Adult Education and Training in Comparative Perspective - Indicators of Participation and Country Profiles

Lack of data has been a serious deficiency for comparative research on adult learning until recently. The present paper explores new opportunities based on the European Adult Education Survey (AES). It argues that general indicators of participation in adult education and training must be complemented by more specific indicators revealing sectoral structures and behavioural patterns within the adult learning system. AES as a subject-specific survey can help to understand better “what is behind” a general level of participation in adult learning, as provided in other statistics. Country variations are explored across a set of 16 European countries.