Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Assessing the status of lifelong learning: Issues with composite indexes and surveys on participation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Review of Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A quick review of national policy documents reveals how lifelong learning has evolved as the key principle for a comprehensive education and learning strategy from cradle to grave. This raises major challenges for how to assess and report the state of lifelong learning in UNESCO Member States. It is in this context that this article critically evaluates the efforts to develop a composite index on lifelong learning. In addition, the author reviews the two leading surveys on adult education and learning, the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the European Union’s Adult Education Survey (AES). He examines their potential to provide a national picture of the state of lifelong learning, pointing out some fundamental shortcomings in these surveys and in the way their data have been classified. The present approach to data gathering on adult and lifelong learning, with its deep roots in the skills agenda, creates a “reality” of adult learning where the broad humanistic traditions of adult education become invisible. Analyses of the European and Canadian composite indexes of lifelong learning reveal serious problems using this approach. Not only must one question the underlying framework based on Jacques Delors’ four pillars of learning, but also its practical use for directly assessing the impact of the various aspects of lifelong learning and education. A core argument in this article is that there is a need to broaden not only the indicators used to assess the state of lifelong learning, but also the approach to how outcomes are being understood and judged.

Résumé

Évaluer le statu quo de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie : problèmes avec les indicateurs composites et les enquêtes sur la participation – Un survol rapide des documents stratégiques nationaux révèle comment l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie est devenu le principe clé d’une stratégie globale d’éducation et d’apprentissage « du berceau au tombeau ». Cette situation soulève d’importants défis quant à la tâche d’évaluer et de documenter le statu quo de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie dans les États membres de l’UNESCO. Dans ce contexte, l’auteur évalue d’un œil critique les efforts déployés pour élaborer un indicateur composite de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie. Il passe de plus en revue les deux enquêtes principales sur l’éducation et l’apprentissage des adultes, le Programme pour l’évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes (PEICA) de l’OCDE, et l’Enquête sur l’éducation des adultes (EEA) de l’Union européenne. Il examine le potentiel de ces dernières à fournir un tableau national de la situation de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie, et signale plusieurs lacunes essentielles dans ces enquêtes et dans le mode de classification des données. L’approche actuelle pour la collecte des données sur l’éducation des adultes et l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie, fortement enracinée dans le programme d’action relatif aux qualifications, crée une « réalité » de l’apprentissage des adultes dans laquelle les vastes traditions humanistes de l’éducation des adultes deviennent invisibles. Les analyses des indicateurs composites européens et canadiens de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie révèlent de sérieux problèmes dans l’application de cette approche. Il convient de remettre en question non seulement le cadre de base fondé sur les quatre piliers de l’apprentissage de Jacques Delors, mais également son utilisation pratique pour évaluer directement l’impact des divers aspects de l’éducation et de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie. Un argument central dans cet article réside dans la nécessité d’élargir à la fois les indicateurs utilisés pour évaluer le statu quo de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie, et l’approche choisie pour interpréter et apprécier les résultats.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For an overview of all 17 goals, visit the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals knowledge platform at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ [accessed 4 January 2019].

  2. Among the six EFA goals agreed at the World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000, the third one was “ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes”, and the fourth one was “achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults” (UNESCO 2000, p. 8).

  3. It was conducted by the OECD and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) (OECD and HRDC 1997).

  4. “Recurrent education is a comprehensive educational strategy for all post-compulsory or post-basic education, the essential characteristic of which is the distribution of education over the total life-span of the individual in a recurring way, i.e. in alternation with other activities, principally with work, but also with leisure […] and retirement” (Kallen and Bengtsson 1973, p. 24; emphasis in the original).

  5. The Human Development Index (HDI) was initiated in the 1990s. Its purpose is to measure a country’s level of development using three indicators: life expectancy at birth, education in terms of enrolment in formal education at primary, secondary and higher education levels, and gross domestic product (GDP).

  6. In the Age of the Renaissance, the mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) revolutionised science by publishing his seminal book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (Copernicus 1873 [1543]). It replaced the idea that the Earth is stationary at the centre of the universe with the observation that the Earth revolves around the Sun, which is at the centre of a solar system. The Renaissance also saw the birth of humanism, a philosophy with promoted evidence-based enquiry and opened libraries to the public.

  7. Folk high schools are an integral part of non-formal adult learning particularly in Scandinavia, where they originated in the 19th century as learning sites for peasants to enable them to actively participate in society. For more information , see for example https://www.danishfolkhighschools.com/about-folk-high-schools/history/ [accessed 8 January 2019]. Swedish Study associations are „deeply rooted in a number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and … [receive] government subsidies. For more than a hundred years, Swedes have had a strong tradition of forming such popular organizations. … Today there are ten different study associations. The first one that was established [in] 1912, [the] ‘Workers’ Educational Association’, still exists and is the biggest of them. Other study associations are rooted in liberal or conservative political parties, in Christian societies, in nature and environmental organizations…” (Persson 2010).

  8. According to new institutionalism, educational institutions are considered a bedrock for the establishment of a meritocratic society. They serve two functions: an educational function that promotes learning for all, and a selection function that sorts individuals into different programmes, and ultimately social positions, based on individual merit.

  9. Various materials are available for download from the official PIAAC webpage at http://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ [accessed 10 January 2019].

  10. The Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL),was conducted by the Statistics Canada and Educational Testing Service (ETS); the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the US Department of Education; the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC); and the Institute for Statistics (UIS) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). For more information, see https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/all/ [accessed 8 January 2019].

  11. For more information about the 1992 US National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), see https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=199909 [accessed 8 January 2019].

  12. Various materials are available for download from the official AES webpage at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/microdata/adult-education-survey [accessed 10 January 2019].

  13. “Governmentality” is an expression originally formulated by the 20th-century French philosopher Michel Foucault combining the terms “government” and “rationality”. Government in this sense refers to conduct, or an activity meant to shape, guide or affect the conduct of people (see Foucault 2000).

  14. Whereas the lifelong perspective spans a person’s life from cradle to grave, the life-wide perspective takes into consideration the whole spectrum of learning contexts (formal, non-formal, informal) a person comes into contact with during her/his life.

  15. The OECD’s Skills Strategy “aims to strengthen countries’ skills systems through the coherent development, activation and effective use of skills to promote economic prosperity and social cohesion, reflecting a strong focus on ‘lifetime employability’” (OECD n.d.). For more information, see http://www.oecd.org/skills/nationalskillsstrategies/buildingeffectiveskillsstrategiesatnationalandlocallevels.htm [accessed 11 January 2019].

  16. In a nutshell, economist Amartya Sen’s capability framework is interested in functional capabilities (such as being able to stay healthy, able to acquire knowledge and skills, as well as able to live a decent life) and uses these instead of economic usefulness to measure well-being.

  17. While the more commonly used term to refer to the 2016 vote concerning the British Exit (Brexit) from the European Union is referendum (a word with 19th-century origins); plebiscite (which has ancient Roman origins) is “a negative term referring to an unfair and unfree vote in an undemocratic political system” (Rose 2015).

  18. Study circles are “the most common form of all adult education in Sweden” and “many people participate in more than one study circle per year” (Persson 2010). “The philosophy … assumes that all citizens have the right to participate in all aspects of a democratic society. That also means that each citizen has a responsibility for and an obligation towards the society. The activities should provide a comprehensive approach, stimulate curiosity, critical thinking and transformative learning – as well as being a part of lifelong learning” (ibid.).

References

  • Benavot, A., & Lockhart, A.S. (2016). Monitoring the education of youth and adults: From EFA to Sustainable Development Goal 4. In H. Hinzen & S. Schmitt (Eds), Agenda 2030 – Education and lifelong learning in the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 55–63). International Perspectives in Adult Education (IPE) series, vol. 75. Bonn: DVV International.

  • Bock, J. C. (1976). The institutionalization of nonformal education: A response to conflicting needs. Comparative Education Review, 20(3), 346–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callanan, M., Cervantes, C., & Loomis, M. (2011). Informal learning. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2(6), 646–655.

    Google Scholar 

  • CCL (Canadian Council on Learning). (2006). Developing the Composite Learning Index. Ottawa: CCL.

    Google Scholar 

  • CCL (2010). The 2010 Canadian Composite Learning Index: Five years of measuring Canada’s progress in lifelong learning. Ottawa: CCL. Retrieved 13 August 2016 from http://en.copian.ca/library/research/ccl/2010index/2010index.pdf.

  • Clark, A. K. (1998). Race, “culture”, and Mestizaje: The statistical construction of the Ecuadorian nation, 1930–1950. Journal of Historical Sociology, 11(2), 185–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colley, H., Hodkinson, P., & Malcolm, J. (2003). Informality and formality in learning. London: UK Learning and Skills Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copernicus, N. (1939 [1543]). On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres. Transl. C. G. Wallis. In Great Books of the Western world, vol. 16 (pp. 497–838). Chicago, IL: Encyclopaedia Britannica.

  • Delors, J., et al. (1996). Learning: The treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century. Paris: UNESCO.

  • EC (European Commission). (2000). A memorandum on lifelong learning. Commission staff working paper. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. Retrieved 23 January 2016 from http://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/1668227/COM_Sec_2000_1832.pdf/f79d0e69-b8d3-48a7-9d16-1a065bfe48e5.

  • Eurostat. (2012). Draft AES manual: Version 8, 13 August 2012. Luxembourg: Eurostat/European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (2000). Governmentality In J.D. Faubion (Ed.), Power: The essential works of Michel Foucault 1954–1984, vol. 3 (pp. 201–222). New York: The New Press.

  • Hefler, G. (2012). Taking steps: Formal adult education in private and organisational life. Studies in Lifelong Learning series, vol. 5. Zurich: Lit Verlag.

  • Hinzen, H. & Schmitt, S. (2016). Advancing EFA and MDGs to Goal 4 in the Sustainable Development Goals. Will there be wider benefits for adult education and learning in sustainable development? In H. Hinzen & S. Schmitt (Eds.), Agenda 2030 – Education and lifelong learning in the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 8–15). International Perspectives in Adult Education (IPE) series, vol. 75. Bonn: DVV International.

  • Hodkinson, P. (2011). Informal learning: A contested concept. In K. Rubenson (Ed.), Adult learning and education (pp. 83–87). Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoskins, B., Cartwright, F., & Schoof, U. (2010). Making lifelong learning tangible: The European ELLI-Index 2010. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung. Retrieved 4 January 2019 from http://www.edmide.gr/KEIMENA%20E.U/document-2010-09-3-7755051-0-studiul-bertelsmann-stiftung.pdf.

  • Kallen, D. & Bengtsson, J. (1973). Recurrent education. A strategy for lifelong learning. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). Retrieved 4 January 2019 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED083365.pdf.

  • Klees, S. (2016). Human capital and rates of return: Brilliant ideas or ideological dead ends? Comparative Education Review, 60(4), 644–677.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laginder, A-M., Nordvall, H., & Crowther, J (2013). Popular education, power and democracy. Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE).

  • Meyer, J. W. (1977). The effects of education as an institution. The American Journal of Sociology, 83(1), 55–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milana, M., Webb, S., Holford, J., Waller, R., & Jarvis, P. (Eds.). (2017). The Palgrave international handbook on adult and lifelong education and learning. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton, M. (2004). Evidence-based policy and the government of the criminal justice system – only if the evidence fits. Critical Policy Sociology, 25(1), 47–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M. (2002). Capabilities and social justice. International Studies Review, 4(21), 123–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (n.d.). National skills strategies [dedicated webpage]. Paris: OECD. Retrieved 11 January 2019 from http://www.oecd.org/skills/nationalskillsstrategies/buildingeffectiveskillsstrategiesatnationalandlocallevels.htm

  • OECD. (1961). Economic growth and investment in education. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (1996). Lifelong learning for all. Meeting of the Education Committee at Ministerial Level, 16–17 January 1996. Paris: OECD.

  • OECD (2005). International assessment of adult skills: Proposed strategy. COM/DELSA/EDU (2005)4. Paris: OECD.

  • OECD (2009). PIAAC BQ JRA V5.0Conceptual framework. The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. Paris: OECD. Retrieved 8 January 2019 from http://www.oecd.org/education/48865373.pdf.

  • OECD (2010). PIAAC Background questionnaire. MS version 2.1 d.d. 15-12-2010. Paris: OECD. Retrieved 9 January 2019 from http://www.oecd.org/education/48442549.pdf.

  • OECD & HRDC (Human Resources Development Canada). (1997). Literacy skills for the knowledge society: Further results from the International Adult Literacy Survey. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Persson, T. (2010). The Swedish study circle [online article]. Stockholm: Folkbildningsnätet. Retrieved 11 January 2019 from https://webb.folkbildning.net/~tore.persson/tore-english-adult1.

  • Rose, R. (2015). Referendum or plebiscite: what’s the difference? [blogpost, 23 July]. The UK in a changing Europe. Retrieved 11 January 2019 from http://ukandeu.ac.uk/referendum-or-plebiscite-whats-the-difference/.

  • Saisana, M. (2008). 2007 Composite learning index: Robustness issues and critical assessment. Luxembourg: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning (CRELL). Retrieved 25 October2016 from http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/ bitstream/ JRC43875/eur23274_fulldocument.pdf.

  • Saisana, M. (2010). ELLI-Index: A sound measure for lifelong learning in the EU. JRC [Joint Research Centre of the European Commission] Scientific and Technical reports series, EUR 24529 EN-2010. Luxembourg: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved 20 October 2016 from http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC60268/reqno_jrc60268_saisana_jrcvalidation_elli.pdf%5B1%5D.pdf.

  • Sen, A. (1992). Inequality reexamined. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN (2016). Sustainable Development Goal 4: Targets and indicators [dedicated webpage]. New York: UN. Retrieved 10 January 2019 from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4#targets.

  • UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) (2016). Human Development Report: Human development for everyone. New York: UNDP. Retrieved 10 January 2019 from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf.

  • UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). (2000). The Dakar framework for action. Education for all: Meeting our collective commitments. Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved 4 January 2019 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001211/121147e.pdf.

  • UIL (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning). (2016). 3rd Global Report on Adult Learning and Education: The impact of adult learning and education on health and well-being; employment and the labour market; and social, civic and community life. Hamburg: UIL.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kjell Rubenson.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rubenson, K. Assessing the status of lifelong learning: Issues with composite indexes and surveys on participation. Int Rev Educ 65, 295–317 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09768-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09768-3

Keywords

Navigation