Session Information
23 SES 06 C, Policies of Lifelong Learning and Adult Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Introduction and research question
As the society develops into a knowledge economy, lifelong learning have become more and more important, and this is visible through both European and country specific policies. The European Parliament and the European Council have launch a range of initiatives directed to adult learning and according to Špolar and Holford (2014) the European Parliament’s Resolution on Adult Learning: It is Never Too Late to Learn also had a focus on how to improve “adult’s motivation to participate in learning” (Špolar & Holford (2014:43). The overarching question this paper raises is what motivates working adults to continue their education and training, and in order to investigate the question we will use data from the Survey of Adult Skills, PIAAC (The OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies).
The PIAAC data set, released in the fall of 2013, contains a rich set of variables, for example specifying the type of learning adults tend to engage in (formal, informal and non-formal learning; on the job, employer supported learning inside or outside the workplace etc.). The survey also asks directly about the reasons why individuals choose to participate in training activities, or why they choose not to. This opens up the opportunity to further investigate motivations for taking up education and training later in life: drawing on self-determination theory; if individuals are driven by intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, or maybe by both (Ryan & Deci 2000, Deci, Koestner & Ryan 2001). Another advantage of the data set is that is contains data for very many countries, making international comparison possible. This paper will compare across all countries in the survey, in addition to more in-depth analyses of four countries: Norway, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. Common for these countries is that they all tend to score high on adult skills in general (OECD 2000, 2013) and have a high percentage of adults participating in education and learning (Desjardins & Rubenson 2013).
A common finding in studies on lifelong learning and adult education is that there are social differences in lifelong learning participation rates; adults with high levels of education are much more likely to participate in lifelong learning than low educated individuals (see for example Desjardins & Rubenson 2011; Børing, Wiborg & Skule 2013). These differences are commonly explained using theories of social inequality (see for example Bourdieu & Passeron 1990).
The difference in participation rates between those with and without higher education also varies between countries. However, these differences are less prominent in the Nordic countries, compared to other industrialized countries (Tuijnman & Hellström 2001; Steffensen 2009).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bourdieu, P. & J.-C. Passeron (1990): Reproduction in education, society and culture. London: Sage. Børing, P., Ø. Wiborg & S. Skule (2013): Livslang læring og mobilitet i arbeidsmarkedet: En studie av formell og uformell videreutdanning blant norske arbeidstakere basert på lærevilkårsmonitoren og registerdata. Rapport 8/2013. Oslo: NIFU. Deci, E.L., R. Koestner & R.M. Ryan (2001): Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation in Education: Reconsidered Once Again. Review of Educational Research, 71(1): 1-27. Desjardins, R. and Rubenson, K. (2011): An Analysis of Skill Mismatch Using Direct Measures of Skills. OECD Education Working Papers, 63. Paris: OECD Publishing. Desjardins, R., & K. Rubenson (2013): Participation patterns in adult education: The role of institutions and public policy frameworks in resolving coordination problems, European Journal of Education, 48(2): 262-280. Ryan, R.M. & E.L Deci (2000): Intrinsic or Extrinsic Motivation: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25: 54–67. OECD (2000): Literacy in the Information Age. Final report of the international adult literacy survey. Paris: OECD. OECD (2013): Skills Outlook 2013. First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills. International adult literacy survey. Paris: OECD. Rubenson, K. and Desjardins, R. (2009). The Impact of Welfare State Regimes on Barriers to Participation in Adult Education: A Bounded Agency Model. Adult Education Quarterly, 59 (3), 187–207. Špolar, V.A.M. & J. Holford (2014): Adult Learning: From the Margins to the Mainstream, in Holford, J. & M. Milana (Eds.) Adult Education Policy and the European Union. Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Steffensen, K. (2009): Deltagelsesmønstre i voksnes læring i Norge og andre europeiske land. In Statistics Norway: Utdanning 2009 – læringsutbytte og kompetanse. Oslo–Kongsvinger: Statistics Norway. Støren, L.A. (2012): Who attends work-related training five years after graduation? A comparison across European countries. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 32(2):165-189. Tuijnman, A. & Z. Hellström (2001): Perspectives on Nordic adult education. In Tuijnman, A. & Z. Hellström (eds) Curious Minds. Nordic Education Compared. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.
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