One of the big surprises I had when I started working with the latest OECD data on adult skills was that there were hardly any changes in the overall literacy proficiency profiles across countries that had participated in both PIAAC (the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies conducted in 2012) and IALS (the International Adult Literacy Survey in the 1990s). In fact, small average declines were recorded in a number of countries. This was particularly strange given the fact that tertiary level qualifications among adult populations had increased substantially in the interim period in the majority of the countries. How could this be? Should I begin to doubt the highly intuitive idea that schooling and formal education develops literacy proficiency or at least reinforces it (especially at the higher level)? Or should I believe, like far too many still do, that intelligence is fixed at birth and in the family? And that the measure of literacy in PIAAC and IALS simply reflects IQ that is untrainable? In any case, the apparent stagnation in overall literacy at the population level in so many OECD countries prompted me to take a closer look at the trend data made available from IALS and PIAAC, and to consider some of the major drivers affecting literacy proficiency profiles across countries. There are few other comparative data like these that can help us improve our insights on what drives the development and maintenance of literacy in adult populations.

This paper examines cross-country patterns of participation in adult education opportunities using comparative data made available by the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Patterns are considered in relation to some of the mechanisms that drive unequal chances to participate, and some of the policy issues that surround the provision, governance and financing of different types of adult learning, as well as recent policy developments relevant to adult education in selected countries.

This article discusses the measurement of the social outcomes of learning. It extends the discussion beyond employment and labor market outcomes to consider the impact of adult learning on social domains, with particular focus on health and civic engagement. It emphasizes the distinction between public and private, and monetary and nonmonetary benefits. It reviews methodological issues on measuring outcomes, and identifies a number of channels through which adult learning has its effects. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This article presents an internationally comparative overview of adult learning patterns. Emphasis is placed on who is participating in adult learning and the observed unequal chances to participate. The article covers three overarching questions that are central to participation research: (1) What is the extent of participation? (2) Who is participating? (3) Why are certain people or groups participating either more or less, or not at all?. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This chapter outlines some recent evidence on the labor market outcomes of adult education, as well as some key contextual and structural factors which are helpful for interpreting the evidence and for understanding some of the reasons for systemic underinvestment in adult education.