners who had experience of deprivation during secondary school.

Learners by learning and provider type (revised)

Figure 1: August 2023 to July 2024, Learners by learning and provider type

• Description: There were 130,745 learners in colleges. There were 47,855 apprentices, split between colleges and other training providers. There were 13,035 in local authority community learning.
• [Note 1]: Some learners will have studied at multiple provider types.
• Data in Table 1.1 of the accompanying spreadsheet.

Further education includes learners studying A levels and other general qualifications, as well as learners studying vocational qualifications (for example BTECs).

‘Other work-based learning’ is made up of transition qualifications for people who work with children in play or childcare settings.