Adult literacy is an essential subject to examine given its impact on human development indicators. A significant gap exists as nation-states progress on these indices, especially in developing economies. National governments and international and bilateral development organizations seek to improve adult literacy metrics for the developing world…

A link between literacy and health has already been demonstrated in various national and international surveys. Previous research has shown that adults with low literacy are very frequent users of social media. Increasingly, people are gaining their health-related knowledge and skills by being in digital spaces and consuming health-related content…

This paper conducts Group Delphi-study and foresight approach within a five-year horizon in the field of digital education, with a specific focus on Continuing Education (CE) in a post-pandemic society. The study examines the impact of increasing digitalisation on the significant population of low-qualified individuals (approximately five million…

Academic second-chance education (SCE) provides young adults with the opportunity for upward mobility. However, many young people in academic SCE have unfavourable prerequisites, which make it difficult for them to meet academic requirements. In this article, we explore how teachers respond to this challenge in their practice and the extent to…

Participation in adult learning and education requires the availability of, and accessibility to, learning opportunities provided by educational institutions. One fundamental element is time. Adult learning and education participation can only be realized by successfully matching individual time-availabilities with the temporal organization of…

In 2019, German folk high schools -- "Volkshochschulen" (vhs) -- celebrated the centenary of their inclusion in the Constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919, an era when they founded local centres in many parts of the country. Ever since, they have played an important part in the adult learning and education (ALE) sub-sector of the…

The idea of one shared past, can develop identity-building potential. Nevertheless, there are diverse memory practices in plural societies and they are an expression of shared, divided, and conflicting memories. The negotiations of (diverse) past(s) and memories and, consequently, related belonging(s) to so-called 'remembrance communities' take…

This study compares the way IVET and CVET sub-systems interact to support the learning of adults, and thus facilitate lifelong and life-wide learning. By comparing the interaction between IVET and CVET sub-systems in the countries covered, the study analyses the extent to which IVET systems are opening up to adults, and questions whether national…

Democracy is not only a system of government, but also an overarching way of living together. It is through the social structures we live in and the resulting social relations, behaviors, and norms emanating from those structures, that we learn how to live together, democratically or otherwise. Adult education can promote the learning of democracy…

Good health is a benefit in many domains, such as work, studies or social relationships. Fostering a sound knowledge on healthy habits and the implications of risk-taking behaviours is a key to shaping societies with healthier lifestyles.

Drawing on the PIAAC data, in this paper I examine how motivational factors such as motivation to learn and grit are related to low-numerate adults' employment status and their actual participation in lifelong learning in Germany, the United States and South Korea. In particular, the study uses PIAAC self-reported data on the degree to which the…

The humanist and critical principles of educational gerontology attribute different goals to education in later life. Self-Actualization is the goal of humanist educational gerontology, while empowerment, emancipation, and social change are the goals of critical educational gerontology. Liberal arts education is dominant in later-life learning.…

Concise, clear and comprehensive snapshots of vocational education and training systems in EU, Iceland and Norway: this is what the Cedefop Spotlight on VET series offers. Building on individual country Spotlights, this publication provides an overview of VET systems with their distinctive qualities, such as main accession and progression routes…

The Thirteenth Meeting of the International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13) convened in Hamburg, Germany, in July, 2016. There were two Topic Study Groups (TSGs) dedicated exclusively to adult learners and the authors of this paper served on the organizing committees of these groups. Arrangements were made by the congress committee…

In this paper, the authors seek to disentangle what they see as contradictory uses of the term "professionalisation" with reference to adult educator development and training (AEDT). They set out to distinguish "professionalisation" from "professionalism," and to identify the locus of control of AEDT in Germany, the…