Quantitative and qualitative findings on barriers to participation in adult education are reviewed and some of the defining parameters that may explain observed national differences are considered. A theoretical perspective based on bounded agency is put forth to take account of the interaction between structurally and individually based barriers to participation. The Bounded Agency Model is premised on the assumption that the nature of welfare state regimes can affect a person's capability to participate. In particular, the state can foster broad structural conditions relevant to participation and construct targeted policy measures that are aimed at overcoming both structurally and individually based barriers. Features of the Nordic model of adult education and empirical results from the 2003 Eurobarometer are discussed in relation to this theoretical perspective.
This article focuses on evidence regarding cross‐national patterns of participation in adult education and an interpretation of these patterns from an institutional and public policy perspective. The interpretation follows from the perspective that sustaining high and widely distributed levels of investment in the development and maintenance of skills over the lifespan of individuals is to a large extent interconnected with a high‐level of non‐market coordination via institutional arrangements and/or specific public policy measures. Such arrangements and measures are seen to alleviate coordination problems that otherwise lead to underinvestment in skills and/or inequity in the distribution of access to education and training and hence skills. Consequently, it is argued that institutional contexts and public policy measures condition participation patterns in adult education, and are thus worthwhile to understand better for the purposes of informing policy.
Findings are discussed in relation to the development and maintenance of health literacy over the life course. Programs and policies that encourage lifelong and lifewide educational resources and practices by older persons are needed.
Based on comparative adult education statistics offered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) and country case studies, this book analyses the policies and structures that foster adult learning. It examines a variety of forms of adult learning, ranging from initial forms of post-compulsory education, such as upper secondary tracks and tertiary education, to firm training, compensatory adult education and learning for civic and leisure oriented purposes.
Throughout the book, adult learning systems are directly linked to a variety of structural and public policy frameworks using a comparative welfare state approach. Themes such as pathways to learning and transition systems, participation patterns in higher education and participation patterns in other organized forms of adult learning are covered. The countries discussed are the UK, the USA, Korea, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands.
Situated at the intersection between scholarship and policy and using a mixed-methods approach, this title contributes fundamental insights into the further study of policies and structures related to alternative post-compulsory learning pathways.
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