Lifelong Learning in Europe: National Patterns and Challenges

Based on a five-year research project across thirteen countries, this comprehensive book analyses how national characteristics frame a central feature of European Union social and economic policies - lifelong learning.Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a wide-ranging international comparative study, the book explores how far the EUs lifelong learning agenda has been successful and what factors have limited its ability to reshape national adult and lifelong learning systems. The chapters also look at adults' participation in formal education, what they see as the obstacles to taking part, and the nature of their demand for learning opportunities. Using country typologies, the authors challenge assumptions - whether held by policy makers or researchers - that there is just one economic trajectory for market economies and their lifelong learning systems. This book will therefore be valuable to scholars, researchers and policy-makers who are investigating, or trying to change, education and labor markets. Contributors: B.E. Aaslid, S. Altorjai, S. Ayupova, E. Boeren, P. Boyadjieva, P. Downes, L. Dromantien , G. Gornev, G. Hefler, J. Holford, A. Ivan i , A. Khokhlova, V. Kozlovskiy, L. Labanauskas, J. Markowitsch, C. Maunsell, V. Milenkova, A. Mleczko, D. Nenkova, I. Nicaise, K. Petkova, M. Radovan, S. Rammel, S. Riddell, P. Ringler, P. Róbert, T. Roosalu, E.-L. Roosmaa, E. Saar, M. Talj nait , A. Tamm, O.B. Ure, M. Veits, R. Vöörmann, E. Weedon, T. Welikala, I. Zemaitaityte

Table of Contents:
Contents: Foreword Marc Goffart Preface Introduction Ellu Saar, Odd Bjørn Ure and John Holford PART I: CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS 1. Lifelong Learning: National Policies from the European Perspective John Holford and Agata Mleczko 2. Lifelong Learning Systems: Overview and Extension of Different Typologies Ellu Saar and Odd Bjørn Ure 3. Seven Types of Formal Adult Education and their Organizational Fields: Towards a Comparative Framework Günter Hefler and Jörg Markowitsch PART II: COUNTRY STUDIES 4. Has Lifelong Learning Policy and Practice in Scotland Promoted Social Inclusion? Elisabet Weedon and Sheila Riddell 5. ‘Renaissance’ Without Enlightenment: New Labour’s ‘Learning Age’ 1997–2010 John Holford and Thushari Welikala 6. Rising to the Challenge of Realizing Lifelong Learning for One and All: The Role of Community Adult Education in Widening Participation for Traditionally Marginalized Groups in Irish Society and Beyond Catherine Maunsell and Paul Downes 7. Flemish Formal Adult Education: (G)rowing Against the Stream? Ellen Boeren and Ides Nicaise 8. In Search of Building Blocks for Lifelong Learning: Motivation and Institutional Support in Norwegian Education and Training Odd Bjørn Ure and Bjørg Eva Aaslid 9. Nobody’s Darling: Dynamics and Inertia of Formal Adult Education in Austria Jörg Markowitsch, Günter Hefler, Stephanie Rammel and Paul Ringler 10. Implementation of Lifelong Learning in Slovenia: Institutional Factors and Equality of Access of Adults to Formal and Non-formal Education Angela Ivančič and Marko Radovan 11. Why are the Participation Rates in Lifelong Learning so Low in Hungary? Péter Róbert, Saida Ayupova and Szilvia Altorjai 12. The Lifelong Learning Hybrid: The Case of Bulgaria Pepka Boyadjieva, Valentina Milenkova, Galin Gornev, Kristina Petkova and Diana Nenkova 13. Formal Adult Education in the Context of the Transforming Labour Market in Russia Anisya Khokhlova, Vladimir Kozlovskiy and Maria Veits 14. Adult Education in Lithuania: Towards Increasing Employability and Social Cohesion, or Neither? Meilutė Taljūnaitė, Leta Dromantienė, Irena Žemaitaitytė and Liutauras Labanauskas 15. Developing Human Capital in Post-Socialist Capitalist: Estonian Experience Ellu Saar, Triin Roosalu, Eve-Liis Roosmaa, Auni Tamm and Rein Vöörmann Conclusion: Lifelong Learning as a Social Field and Entrance Point to Policy-making for Education and Training Ellu Saar, John Holford and Odd Bjørn Ure Index

About the Author :
Edited by the late Ellu Saar, formerly Professor of Sociology, School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, Estonia, Odd Bjørn Ure, Fafo, Norway and John Holford, University of Nottingham, UK

Review :
'Saar, Ure and Holford have offered the definitive statement on the increasingly crucial area of lifelong learning across a vast range of European nations. The volume is far more than a collection of isolated and independent case studies, but is instead a tightly coherent and thematically unified piece of theoretical and empirical sociological work. Both researchers and policy makers will find much of value in Lifelong Learning in Europe.' 'This is a must read for policy makers, practitioners and academics. This brilliant book richly contributes to the comparative literature on lifelong learning. It provides an intriguing framework for how the variety in national systems of adult learning and their outcome can be addressed. The theoretical work is grounded in sophisticated national case studies that offer unique insights into why, or why not, a person embarks on adult learning. Finally, the work establishes the critical role of policy.' 'The book is a very thorough analysis of concepts, theory and policy, authored by a large number (37) of social science researchers with direct experience of learning systems in their own countries. This is a handsomely produced volume, decently bound, and will withstand the frequent reference which will be made to it.'