Most of the students taking professional education courses in the country are enrolled in private schools: 53.1% of the persons aged 10 years and over attended, or had attended, such type of courses at private education institutions¹, 22.4% at public ones and 20.6% at the S Teaching System Institutions (Senai, Senac, Sebra, etc).  

 

Financial problems making it difficult  to pay for education was the main reason reported by 25.5% out of a total 2.4 million persons who had enrolled but not finished a professional qualification course (10.2% of the total persons attending such courses). The most attended professional qualification course was computer science, being in second place, trade and management.

 

Youth and Adult Education (EJA) courses were attended in 2007, or before that, by about 10.9 million persons, which accounted for 7.7% of the population aged 15 years and over. Among the almost 8 million persons who took EJA courses before 2007, 42.7% did not finish the program, and the main reason reported in this case was incompatibility of class and work hours or hours for job searching (27.9%), followed by lack  of interest in taking the course (15.6%) .

 

In literacy courses included in Youth and Adult Literacy courses (AJA), the most common profile among students was: a woman, over 50, coming from the Northeast Regions, with monthly household income of up to 1 minimum wage.

 

These are some highlights of the study “Complementary Aspects of youth and Adult Education and of Professional Education, a supplement of PNAD 2007 (National Household Sample Survey), conducted by IBGE in partnership with the Ministry of Education. The main survey results are presented below. 

Qualification concentrates over 80% of the persons who took professional education courses

Among the 6 million persons aged 10 and over who attended, in 2007, any kind of professional education course, 80.9% were enrolled in the segment of professional qualification and 17.6%, in technical courses (high-school level). Among the 29.6 million who had attended such courses before, 81.1% had taken professional education ones and 18.4%, technical ones.

 

When the figures representing students who were taking professional education course were added to those representing students who had taken the course before (33.6 million persons), the division was repeated: 81.1% were in the segment of professional qualification; the technical course of high-school level represented 18.2% of the total; technological under graduation, 0.7%.

 

Most professional education students enrolled in private institutions

 

Teaching institutions belonging to the “S” System received 20.6% (7.4 million) of the persons who were attending or had attended any professional education course – a percentage below that of private teaching institutions (53.1% or 18.9 million) and of public teaching institutions (22.4% or 8.0 million persons).

 

 

In the South and Central West Regions, the “S”² System institutions had attendance percentages (24.0% and 24.3%, respectively) above those of public teaching institutions (21.7% and 22.9%, respectively). Only in the Northeast (49.7%) and South (49.2%), private teaching institutions did not have over half of the persons who were taking or had taken professional education.

 

26.1 % of the unemployed had attended professional education courses

 

Considering the number of employed persons (90.8 million), 3.6% were attending professional education courses in 2007, whereas among the unemployed (8.1 million persons), the percentage was 7.5%. Twenty-three percent of the employed persons had taken professional education before and, among the unemployed, this percentage was 26.1%. It means that over half (66.4%) of the unemployed persons had not taken or were attending in 2007 any professional education courses.

 

Almost half of those who had taken professional education courses 45.5%) attended computer science courses  

 

Considering the persons who had attended professional qualification courses (24 million persons), a third had attended computer science classes. This percentage increased to 45.5% among the 4.9 persons who, in 2007, attended professional qualification courses. Another area which means a highlight was trade and management which encompassed, in 2007, 11.5% of the persons who tad taken professional qualification courses.

 

The same segment had lower participation of the “S” System in relation to public teaching institutions, public and private ones in all the Brazilian Regions.

 

The percentage of persons who were attending this type of course at the time of the survey in the “S” institutions (14.4% or 704 thousand) was 10.0 percentage points below those who had attended such courses before. On the other hand, the proportions of those who were attending classes, in 2007, in public teaching institutions (20.6%, or about 1 million persons) and private ones (61.5% or 3 million) were higher than the proportions of those who had attended such courses before (17.3% and 53.4%, respectively).

 

Women made up 55.7% of the persons who were attending professional qualification courses in 2007, whereas men made up 44.35. In the “S” System, there were 10.6% of women (289 thousand) and 19.1% of men (415 thousand); in private teaching institutions there were 61.6% of the women (1.7 million) and 61.3% of the men (1.3 million). In public teaching institutions, the number of women (653 thousand or 24.0% of the total) was almost twice as the number of men (356 thousand or 16.4% of them.

 

Day courses received 69.4% of the persons who were attending or had attended any type of qualification course before (except distance ones); evening courses had 30.6% of the students. The courses which did not require any specific level of schooling were the ones attracting most people (45.1%). Among all the persons who were attending or had attended day courses, 47.7% focused on courses without any school level requirements and, in the case of evening courses, 39.2%. This particular characteristic was more clearly observed in the Northeast, where proportions were 56.1% of the day students and 47.7% evening ones. 

 

Financial difficulties lead ranking of reasons for leaving professional qualification courses

 

A total 2.4 million persons attended, but did not finish a professional qualification course (10.2% of the persons who attended). Among these, 25.5% mentioned financial problems as the main reason for not finishing the course. This reason was most often indicated in the Southeast Region (29.4%). Another important aspect for abandonment was dissatisfaction with the course (18.7% in the country). The incapacity to understand the course content prevented conclusion in 10.1% of the cases; course location was the main reasons for 7.4% of the persons; family problems, 7.0%; health problems, 4.1%; a course content which is not compatible with the job market, 1.3%, were other reasons for leaving the course.

 

Among the persons who finished the course (21.5 million), 12.2 million (56.4%) were working, in 2007, or had worked in their professional field and 65.7% of them said this occurred because the course had the necessary content for their jobs. This specific answer was most commonly seen in the Central West Region (71.2%).

 

Considering the 9.4 million persons who finished professional qualification courses but never worked in the same field of their studies, 31.1% stated there is scarcity of job posts in the area, and 30.4% did not work for having found a better job opportunity. The Northeast Region was the one which presented the highest percentage of persons who declared not to find posts (41.8%); the South had the highest percentage of persons who had found a better job opportunity (35.1%).

 

Health is the most desired area in high-school courses

 

Health was the area with the highest proportion among the 5.4 million persons who had attended a high-school technical course (20.2%), followed by industry (19.0%), management (18.0%) and computer science (8.9%). The areas of health (29.4%) and industry (22.0%) also had the most significant proportions among the 1 million persons who attended technical courses in 2007, being followed by management (11.0%) and computer science (12.9%) courses.

 

Public teaching institutions are more commonly present in the segment of high-school technical courses, with 43.5% of the persons who had already taken these courses. In the North Region (55.0%), this proportion was the highest; in the Southeast, the lowest (38.3%). Among persons who were attending technical courses in 2007, the South Region (47.5%¨) had a higher proportion of persons in public teaching institutions and, once more, the Southeast Region (32.5%) had the lowest proportion. In overall terms, 36.7% of the persons who took technical courses in 2007 were in public teaching institutions, 49.6% in private ones and 13.4% in the “S” system.

 

42.4% of the students had taken technical courses and high school at the same time

 

Among the persons who were attending or had attended high-school technical courses, 55.4% had finished this course after high school and 42.4% took both at the same time.

 

Among the persons who attended such courses in 2007, 50.7% (537 thousand) were women and 49.3% e (523 thousand) were men. The most desired area was health (46.1% of those who were attending and 31.8% off those who had attended before). Men who had previously taken technical courses preferably chose industry (33.0%). Among the persons who were attending these courses in 2007, the highlights were the fields of industry (38.3%) and computer science (16.4%).

 

Financial problems were mentioned as the reason for not finishing the course by 190 thousand persons, that is, 24.5% of the 775 thousand persons who had taken technical courses and did not finish it; 22.6%  (175 thousand) did not finish it due to dissatisfaction with the course. The North Region had the highest proportion of abandonment due to financial problems (37.0%), and the Northeast Region, the lowest (18.7%). The Southeast Region had the highest percentage of abandonment by dissatisfaction (26.1%), and the North Region, the lowest (17.5%).

 

Among the 4.7 million persons who finished the technical course attended before, 3 million (65.2%) were working or had worked in the same area of study. For 59.6% of these persons, the course content was of fundamental importance to get the job; for 25.7%, the acceptance of a certificate was the main reason for working in the same area of study.

 

Among 1.6 million persons who had never worked in the area of studies of the course taken, 40.1% (650 thousand persons) declared to have found a better job opportunity in another area; 27.9% did not find job posts in the same area as that of the course; and 10.8% said the main reason for not working in the same area was “to keep on studying instead of working”. This explanation was mainly given in the South and Southeast regions (11.7%). The percentage of persons who were not working due to lack of job posts in  the course field was highest in the North (37,0%) and Northeast Regions (36.9%).

 

The estimated number of persons who had never taken professional education courses was 123 million, being 60 million men (48.6%) and 63.7 women (51.4%).

 

The proportion of persons who had never taken professional education courses increased up to the group of monthly household income per capita ranging from ½ to 1 minimum wage, and declined in the following ones.

 

Lack of interest was the main reason presented by people for not having attended professional education courses; this pattern is similar for all age groups. In general, the proportion of persons without any interest in this type of activity is always lower among women – except in the case of those aged 50 and over.

 

42.7% of the 8 million persons who had taken EJA courses before the survey abandoned left the course without finishing it

 

Among the 141.5 million persons in the country aged 15 years and over, about 10.9 million persons (7.7%) were attending or had attended some kind of Youth and Adult Education (EJA) course. At the time of the survey, about 3 million persons were attending EJA courses, whereas about 41 million were taking elementary of high-school. Among the 8 million persons who had taken and EJA course before the survey, 42.7% had not finished it.

 

The main reason for leaving the course, according to most people interviewed, was the incompatibility between class hours and work hours or with hours used to look for a job, followed by the lack of interest in taking the course 915.6%). Other reasons who caused people to give up the course were incompatibility of class time and domestic tasks (13.6%), the difficulty of understanding course content (13..6%), the inexistence of a course close to their home  (5.5%), the inexistence of a course close to their job (1.1%), lack of posts (0.7%) and other reasons (22.0%).

 

The desire of resuming their studies (43.7%), followed by the necessity of having better job opportunities (19.4%), advancing in their studies (17.5%) and getting a diploma (13.7%) were the main reasons presented by persons for taking and EJA course and not a regular one.

EJA is most attractive to women and persons with low income, and is mostly attended in the South 

In the analysis by sex, considering all those who were attending or had attended EJA, 53% were women and 47%, men. In terms of income, the highest percentage of persons who attended EJA courses, at the time the survey was conducted, had income of up to ¼ of a minimum wage (3.0%) or did not have income (2.6%). Most of the persons attending EJA declared to be brown (47.2%), white (41.2%), black (10.5%) and belonging to a different ethnicity (1.1%).

 

The participation of persons who were attending or had attended any EJA course increased in the group aged 18-39 and declined in the others. The age group aged 30-39 (10.7%) was the one which looked the most for EJA courses, being followed by the group aged 40-49 (8.6), 18 or 19 (7.5%) and 50 and over (4.6%).

 

 

In terms of area, among the 10.9 million persons who were attending or had attended EJA courses in Brazil, the South and North Regions had the highest percentages: 10.5% versus 89.5% who had never attended such a course and 9.1% versus 90.9%, respectively. The results of other Regions were 8.5% versus 91.5% in the Southeast; 7.1% versus 92.9% in the Central West and 6.5% versus 93.5% in the Northeast Region.

 

The PNAD 2007 Supplement estimated that, in the country, in the period of the survey, 2.5 million persons were attending and AJA course or had done it before. The percentage of persons who were attending or had attended AJA in the population aged 15 and over was 1.7% of the total in the country. At regional level, AJA students represented 3.6% of the persons aged 15 and over, followed by the Regions North (1.6%); South and Central West (1.2%) and Southeast (0.9%). According to PNAD 2007, there were 14.1 million persons aged 15 and over who did not know how to read or write.

 

Northeast Region has the biggest number of participants in AJA courses (1.3 million persons)

 

About 45% of the 1.8 million students who had taken AJA courses declared not to know how to read and write at least a simple note. Among the persons who attended the aforementioned course in 2007 or before, 1.4 million were women and 1.1 million, men.

 

Almost half of those persons were 50 years of age and over (44.7%), being in second place the group aged 40-49 (21.4%) and 30-39 (19.3%). Most of the students at AJA courses had a monthly household income per capita of up to a minimum wage, according to the following main groups: about 487 thousand received up to ¼ of a minimum wage; 622 thousand, from ¼ to ½ of a minimum wage and 722 thousand, from ½ to 1 minimum wage. In terms of occupation, about 1.6 million of the students who declared to have taken AJA courses were employed. Learning how to read and write was the main motivation of about 1.6 million students; in second place was the necessity of resuming their studies (536 thousand) and have better job opportunities (195 thousand).

 

In terms of area, the Northeast Region, home of more than half of the illiterate population in the country (7.5 million), according to PNAD 2007, had the biggest number of AJA participants (1.3 million persons). The lowest number of AJA students was found in the South Region (265 thousand), central West (125 thousand) and North Region (169 thousand).

 

Considering the reasons presented by persons who attended AJA courses in 2007 or before, the predominant reason for studying was learning how to read and write (66.0%). Other reasons presented were: resuming studies (21.8%), finding better job opportunities (7.9%) and other (4.3%). Among persons who declared that learning how to read and write was their main motivation, the highest percentages occurred in the North (75.1%) and in the Northeast (75.0%).

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¹ A teaching institution is considered private when it is a privately-owned school, college, university or another entity (unions, NGO’s, churches, cooperatives, etc), except for those of the “S” system, which offer regular education at one or more levels of schooling.

² Institutions of the so-called “S” system: National Service for Industrial Learning - SENAI, Industry Social Service  - SESI, National Service for Commercial Learning - SENAC, Social Service of Commerce - SESC, Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises - SEBRAE, Air Transportation Fund – Fund Connected to the Air Force Ministry, National Rural Training Service  - SENAR, National Transportation System - SEST, National Service for Transport Apprenticeship - SENAT, or National Service for Professional Cooperative Education – SESCOOP.