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  • Book
  • Open Access
  • © 2023

Lifelong Learning, Young Adults and the Challenges of Disadvantage in Europe

Palgrave Macmillan

Editors:

  1. John Holford

    1. School of Education, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

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  2. Pepka Boyadjieva

    1. Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

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  3. Sharon Clancy

    1. School of Education, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

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  4. Günter Hefler

    1. 3s, Vienna, Austria

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  5. Ivana Studená

    1. Institute for Forecasting, CSPS, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

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  • This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

  • Presents the results of a trans-European research project

  • Provides innovative insights into EU policy processes and their outcomes

  • Includes contributions from leading scholars in the field

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning (PSAELL)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxviii
    PDF

  2. Lifelong Learning for an Inclusive and Vibrant Europe

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      PDF

    3. Bounded Agency in Policy and Action: Empowerment, Agency and Belonging

      • Sharon Clancy, John Holford
      Pages 41-61Open Access

  3. Policies, Programmes and Participation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 63-63
      PDF

    2. Vulnerability in European Lifelong Learning Policies 1992–2018: Seeing Young People as a Problem to Be Fixed?

      • Concepción Maiztegui-Oñate, Triin Roosalu, Alvaro Moro-Inchaurtieta, Marti Taru
      Pages 65-86Open Access

    3. Participation in Adult Learning: System Characteristics and Individuals’ Experiences

      • Ellen Boeren, Sofie Cabus, Alan Mackie
      Pages 87-113Open Access

    5. Gender Gaps in Participation in Adult Education in Europe: Examining Factors and Barriers

      • Rumiana Stoilova, Ellen Boeren, Petya Ilieva-Trichkova
      Pages 143-167Open Access

    6. Adult Education as a Pathway to Empowerment: Challenges and Possibilities

      • Pepka Boyadjieva, Petya Ilieva-Trichkova
      Pages 169-191Open Access

    7. Governing Adult Learning Through Influencing Public Debate: How the Media Use PIAAC Data in Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom

      • Marcella Milana, Sandra Vatrella, Gosia Klatt, Palle Rasmussen, Anne Larson
      Pages 193-215Open Access

  4. Young Adults’ Learning in the Workplace and Beyond

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 245-245
      PDF

    3. Working and Learning in the Retail Sector: A Cross-Country Comparative View

      • Ulrik Brandi, Jolien De Norre, Triin Roosalu, Maaris Raudsepp, Alesia Khadatovich
      Pages 273-297Open Access

    4. Organisational and Individual Agency in Workplace Learning in the European Metal Sector

      • Vassil Kirov, Ana Isabel Estevez-Gutierrez, Iciar Elexpuru-Albizuri, Fernando Díez, Lourdes Villardón-Gallego, Maite Aurrekoetxea-Casaus
      Pages 299-323Open Access

    5. Work and Learning in the Adult Education Sector: A Cross Country Comparative View

      • Sharon Clancy, Günter Hefler, Francesca Rapanà, Eva Steinheimer, Ivana Studená
      Pages 325-350Open Access

    6. Speaking Up: How Early Career Workers Engage in Fighting for Better Working Conditions by Joining Youth-Led Social Movement Organisations

      • Maite Aurrekoetxea-Casaus, Edurne Bartolomé Peral, Günter Hefler, Ivana Studená, Janine Wulz
      Pages 351-376Open Access

    7. Early Career Workers’ Agency in the Workplace: Learning and Beyond in Cross-Country Comparative Perspective

      • Günter Hefler, Denisa Fedáková, Eva Steinheimer, Ivana Studená, Janine Wulz
      Pages 377-402Open Access

  5. Conclusion

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 403-403
      PDF
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About this book

This open access book challenges international policy ‘groupthink’ about lifelong learning. Adult learning – too long a servant of business competitiveness – should be reimagined as central to democratic society. Young adults, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, engage more in education and training, and learn more day-to-day at work, if provision is democratically organised and based on enduring and inclusive institutional networks, and when jobs encourage and reward the acquisition of skills. Using innovative qualitative and quantitative methods, the contributors develop a critical perspective on dominant policies, investigating – across the European Union and Australia – how ‘vulnerable’ young adults experience programmes designed to improve their ‘employability’, and how ‘skills for jobs’ policies squeeze out wider – and wiser – ideas of what education and training should do. Chapters show why some provision works for those with poor educational backgrounds, why labour market and educational institutions matter so much, how adult education can empower and expand people’s agency, and the challenges of using artificial intelligence in lifelong learning policy-making. Several investigate the pivotal role of workplace learning in organisational life, and in learning during ‘emerging adulthood’. Important comparative studies of workplace learning in the metals, retail and adult education sectors show the role of management, trade unions and social movements in young adults’ learning.
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Keywords

  • lifelong learning
  • adult education
  • vulnerable adults and education
  • adult education policy
  • workplace learning
  • Europe and lifelong learning
  • Open Access
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Reviews

“This book is a powerful and stimulating engagement with the myriad ways in which the positive aspirations of policymakers are altered by the exigencies of local political, social and organisational context.” (Alan Tuckett, International Review of Education, Vol. 69 (4), 2023)
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Editors and Affiliations

  • School of Education, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    John Holford, Sharon Clancy

  • Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Pepka Boyadjieva

  • 3s, Vienna, Austria

    Günter Hefler

  • Institute for Forecasting, CSPS, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Ivana Studená

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About the editors

John Holford is Robert Peers Professor of Adult Education at the University of Nottingham, UK and Co-ordinator of the Enliven project. 


Pepka Boyadjieva is Professor of Sociology in the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham, UK. 


Sharon Clancy is Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham, UK, and was Senior Research Fellow on the Enliven project 2016-2019. 


Günter Hefler is Senior Researcher and Project Manager at 3s (www.3s.co.at), Austria. 


Ivana Studená is a Researcher at the Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences. 



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Bibliographic Information

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Buy it now

Softcover Book USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

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