Adult participation in education and learning in the United Kingdom was examined through a Gallup survey of a stratified (by region and town size) national sample of 4,673 adults aged 17 years and over from England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Interviewers were given quotas for sex by respondents' age, class, and employment status. Interviewing took place January 24 to February 6, 1996. In Northern Ireland, a booster sample of 528 adults was interviewed to enable separate results for the first such surveys in the province. Of those regions surveyed, 23% of adults were currently enrolled in learning and an additional 17% had been enrolled in learning in the past 3 years. More men (25%) than women (21%) were currently learning. Key findings included the following: social class is a key predictor of participation; more than half of all upper and middle class respondents were current or recent learners versus only one-third of respondents from the skilled working class and one-fourth of those from the unskilled working class; employment status affects learning opportunities--unemployed and retired people have half the levels of participation of employed persons; length of initial education is the best single predictor of participation; and those with more initial education are more likely to participate in additional education. Information regarding respondents' future learning intentions, subjects of learning, place and length of study, qualifications earned, finance, attitudes toward learning, and reasons for nonparticipation were also collected. (Sixty-four tables/figures are included. The book contains 55 references. Appended are the following: technical information; notes on tables, guide to socioeconomic class; regions surveyed; analysis of weighted and unweighted samples; and the questionnaire.) (MN)