This study is part of a regional study in industrial South Wales on the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. The study combines contextual analysis of secondary data about education and training providers with a regional study of several generations of families in South Wales (a door-to-door survey of 1,104 representative householders), semi-structured interviews, and taped oral histories conducted in 1996-97. This study uses brief accounts from the interviews to examine the social determinants of adult participation and training as identified in earlier papers (Working Papers 7 and 9). The individuals' participation in adult learning is defined in this study within an empirically derived typology of learning trajectories. Treating these types as a dependent variable, the analysis identifies age, cohort, period, and location effects as well as considering their relationships to other variables such as respondent characteristics, personal and societal opportunities, and economic conditions. The study found that the most important determinants of participation in further education are time and place. The study concluded that ameliorating inequalities in society could make alternative learning trajectories available to more people, and it is worth doing, even if economic benefits do not accrue. (Contains 42 references.) (KC)