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Adult learning and social inequalities: Processes of equalisation or cumulative disadvantage?

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Abstract

Adult learning is an increasingly important form of education in globalised and aging societies. While current policy recommendations tend to focus on increasing participation rates, the authors of this article argue that higher participation rates do not necessarily lead to lower social/educational inequalities in participation. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between social inequalities and adult learning by exploring cross-national patterns of participation in different adult learning activities and the consequences of participation on individual labour market trajectories. The empirical basis of the paper is an analysis of 13 country studies (as well as two cross-national analyses) brought together by the international comparative research project “Education as a lifelong process – comparing educational trajectories in modern societies” (eduLIFE). Despite wide variations in participation rates across countries, mechanisms of social/educational inequality in engagement in job-related adult learning tend to be relatively similar across countries, in particular with regard to non-formal learning. Effects tend most frequently to be a presence of cumulative advantage, though in some countries a certain degree of equalisation is noticeable with regard to formal adult education. The authors conclude that it is relatively clear that currently almost no country is truly able to reduce social inequalities through adult learning. Their recommendation is that public policy makers should place greater emphasis on making adult learning more accessible (in terms of entry requirements, affordability as well as motivation) to underrepresented groups, in particular those who are educationally disadvantaged.

Résumé

Apprentissage des adultes et inégalités sociales : processus égalisateur ou cumul de désavantages ? L’apprentissage des adultes est une forme d’éducation qui gagne en importance dans nos sociétés mondialisées et vieillissantes. Si les recommandations stratégiques actuelles tendent à favoriser l’augmentation des taux de participation, les auteurs de cet article avancent que des taux de participation plus élevés ne conduisent pas nécessairement à une baisse des inégalités sociales et éducatives. Le but de cet article est d’étudier la relation entre inégalités sociales et apprentissage des adultes, en explorant les schémas internationaux de participation à diverses activités d’éducation des adultes, ainsi que les conséquences de la participation sur les parcours individuels dans le marché du travail. La base empirique de cet article est une analyse de 13 études nationales (et deux analyses transnationales) compilées par le projet international de recherche comparée Education as a lifelong processcomparing educational trajectories in modern societies (eduLIFE/Apprentissage tout au long de la vie – comparer les parcours éducatifs dans les sociétés modernes). En dépit des importantes variations des taux de participation entre les pays, les mécanismes d’inégalité sociale et éducative dans la participation à l’apprentissage à visée professionnelle sont relativement comparables, notamment dans l’apprentissage non formel. Parmi les conséquences figure le plus souvent un cumul d’avantages, même si un certain degré d’égalisation est perceptible dans certains pays au niveau de l’éducation formelle des adultes. Les auteurs concluent qu’à l’évidence, presque aucun pays n’est actuellement véritablement en mesure de réduire les inégalités sociales à travers l’apprentissage des adultes. Ils recommandent que les responsables de politiques publiques mettent davantage l’accent sur un accès accru à l’apprentissage des adultes (en termes de conditions d’admission, d’abordabilité et de motivation) des groupes sous-représentés, en particulier ceux qui sont défavorisés sur le plan éducatif.

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Notes

  1. American sociologist Robert K. Merton (1968) coined this term with reference to the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, where a parable refers to the phenomenon that those who are already advantaged/rich get richer and those who start out poor stand to lose even what little they do own.

  2. National qualifications frameworks (NQFs) including regulations for recognising and validating prior learning (RVA) are currently being implemented in many countries worldwide.

  3. Other countries also displayed gender differences in the magnitude of returns, but in these cases the returns were still significant for both genders.

  4. The proportion of the population aged 25–64 with tertiary qualifications in the 13 countries we analysed (from most to least tertiary-educated) was as follows in 2002: Russian Federation 54%, USA 38%, Finland 33%, Australia 31%, Denmark 30%, Estonia 30%, United Kingdom 27%, Sweden 26%, Spain 24%, Germany 23%, Hungary 14%, Czech Republic 12%, Italy 10% (OECD 2012).

  5. It is also possible that high educational levels do not cause more equality in educational opportunities, but rather that equality of opportunity in formal adult education leads to higher educational levels. This is no doubt part of the big picture, but in most cases, adult learners are unlikely to represent such a large proportion of the highly educated as to be able to fully account for this association.

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Acknowledgements

The eduLIFE project is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant to Hans-Peter Blossfeld. The first two authors were also employed on the project during the adult learning phase. The authors of this paper wish to thank all the collaborators in the adult learning phase of the eduLIFE project for their valuable contributions.

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Correspondence to Elina Kilpi-Jakonen.

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Kilpi-Jakonen, E., Vono de Vilhena, D. & Blossfeld, HP. Adult learning and social inequalities: Processes of equalisation or cumulative disadvantage?. Int Rev Educ 61, 529–546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-015-9498-5

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