Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems

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

‘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.’

• ContentsPreface xxA Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems: introduction 1Richard Desjardins and Jan KalendaPART I ADULT LEARNING SYSTEMS THROUGH THELENS OF HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONALISM1 Understanding adult learning systems and their prospectiveroles 9Richard Desjardins and Jan Kalenda2 Using historical institutionalism to study adult learning systems 19Jan Kalenda and Richard Desjardins3 Elements that frame adult learning systems designs anddynamics 37Richard Desjardins and Jan KalendaPART II COUNTRY STUDIES4 The adult learning system in Sweden: a child of the welfarestate 54Erik Nylander and Kjell Rubenson5 The Netherlands – from éducation permanente, via “lifelonglearning”, to “lifelong development”: coalition cabinets andpolicy repertoires 75Barry J. Hake6 Two institutional junctures: shaping adult learning systems inHungary post-1989 101Jan Kalenda, Tomáš Karger and Jitka Vaculíková7 The adult learning system in Germany: stakeholdercoordination, institutional change and path-dependentdevelopment 123Alexandra Ioannidou and Jonathan Kohl8 Navigating change: adult learning systems in Norway from1990 onwards 146Unn-Doris K. Bæck9 The adult learning system in Austria: from bottom-upinitiatives to synergies in stakeholder coordination 168Julia Walder10 Danish adult education: between welfare state and market 183Palle Rasmussen11 Tracing adult learning system development in South Korea: ahistorical institutional perspective 200Subeen Jang12 The United Kingdom: from local to a centralised adultlearning system and back 227Ellen Boeren13 The evolution of the adult learning system in Czechia: threemodes of liberalisation 248Jan Kalenda, Tomáš Karger and Jitka Vaculíková14 The development of the adult learning system in Portugal: keydrivers of institutional change since the 1990s 271Rosanna Barros15 Belgium: a holistic adult learning system that generates belowaverage participation rates 296Ellen Boeren16 The evolution of the Italian adult learning system(1990s–2020s): policy fragmentation, institutional dynamics,and European influence 315Marcella Milana and Margherita Bussi17 Bulgaria: adult learning system as a bricolage in the contextof overlapping modernities 339Pepka Boyadjieva and Petya Ilieva-Trichkova18 The adult learning system in Greece: critical junctures,imposed reforms and transformative changes 361Alexandra Ioannidou and George K. ZarifisPART III CONCLUSION19 Trends and patterns in the development of adult learningsystems 382Jan Kalenda and Richard Desjardins