The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted economic and social life across Europe and the wider world. Currently, the European Commission is heavily investing in recovery and resilience facilities to encourage economic and social reforms in Member States. As part of the European Semester, the Commission formulates annual Country-Specific…

Lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important in today's societies. Individuals need to develop their skills through training in order to be successfully integrated in the labor market. We use data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to investigate gender differences in training across 12 countries. We…

The Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will establish technical standards and guidelines to ensure that the survey design and implementation processes of PIAAC yield high-quality and internationally comparable data. This document provides a revised version of the technical standards and guidelines originally…

The author compares the differing approaches of Germany, Sweden, France, and Australia for providing financial support to adults enrolled in vocational training programs, focusing on training allowances for recurrent education. He concludes that without some governmental maintenance program, it is unlikely that adults can utilize even tuition-free…

This short book, based on the Swedish experience, explores the concept and the operation of study circles. The book is organized in nine sections. The first section looks at the various definitions of study circles in history and the literature, arriving at a broad working concept of study circles. This is followed by an overview of the…

The restructuring of adult education in Goteborg was first initiated experimentally with respect only to SFI education (an education in beginning Swedish for ethnic minorities living in Sweden). This was done on the basis of decisions in the Goteborg Municipal Council in 1999. But restructuring came into full force for all municipal adult…

This document consists of 12 papers that, together, summarize the key issues underpinning future research and policy development related to intergenerational programs (IPs). "Introduction" (Alan Hatton-Yeo) discusses the project out of which the papers developed. "A General Assessment of IP Initiatives in the Countries…

A study examined the relevance of vocational information and guidance for the equal access of girls and women to technical/vocational education in the following countries: Argentina; India; Mexico; Republic of Korea; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; Turkey; United Arab Emirates; and Zambia. Case studies were conducted by using a multiple-strategy…