Employment is foundational to young people's successful transition into adulthood, yet many youth with lived experience in the foster care system struggle to obtain employment that provides a living wage. Youth with foster care experience typically do not have the same contacts and connections to employment opportunities as youth who have not been…

Formal vocational education and training (VET) in Slovenia starts at upper secondary level and is provided mainly by public schools that are founded and financed by the State. The education and labour ministries share responsibility for preparing legislation, financing, and adopting VET programmes and qualifications. While the education ministry…

This chapter explores the United Kingdom's (UK) response to the Youth Guarantee (YG) in the two largest of its four constituent countries -- England and Scotland. The chapter examines the forms, systems and funding which underpin the YG and the conditions currently affecting young people socially, economically and geographically in England and…

As the overwhelming majority of those in U.S. prisons will rejoin society, it is imperative to prepare individuals to transition with effective rehabilitative programs. This paper analyzes the 2012/2014 U.S. Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) data because literacy and numeracy skills are designated as the key…

Incorporation into the labour market is a key endeavour, of heightened importance in recent years due to high migration flows, for both immigrants and their recipient countries. Hence, activation and employability are major themes in both transnational and national policy discussions, which have generated various programmes and policy measures.…

Context: This study is about vocational education and training for adults within municipal adult education (MAE). Sweden has a long tradition of adult education, and has one of the world's highest proportions of participants in adult education. The Swedish education system is characterised by extensive marketisation with many private actors,…

This comparative study examines patterns of inequality in participation in two different types of adult learning and education (ALE) -- job-related formal ALE (JFALE) and job-related non-formal ALE (JNFALE) -- as related to social origins at the micro-level and three categories of social inequality at the macro-level at the macro level (economic,…

There is a growing need for people to upskill and retrain throughout their working lives in response to technological and economic changes. Employees need to adapt and take on board new information and ways of working, but may lack confidence in their skills to be able to keep pace with their employer's business. Addressing literacy, numeracy and…

One in every six adults in the United States is an immigrant. These immigrant adults contribute to the vitality of local communities and economies across the country, but many also face barriers to integration and economic mobility, including limited English proficiency, varied levels of formal education, and persistent employment in low-wage…

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was apparent that American jobs are undergoing massive technological transformation. In-demand careers increasingly require digital literacy skills, and for many industries digital skills are entry-level competencies for new hires and incumbent workers. Since the pandemic, digital demands in the U.S. workplace…

The current vocational education and training (VET) system in Portugal is the result of a 2007 large-scale reform, which reorganised VET into a single system (Sistema Nacional de Qualificações, SNQ). The main objectives of the SNQ are to ensure that VET qualifications better match labour market needs, promoting the competitiveness of enterprises,…

This paper explores whether training programs were effective in improving labor market performance of individuals, in particular wages and employment probability, in South Korea. The regression analyses using the data from Korean respondents in the Program for the International Assessment of Adults Competencies (PIAAC) survey show the strong…

Purpose: The study aims to investigate whether participation to massive open online courses (MOOCs) may lead to labor market returns and through which mechanisms such relative advantage may take place. Indeed, despite high figures of registered users, empirical studies on occupational returns are limited and MOOCs may represent a viable,…

One of the most often repeated goals in modern society is making education available to all on equal terms, regardless of social origin, culture or individual characteristics such as age, gender or the socio-economic status of an individual. However, in relation to gender inequality within learning environments, in the Czech Republic the…

This article presents a case study of a remote bridge program for adults who have disabilities that shows how responsive virtual instructional design can expand access to learning and build confidence in populations that face barriers to success in education and training. It focuses on how to reframe instructional practices through technology and…