TY - BOOK AU - Holford,John AU - Boyadjieva,Pepka AU - Boyadjieva,Pepka AU - Clancy,Sharon AU - Clancy,Sharon AU - Hefler,G�nter AU - Hefler,G�nter AU - Holford,John AU - Studen�,Ivana AU - Studen�,Ivana TI - Lifelong Learning, Young Adults and the Challenges of Disadvantage in Europe T2 - Palgrave Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning SN - 978-3-031-14109-6 PY - 2023/// CY - Cham PB - Springer Nature KW - Adult education, continuous learning KW - bicssc KW - Central government policies KW - Education KW - Educational strategies & policy KW - Industrial or vocational training KW - Sociology KW - adult education KW - adult education policy KW - Europe and lifelong learning KW - lifelong learning KW - vulnerable adults and education KW - workplace learning N1 - Open Access N2 - This open access book challenges international policy 'groupthink' about lifelong learning. Adult learning - too long a servant of business competitiveness - should be reimagined as central to democratic society. Young adults, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, engage more in education and training, and learn more day-to-day at work, if provision is democratically organised and based on enduring and inclusive institutional networks, and when jobs encourage and reward the acquisition of skills. Using innovative qualitative and quantitative methods, the contributors develop a critical perspective on dominant policies, investigating - across the European Union and Australia - how 'vulnerable' young adults experience programmes designed to improve their 'employability', and how 'skills for jobs' policies squeeze out wider - and wiser - ideas of what education and training should do. Chapters show why some provision works for those with poor educational backgrounds, why labour market and educational institutions matter so much, how adult education can empower and expand people's agency, and the challenges of using artificial intelligence in lifelong learning policy-making. Several investigate the pivotal role of workplace learning in organisational life, and in learning during 'emerging adulthood'. Important comparative studies of workplace learning in the metals, retail and adult education sectors show the role of management, trade unions and social movements in young adults' learning UR - https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/dd75a76c-bcbb-44e8-93a4-7ee881216153/978-3-031-14109-6.pdf UR - https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/62368 ER -