Ellen Boeren

This study presents the first comprehensive examination of disadvantaged adults’ participation in Nonformal Education and Training (NFE) across 30 European countries. It investigates how disadvantaged participants differ from their nonparticipating peers within the same social groups, the influence of multi-level factors on their participation, and the specific characteristics of their participation in NFE. Drawing on data from the 2022 Adult Education Survey, the study yields three key findings. First, their participation is shaped by a multilayered structure of age, education, labor market, and country-level variables. Second, their likelihood of participation varies significantly between national adult learning systems. Third, patterns of engagement differ with respect to the type of NFE, mode of delivery, learning initiation, and the provision of guidance. These findings underscore the enduring structural inequalities in NFE and point to the urgent need for policy frameworks that address the multilayered nature of factors influencing participation among disadvantaged adults.

This paper aims to advance the conceptualisation of evidence-informed policymaking in European Adult Learning and Education. Evidence-informed policymaking is advocated for by international organisations such as the European Commission and the OECD but has also been critiqued in the academic literature. My contribution to the conceptualisation of evidence-informed policymaking in adult learning and education explicitly moves away from a simplistic linear approach in which the production and outputs of research are solely communicated to research users. Instead, I argue for an integrated model that incorporates the relational nature between various actors in policymaking. It furthermore interrogates the role of systems approaches to evidence-informed policymaking in terms of investments in leadership, governance, resources and infrastructures. I aim to position and conceptualise evidence-informed policymaking within broader discussions about evidence and policymaking against the international organisations’ ambition to increase European Member States’ participation in adult learning and education.

There is currently a gap in knowledge around pupils' growth mindset (GM) and attainment in Scotland, particularly in relation to Socioeconomic Status (SES). This study offers insights on the relevance of growth mindset in Scotland for attainment in mathematics by drawing on large‐scale data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA). Using the PISA 2022 data, the study investigates the relationship between growth mindset, achievement and SES. In 2006, Dweck's book ‘Mindset’ brought to the public attention the notion that young people's beliefs about the nature of intelligence could themselves influence educational attainment and asserted that these beliefs were malleable. Later work by Claro, Paunesku and Dweck suggested that GM could mitigate the effects of poverty. Data from PISA 2022 were used to explore relationships between growth mindset (GM), SES and mathematics attainment in Scotland. Using multilevel modelling and multiple linear regression at individual and school level, this study explored how far variations in gender, SES, GM, perseverance and interaction between GM and SES could predict scores in mathematics. A significant association between positive GM and improved mathematics outcomes was found. High SES was also associated with improved mathematics outcomes. However, in contrast to findings in other contexts, an interaction effect between GM and SES was not associated with improved mathematics attainment.