Differential outcomes of adult education on adult learners' increase in social inclusion

Abstract

To date a significant share of the European population can be considered at risk of social exclusion. It has been argued that adult education programmes are a powerful tool to support vulnerable adults increasing their social inclusion. This study aims to answer the question if and which subgroups of vulnerable adults experience an increase in social inclusion after joining adult education programmes. The results of our study show that 46.3% of the participants experience an increase of social inclusion in terms of ‘activation and internalization’ and 41.0% experience an increase in ‘participation and connection’. Results show that foreigners and people who live together experience a higher increase on variables of ‘activation and internalization’ and ‘participation and connection’. Furthermore, results show that learners who received school education at a primary level and have no professional qualification experience a higher increase of social inclusion on a few variables of social inclusion.

Keywords:

• continuous education
• adult learning
• transfer
• social inclusion
• learning environment

Acknowledgement

Besides this, the authors thank Dr Liesbeth de Donder for her support during the statistical analysis and ir (ingenieur). Andrea Kuijpers for translating this article in English.