Background 4: Types
of student that the respondents worked with
The
respondents were asked to list all the types of language learners which kinds
of learners they worked with. This was done with the following question:
Type of student you
currently work with (mark all that apply):
Under 10 years
old
11 – 15 years
old
16 – 18 years
old
Adults in university /
higher education
Adults in vocational education
Adults in work
Adults in evening
classes
Other
Table BG-4: The types of student that the
respondents worked with in different regions of Europe
|
Region
of Europe |
|
Type
of student (note that a respondent may work with more than one type of
student which is why the percentages add up to more than 100%) |
Total |
|||||||
|
|
|
under 10 years old |
11-15
years old |
16-18 years old |
adults
in higher / university education |
adults
in vocational education |
adults
in work |
adults
in evening classes |
other |
|
|
Northern
Europe |
Count |
16 |
64 |
55 |
136 |
29 |
33 |
34 |
23 |
272 |
|
|
% |
6% |
24% |
20% |
50% |
11% |
12% |
13% |
9% |
|
|
Baltic
region |
Count |
11 |
30 |
26 |
12 |
7 |
15 |
8 |
2 |
54 |
|
|
% |
20% |
56% |
48% |
22% |
13% |
28% |
15% |
4% |
|
|
Western
Europe |
Count |
4 |
25 |
39 |
99 |
23 |
29 |
27 |
18 |
158 |
|
|
% |
3% |
16% |
25% |
63% |
15% |
18% |
17% |
11% |
|
|
Central
Europe |
Count |
3 |
12 |
26 |
37 |
12 |
21 |
21 |
3 |
64 |
|
|
% |
5% |
19% |
41% |
58% |
19% |
33% |
33% |
5% |
|
|
South-Eastern
Europe |
Count |
26 |
55 |
34 |
63 |
16 |
16 |
22 |
8 |
133 |
|
|
% |
20% |
41% |
26% |
47% |
12% |
12% |
17% |
6% |
|
|
Eastern
Europe |
Count |
12 |
38 |
58 |
64 |
7 |
40 |
30 |
5 |
120 |
|
|
% |
10% |
32% |
48% |
53% |
6% |
33% |
25% |
4% |
|
|
Southern
Europe |
Count |
6 |
11 |
22 |
33 |
13 |
23 |
18 |
9 |
54 |
|
|
% |
11% |
20% |
41% |
61% |
24% |
42% |
33% |
17% |
|
|
Total |
Count |
78 |
235 |
260 |
444 |
107 |
177 |
160 |
68 |
855 |
|
% |
9% |
28% |
30% |
52% |
13% |
21% |
19% |
8% |
|
|
About half (52%) of the European
respondents worked with adults in
universities and other types of higher education (such as polytechnics). Although quite a few of
them may also have worked with other target groups, adults in higher education
formed clearly the biggest group across almost all regions, and it was
particularly prominent in the case of
Western, Central and Southern European respondents: around 60% of
respondents from those regions worked with this target group. The only
exception to this pattern was the Baltic region where only 22% of the
respondents taught or worked in some other way in university level education.
The second most frequent
group of students that our respondents worked with was the 16 – 18 year olds – students in upper secondary
education. On average, almost a third (about
30%) worked with them. In the Baltic region and
Working with lower secondary students (11 – 15
year olds) was almost as common as working with the 16 – 18 year
olds: it was the target group for teaching etc. for 28% of our respondents. Proportionately, the regions differed quite
significantly from each other. More than half of the Baltic respondents worked
with this target group, as did over 40% of South-Eastern Europeans. In
contrast, only 16 – 19% of Western and Central Europeans were involved
with working with lower secondary students.
Adults in work and adults in evening classes were the next most
common target groups for the teachers and others surveyed in this study. On
average, about 20% of all
respondents worked with these two types of student. Again, different regions
differed quite clearly from each other. Working with adults in work was rather
common for Southern Europeans (43%) and for Eastern and Central Europeans
(33%), but rarer for respondents from Northern and South-Eastern Europe (12%).
Teaching adults in evening classes was most common among Central and Southern
European respondents (33%) and rarest among Northern Europeans (13%).
Adults in vocational education was not a very common type
of student: on average, only 13%
worked with them. Regional differences are not very great, ranging from the
high of 24% in Southern Europe to the low of 6% in
Young children under 10 years of
age was the smallest target
group for the teachers and others surveyed here. Only about 9% worked with them. However, a
significant proportion (20%) of Baltic and South-Eastern respondents worked
with this type of student.
Working with only one type of student vs.
several types of student
About 55% or 467 of the 855 European respondents reported
that they work exclusively with one type
of student. Regions of
The most common
combinations of students that our respondents were working with were these:
-
both 11 – 15-year olds and 16
– 18-year olds (5%)
-
both under 10-year olds and 11 –
15-year olds (4%)
-
both adults in universities/higher
education and adults in work (3%)
-
both adults in universities/higher
education and adults in evening classes (2%)
-
adults in universities, in
work, and in evening classes (2%)