Participation Patterns in Adult Education: The Role of Institutions and Public Policy Frameworks in Resolving Coordination Problems

Y

19

Adult Education; Public Policy; Educational Policy; Coordination; Participation; Barriers; Access to Education; Educational Demand; Incentives; Incidence; Nonformal Education; Investment; Adults; Disadvantaged; Comparative Analysis; Foreign Countries; Cross Cultural Studies; Cultural Differences; Supply and Demand

Australia; Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Canada; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Korea; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom; United States

10.1111/ejed.12029

0141-8211

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. (Contains 4 figures and 3 tables.)

As Provided

26

2014

EJ1011863