Adult Education Survey (household survey)
Participation in adult education by sex, age group, mother tongue, educational level, region, place of residence, social status and household’s net income. Adult education is divided into three: formal studies, in-training and independent self-development. | |
Classification of Estonian administrative units and settlements (EHAK) Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2 Statistical Classification of Regional Units of Estonia International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 08) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011) Classification of Ethnicities International Standard Codes for the Representation of the Names of Countries (ISO 3166) Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages (ISO 639-2) | |
Not applicable. | |
Basic level of computer skills – ability to use word processing and spreadsheet programs, to copy files/folders or change their location, etc. Below upper secondary education – the highest level of education the individual has attained is preschool education, primary education, vasic education, vocational basic education and vocational education after basic education. Blue-collar workers – service and sales workers; skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers; craft and related trade workers; plant and machine operators, and assemblers; elementary occupations; armed forces occupations. Expert level of computer skills – ability to write computer programs, solve software and hardware problems if a computer does not work as it should, etc. Foreign language – a language that is not a mother tongue. Foreign language knowledge – both beginner and advanced level knowledge. Beginner level is defined as understanding and being able to use a few words and phrases, even if only to a small extent. Formal education – basic, general, vocational and higher education. This is an institutionalized, structured form of learning that conforms to specific standards and typically takes place in a school environment based on level curricula. Formal education is purposeful, and it is guided by teachers with specialized preparation and qualifications. Learning objectives derive from the curriculum and the teacher, and the learning process is monitored and evaluated. Formal education is mandatory up to a certain level or age (in Estonia, until the age of 17). Household – a group of people who live in a common dwelling (at the same address), share joint financial and/or food resources and whose members consider themselves to belong to the same household. A household may also consist of one member only. Minimum wage – the nationally established minimum monthly wage in the year of the survey. Mother tongue – the first language that is spoken in early childhood. One person may have more than one mother tongue. Net income – a sum of income from wage labour and self-employment, property income, social transfers, regular inter-household cash transfers received and receipts for tax adjustment of which inter-household cash transfers paid, taxes on wealth and repayments for tax adjustment have been subtracted. Net income per household member – the sum of all household members' net incomes divided by the number of household members. Primary sector – agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing. Proficient level of computer skills – ability to format text, create graphs with spreadsheet programs, install simpler devices and programs, etc. Rural settlement – a small town and village. Secondary sector – mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, construction. Self-study (intentional self-development)– also known as informal learning. It is self-directed and pre-planned self-improvement. It encompasses any kind of conscious learning through various activities and communication channels, regardless of time and environment. Informal learning is not structured and lacks direct learning objectives, curriculums, and materials. There is no institution organizing the teaching. Informal learning does not include participation in trainings or formal education system studies. Tertiary education – the highest level of education the individual has attained is secondary specialised education after secondary, Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral level. Tertiary sector – trade, services, etc. Training – courses, seminars, private lessons or guide-on-the-job training. Also know as non-formal education. Non-formal education is associated with both professional self-improvement and personal interests. It is goal-oriented and institutionalized learning taking place in various environments that falls outside of formal education. Non-formal learning can be conducted by educational institutions, training companies, employers, and private teachers. Trainings are prepared by the instructor, and there is usually also a training plan. Upper secondary education – the highest level of education the individual has attained is general secondary education, vocational secondary education or vocational education after secondary education. Urban settlement – a city, city without municipal status and town. White-collar workers – legislators, senior officials and managers; technicians and associate professionals; clerks. | |
Person | |
Permanent residents of Estonia aged 18–69, excluding persons living in institutions (children’s homes, care homes, monasteries, convents, etc.) FRAME The list of permanent residents of Estonia based on the 2011 Population and Housing Census and the population register | |
Estonia as a whole Regional units Counties Urban and rural settlements | |
2007, 2011, 2016, 2022 | |
Not applicable |
DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 October 2019 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples, amending Regulations (EC) No 808/2004, (EC) No 452/2008 and (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98 (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/859 of 4 February 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the number and titles of the variables for the data set in the education and training domain (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/861 of 21 May 2021 specifying the technical items of the data set and establishing the technical formats for transmission of information on the organisation of a sample survey in the education and training domain pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2181 of 16 December 2019 specifying technical characteristics as regards items common to several datasets pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2180 of 16 December 2019 specifying the detailed arrangements and content for the quality reports pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/256 of 16 December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing a multiannual rolling planning (Text with EEA relevance) OTHER LEGAL ACTS Not available OTHER AGREEMENTS Not available |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. | |
The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act. The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here. |
Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month). | |
All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar. |
The news release is published when new data are released. The news release can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section News. | |
Not published | |
Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject areas “Social life / Education / Adult education / Participation in adult education” in all tables. | |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes. | |
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The guidelines for conducting the survey by Eurostat are available from the CIRCABC environment. 2022 survey materials: manual, manual annexes and sample questionnaire. | |
A quality report corresponding to requirements is sent to Eurostat. |
To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act. | |
Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions. |
Ministry of Education and Research Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Ministry of Social Affairs | |
Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website at http://www.stat.ee/user-surveys. | |
In compliance with the rules (regulations) |
The data are comparable with the data of other European Union countries. | |
In 2011, the results of the adult education survey showed that the percentage of people participating in training in the previous 12 months was the highest in history. However, this conclusion does not align with the results from the Estonian Labour Force Survey, which has shown a steady increase in lifelong learning participation without a noticeable change around 2011. The Labour Force Survey's data is about training events that occurred over a 4-week period, but the trends can still be compared. The 2011 survey was different from others in that it was not solely conducted by the Statistics Estonia, but was carried out in collaboration with a subcontractor. Additionally, the response rate that year was lower than usual. Consequently, there may be more deviations in these data than usual (the non-sampling error is greater). To achieve a more consistent overview over time, it may be advisable to exclude the 2011 data from the analysis. From 2022 onwards, there has been a change in tables HTT45, HTT46, and HTT47. Prior to 2017, these tables were compiled in such a way that if the individual under study participated in more than one training course during the year, only the information of the first mentioned training was considered in the analysis. However, from 2022 onwards, the information from all participated trainings during the year is taken into account. Starting from the 2022 survey, the trainings for which more detailed data were collected from individuals were randomly determined. Previously, the individual had the opportunity to choose which training they provided information about. | |
Participation in lifelong learning is also measured in the Labour Force Survey (https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/methodology-and-quality/esms-metadata/40013). Adult training in the workplace is examined in the enterprise survey "Continuing Vocational Training Survey" (https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/methodology-and-quality/esms-metadata/40305). | |
The outputs of the statistical activity are coherent. |
The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia. | |
The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available. |
SURVEY DATA Total population aged 18-69 is 880,000 objects. The sample includes 6,800 objects. Data has been collected by stratified random sampling by age and sex. ADMINISTRATIVE DATA The data on a person’s ethnic nationality and citizenship are received from the statistical person’s register of Statistics Estonia (which is based on data of different national registers). DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES Not used | |
Every sixth year | |
The data are collected from persons. Data colletcion methods are computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Computer-assisted telephone interviews are conducted by accordingly trained telephone interviewers of Statistics Estonia. Observation fieldwork information system (VVIS) is used in order to manage and monitor the data collection process. The questionnaires are designed to be completed on the computer by the interviewer. The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires. The data are collected with the official statistical questionnaire “Täiskasvanute koolituse uuring”. | |
The validation process consists of arithmetic and quality checks, including comparison with other data. Before data dissemination, the internal coherence of the data is checked. | |
In the case of missing or unreliable data, estimate imputation based on established regulations will be used. Variables and statistical units which were not collected but which are necessary for producing the output are calculated or linked with statistical register of persons. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. This may be done repeatedly, the derived variable may, in turn, be based on previously derived new variables. Weights are calculated for statistical units and the data collected by a sample survey are expanded to the whole population. Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes aggregation of the data according to the classification and calculating various statistical measures, e.g. average, median, dispersion, etc. Only estimates which are based on 20 or more respondents are published. The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators. | |
Not applied |