Beschreibung
Formal adult education definitely exists as a phenomenon,
yet few researchers have tried to explain it. Contrary to
non-formal educational courses, the ‘social charter’ of
formal adult education allows an adult learner to become
eligible for taking steps upwards on educational and career
ladders.
Anchored in organisational institutionalism and based on
empirical studies in 12 European countries done within a
large-scale research project within the Sixth EU Framework
Programme (LLL2010), this book explores the link between
individual participation, educational provision and
employers’ responsesto provide the institutional basis for
fulfilling one central promise of lifelong learning: support
for social mobility. However, societies differ widely in how
they institutionalise formal adult education.
This book – as the first monograph on formal adult
education – clarifies the concept’s origin, develops a
theory on and a typology of formal adult education,
discusses individual participation patterns and considers
its role within companies’ training cultures. Finally, it
explores opportunity structures for formal adult education
in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Austria,
France and Japan.
