Description: In our paper, we shall explore factors which which are perceived by Czech population as barriers and obstacles to participate at adult education and training. From our previous study we know that in 2005, there were 8% of respondents involved in formal education, and about one third of the Czechs who took part in various courses of non-formal education. This share is lower than for instance in Finland or the USA but is similar to that in Canada. We also know that there were also about one third of the Czechs who expressed their intention to enroll in non-formal education during the next twelve months. In the context of 'knowledge-based societies' and 'learning societies', we regard such participation rate as inadequate. There are two reasons for that: (1) Czech fundamental educational documents accentuate the role of lifelong learning and at least verbally give full support to its development; (2) adult education has become the crucial element for the advancement of both individuals and societies. At the individual level, those who will not be updating their skills and knowledge may suffer a higher risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion, at the societal level, only permanent growth of the quality of human resources can contribute to successful position of national economy in competitive global markets. Therefore, to know which obstacles play a key role in adult learning and training is of utmost importance both for research and practice's sake. Methodology: The paper is based on data obtained from a national representative survey on a sample of adult population in the Czech Republic aged 20-65. The survey was carried out in the Spring of 2005 with 1,413 respondents who were interviewed by means of face-to-face standardized interviews. The items used to measure subjective barriers to adult education participation were inspired by similar adult education surveys in Finland and Canada. Therefore, some results of the analysis are compared with the Finish and Canadians ones. Conclusions: Preliminary results show that the Czech respondents claimed very often financial reasons as the main factor of their non participation in courses and training (53% of the sample). As the second and the third important reason, occupational overload and the doubts about the meaningfulness of the courses were mentioned (by 47% of respondents). The main predictor of the future participation, as logistic regression indicates, is the past participation in adult education. And this past participation is associated with one's education and one's job status: people with higher educational attainment and with higher-level jobs have higher odds to participate than the others. More detailed results will be further explored by further multivariate statistical analysis.