Participation rate in adult and continuing education (ACE) is one of the multiple indicators of distributive justice. Nonetheless, the literature of recent decades has turned it into a cardinal principle and value. Expansive paradigm that envisages the progressive and generalised development of participation rate in ACE is examined in this article. The aim is to analyse the structure of their argument. Their comparison with Eurostat data on participation and with the results of the RegALE-European Union (EU)-Survey on opinions of local and regional stakeholders is carried out to reach two conclusions. The first concerns the incapacity of Member States to translate expansive paradigm into effective ACE policies. The second one puts forward the theory of the "learning exclusion equilibrium" as a tool for explaining the reasons for the lack of progress recorded in terms of participation rate in ACE. At the same time, a critical analysis of the political idea of participation rate is performed. Contrasted with the participation objective is a different parameter focused on the individual and social future consequences of the learning processes in which each adult is involved.