A Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems
Published on 26. August 2025
Book
Hardback
440 pages
978-1-0353-5951-6 (ISBN)
Description
This book presents a comprehensive overview of Adult Learning Systems (ALS) in a range of post-industrial market democracies, situating them within historically and spatially comparative contexts. It illustrates the diverse ways in which different systems have responded to the shared and specific challenges involving organised adult learning.
Renowned specialists map the evolution of ALS over the past three decades, exploring how socio-economic pressures, historical legacies, and policy interventions have shaped their current forms. Chapters delve into a range of case studies across Asia and Europe, highlighting unique context-dependent institutional development paths. The book sheds light on the elements that frame ALS and applies historical institutionalism to adult education, advancing comparative research with new analytical approaches. It examines trends and patterns and establishes a foundation for more extensive research on the development and transformation of ALS.
is a crucial resource for students and academics in sociology and education, particularly researchers interested in a state of the art for organising adult learning. It also provides valuable insights for policymakers, delivering a conceptual framework for the design and implementation of effective adult education policies.
Renowned specialists map the evolution of ALS over the past three decades, exploring how socio-economic pressures, historical legacies, and policy interventions have shaped their current forms. Chapters delve into a range of case studies across Asia and Europe, highlighting unique context-dependent institutional development paths. The book sheds light on the elements that frame ALS and applies historical institutionalism to adult education, advancing comparative research with new analytical approaches. It examines trends and patterns and establishes a foundation for more extensive research on the development and transformation of ALS.
is a crucial resource for students and academics in sociology and education, particularly researchers interested in a state of the art for organising adult learning. It also provides valuable insights for policymakers, delivering a conceptual framework for the design and implementation of effective adult education policies.
Reviews / Votes
'Adult Learning has mostly been seen from the perspective of the educator/institution or from the (imagined) individual learner. This book provides a holistic perspective on the entire system of educational provision and learning contexts, It combines exemplary national cases with a framework for analysis: inside knowledge combined with a great overview.' -- Henning Salling Olesen, Roskilde University, Denmark 'A Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems provides a much-needed conceptual understanding of the macro-social characteristics of adult education and innovative empirical research on the institutional frameworks that underpin the provision, governance and coordination of adult learning systems. A must-read for anyone interested in historical, comparative and policy research in the field of adult education.' -- Borut Mikulec, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 'This book offers an original contribution to the field of adult education and to international and comparative studies through its macro-level analysis of national level systems within 15 post-industrial democracies. Its significance is that it not only traces the historical institutional roots of adult education systems, but also maps their evolution within the last three decades. It should be compulsory reading for scholars within and beyond the field of adult education.' -- Michael Osborne, University of Glasgow, UKMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-5951-6 (9781035359516)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Richard Desjardins, Professor of Education and Political Economy, School of Education and Information, University of California, Los Angeles, USA and Jan Kalenda, Associate Professor of Adult Education, Faculty of Humanities, Tomas Bata University, The Czech Republic
Content
Contents
Preface xx
A Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems: introduction 1
Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda
PART I ADULT LEARNING SYSTEMS THROUGH THE
LENS OF HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONALISM
1 Understanding adult learning systems and their prospective
roles 9
Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda
2 Using historical institutionalism to study adult learning systems 19
Jan Kalenda and Richard Desjardins
3 Elements that frame adult learning systems designs and
dynamics 37
Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda
PART II COUNTRY STUDIES
4 The adult learning system in Sweden: a child of the welfare
state 54
Erik Nylander and Kjell Rubenson
5 The Netherlands - from education permanente, via "lifelong
learning", to "lifelong development": coalition cabinets and
policy repertoires 75
Barry J. Hake
6 Two institutional junctures: shaping adult learning systems in
Hungary post-1989 101
Jan Kalenda, Tomas Karger and Jitka Vaculikova
7 The adult learning system in Germany: stakeholder
coordination, institutional change and path-dependent
development 123
Alexandra Ioannidou and Jonathan Kohl
8 Navigating change: adult learning systems in Norway from
1990 onwards 146
Unn-Doris K. Baeck
9 The adult learning system in Austria: from bottom-up
initiatives to synergies in stakeholder coordination 168
Julia Walder
10 Danish adult education: between welfare state and market 183
Palle Rasmussen
11 Tracing adult learning system development in South Korea: a
historical institutional perspective 200
Subeen Jang
12 The United Kingdom: from local to a centralised adult
learning system and back 227
Ellen Boeren
13 The evolution of the adult learning system in Czechia: three
modes of liberalisation 248
Jan Kalenda, Tomas Karger and Jitka Vaculikova
14 The development of the adult learning system in Portugal: key
drivers of institutional change since the 1990s 271
Rosanna Barros
15 Belgium: a holistic adult learning system that generates below
average participation rates 296
Ellen Boeren
16 The evolution of the Italian adult learning system
(1990s-2020s): policy fragmentation, institutional dynamics,
and European influence 315
Marcella Milana and Margherita Bussi
17 Bulgaria: adult learning system as a bricolage in the context
of overlapping modernities 339
Pepka Boyadjieva and Petya Ilieva-Trichkova
18 The adult learning system in Greece: critical junctures,
imposed reforms and transformative changes 361
Alexandra Ioannidou and George K. Zarifis
PART III CONCLUSION
19 Trends and patterns in the development of adult learning
systems 382
Jan Kalenda and Richard Desjardins
Preface xx
A Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems: introduction 1
Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda
PART I ADULT LEARNING SYSTEMS THROUGH THE
LENS OF HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONALISM
1 Understanding adult learning systems and their prospective
roles 9
Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda
2 Using historical institutionalism to study adult learning systems 19
Jan Kalenda and Richard Desjardins
3 Elements that frame adult learning systems designs and
dynamics 37
Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda
PART II COUNTRY STUDIES
4 The adult learning system in Sweden: a child of the welfare
state 54
Erik Nylander and Kjell Rubenson
5 The Netherlands - from education permanente, via "lifelong
learning", to "lifelong development": coalition cabinets and
policy repertoires 75
Barry J. Hake
6 Two institutional junctures: shaping adult learning systems in
Hungary post-1989 101
Jan Kalenda, Tomas Karger and Jitka Vaculikova
7 The adult learning system in Germany: stakeholder
coordination, institutional change and path-dependent
development 123
Alexandra Ioannidou and Jonathan Kohl
8 Navigating change: adult learning systems in Norway from
1990 onwards 146
Unn-Doris K. Baeck
9 The adult learning system in Austria: from bottom-up
initiatives to synergies in stakeholder coordination 168
Julia Walder
10 Danish adult education: between welfare state and market 183
Palle Rasmussen
11 Tracing adult learning system development in South Korea: a
historical institutional perspective 200
Subeen Jang
12 The United Kingdom: from local to a centralised adult
learning system and back 227
Ellen Boeren
13 The evolution of the adult learning system in Czechia: three
modes of liberalisation 248
Jan Kalenda, Tomas Karger and Jitka Vaculikova
14 The development of the adult learning system in Portugal: key
drivers of institutional change since the 1990s 271
Rosanna Barros
15 Belgium: a holistic adult learning system that generates below
average participation rates 296
Ellen Boeren
16 The evolution of the Italian adult learning system
(1990s-2020s): policy fragmentation, institutional dynamics,
and European influence 315
Marcella Milana and Margherita Bussi
17 Bulgaria: adult learning system as a bricolage in the context
of overlapping modernities 339
Pepka Boyadjieva and Petya Ilieva-Trichkova
18 The adult learning system in Greece: critical junctures,
imposed reforms and transformative changes 361
Alexandra Ioannidou and George K. Zarifis
PART III CONCLUSION
19 Trends and patterns in the development of adult learning
systems 382
Jan Kalenda and Richard Desjardins