This paper explores patterns in participation in adult education and training (AET) by comparing five countries with high participation rates (the Nordic countries and the Netherlands) with three countries with significantly lower participation rates (France, Poland and the Slovak Republic). Using PIAAC data the paper examines differences in the…

Our current knowledge society does not only have an impact on labour market demands, but its citizens also have to cope with increasing social demands. A growing number of vulnerable adults lack basic competences and therefore risk social exclusion. In this respect, The European Commission as well as the OECD agree that adult education can play a…

The author directs attention to the historical development of the relations between the government of the Netherlands and the various voluntary organizations in the fields of education and information directed toward adults. Four periods are distinguished, each comprising approximately 50 years. (CH)

Reports on the educational activities of the Union of Social Democratic Women's Clubs during the early years of its existence between 1905 and 1925. The development of the Union and its constitutent clubs is examined against the background of social and economic change in the Netherlands. (Author/CT)

Decentralization of adult education administration in the Netherlands had the desired effect of empowering local governments for community education and development. However, an undesired effect was loss of efficiency in funding allocation and decision making. (Contains 21 references.) (SK)

Interviews with 56 Dutch adult students, 46 ex-students, and 27 teachers revealed that the centrality of school in the social environment was the same for persisters and dropouts. There was a clear correlation between dropout and the degree of disparity between student self-images and those teachers have of them. (SK)