Brussels, 11/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 February, the European Eurydice network published a new report, Adult Education and Training in Europe: Widening Access to Learning Opportunities. Building on the 2011 renewed European agenda for adult education and training, this report seeks to underpin the exchange of policies and practices between countries in this area, explains Eurydice. The study provides data available in 2014 and covers 35 national education systems in 32 European countries (all the EU member states, in addition to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey).
The report examines the measures developed to guarantee appropriate access to lifelong education and training opportunities for some of society's most vulnerable groups, particularly those with low basic skills and inadequate qualifications. The six chapters look at the basic adult education and training statistics, national political commitments in the area of adult training, the main kinds of programmes subsidised by the state, flexible learning opportunities and paths for continuing training or education, initiatives to raise awareness and advice services, as well as targeted financial support.
The main conclusions in the report are as follows: 1) The education attainment level of around 70 million adults in Europe is below the level of upper secondary education; 2) on average, one out of five adults in Europe has poor reading and arithmetic skills and almost one out of three has low or even no skills in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT); 3) adults who have significant education and training needs are those who have fewer opportunities of benefiting from lifelong training; 4) although the different political agendas emphasise access to lifelong training for the most vulnerable groups, they rarely define the targeted goals that need to be achieved; 5) there are many barriers preventing adults from participating in lifelong training; 6) one of the most urgent challenges involves successfully getting the attention of adults and making them aware about the benefits of lifelong training; 7) initiatives to raise awareness are widespread but not much is known about their efficiency among adults with few or no qualifications. (Isabelle Lamberty)