Journal Article

We use the 2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to examine the relationship between information-processing skills, educational attainment, and labour market outcomes among Indigenous peoples in Canada. Relative to the non-Indigenous sample, we find negative earnings differentials, higher unemployment, and lower employment and labour market participation among Indigenous peoples, as well as important differences between First Nations, Métis, and Inuit workers. First Nations peoples show larger gaps in terms of earnings and employment outcomes. Moreover, Métis peoples show worse employment outcomes and negative earnings differentials in the upper part of the distribution. First Nations peoples also show sizable gaps in literacy, numeracy, and technology skill relative to the non-Indigenous sample. Not surprisingly, there is a positive relationship between information-processing skills and wages. However, the returns to skills are very similar for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. That is, we find no evidence of economic discrimination. Once these skills are conditioned on, the earnings differentials decline. We also find that education can reduce skill and wage gaps, although the additional impact is small. The results imply the need to consider barriers to education faced by Indigenous peoples.

Lifelong learning (LLL) is not a new concept. However, as a guiding principle for integrating educational efforts, it is a much more recent development. In Australia, initial interest in a lifelong learning policy agenda quickly receded and little development occurred through the 2000s. In 2018, Adult Learning Australia (ALA) promoted a Year of Lifelong Learning (YOLL) and renewed calls for a national approach to coordinating the breadth of Australia's educational efforts in the formal, non-formal and informal sectors to help equip individuals and communities to respond to the pressing challenges of the 21st century., This paper canvasses the rise of interest in lifelong learning internationally as a policy initiative, an umbrella under which other learning policies can be accommodated; examines how interest ebbed in recent years; before considering why and how it should be reconceptualised in Australia. It looks at the experience of other similar countries, noting how some governments withdrew support for lifelong learning, resulting in a decline in adult participation, while in others the process of introducing policy change has been maintained and continues even under the strains imposed by the global financial crisis. What are the arguments for developing an integrated national lifelong learning policy in Australia? Is this still a policy initiative worth pursuing? Who benefits from expanding educational opportunities and what are the costs of missing out? Is Australia's existing educational framework fit for the purpose of addressing today's and future challenges?

Research within the United Kingdom has shown that it is common for school students to combine full-time education with part-time employment. Attention has tended to focus on the negative impact this may have with limited consideration to the potential benefits. Some studies have indicated that skill acquisition may be one such benefit, but studies typically pay little attention to the views of young employees and fail to explore potential variations in skill development between age groups and job sectors. This study addresses this gap. Younger (14 and 15 year olds) and older (16 to 18 years) school students working in the retail and catering industries participated (n = 35). Two interviews were carried out facilitated by workplace observation and on-the-job event recording. Results suggest that opportunities for acquiring skills are common for both younger and older workers in both retail and catering jobs. Differences in perceptions between age groups and job sectors were small with the exception of the areas of future learning and the types of skills. In addition, retail workers tend to see more opportunities for learning than those in catering. These results support those who see such employment as potentially valuable.

Neighbourhood Houses in Australia are spaces of education and learning that cater to and work with adult learners across a lifespan. They are known as fourth sector education providers in the Adult and Community Education (ACE) sector. With a history spanning nearly 45 years, Neighbourhood Houses provide vital education opportunities for adult learners. The research is set against the backdrop of the current project of lifelong learning, which has dominated adult education discourses for more than 30 years. Neighbourhood Houses are learning organisations and sites of social inclusion that embody adult learning practices. This empirical research of learners' experiences in Neighbourhood Houses reveals the complex and varying reasons for participating in ACE that are beyond the realms of formal adult education and include reasons such as decreasing social isolation, fostering friendships and new networks, increased wellbeing, raising income capacity and further learning to improve employment prospects. In doing this, we provide three case studies from the larger data sample of this study to give insight into the complexity of adult education and learners' experiences that occur in this dynamic space of learning. The outcomes for participants vary but include greater mastery of English language, improved foundational literacy, numeracy and computer skills, increased understanding of civics and citizenship and Australian history culture and society, while reconstructing previously held negative views of themselves as learners.

RPA (Raising of Participation Age) legislation re-positioned all youth in England to participate in post-16 education and training, the ultimate aim to develop 'human capital'. However, how does RPA play out in practice with previously NEET (not in education, employment or training) and so-called disengaged youth engaged on a Level 1 pre-vocational course? Empirical research was conducted at a large general further education (FE) college in south-east England, named The Site with seven tutors and twenty-six students from the 2013-14 and 2014-15 cohorts. Key findings revealed 'warehousing' appeared to be the main purpose of education for these students. Whilst student conduct was observably loud and disruptive, it arguably overshadowed concerns over pedagogical activities and teaching practices, reproducing negative classroom conditions which consolidated stereotypical beliefs that with these particular students, there was a reluctance to learn - in effect, legitimising warehousing practice. This study brings into focus a counter discourse: structurally, the system is producing the kind of provision reflected on this course. Hence, creating and consolidating NEET identities rather than providing conditions in which new learner identities can emerge and benefit individuals themselves and (to use the neo-liberal line of reasoning) to the 'economy'.

A central challenge for local skills strategies is whether they can contribute to 'inclusive growth' including more and better jobs across a local economy. Skills strategies, it has been argued, must go beyond simply boosting skills supply and be integrated with policies that shape employer demand for, and utilisation of, skills, including economic development and business improvement. Among developed countries, this is particularly challenging for neo-liberal economies, with weakly regulated labour markets where many firms compete through low wages and low-skill job design. How much progress can be made locally is unclear. The article focuses on England, a highly centralised neo-liberal economy, with high levels of low-wage work and over-qualification. Since 2010, UK governments have promised to empower local communities to drive growth, reforming the infrastructure for sub-national economic development and localising elements of skills policy, as part of a devolution agenda for England set in the context of austerity. There are important questions around how local actors understand the 'skills problem' and whether they can evolve integrative approaches that might contribute to inclusive growth. Drawing upon qualitative research with local actors in the Midlands, the article explores their assumptive worlds in order to shed light on opportunities and constraints.

This study investigates the relationship between job insecurity and the willingness to undertake training, accounting for perceived employability. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we hypothesize that job insecurity negatively relates to the willingness to participate in training to strengthen the internal and external labor market position and that perceived employability has a buffering effect on this relationship. The hypotheses were tested among 560 Belgian employees using structural equation modeling. The results did not provide support for the relationship between job insecurity and the willingness to undertake training to strengthen the position inside the organization. We did, contrary to expectations, find a significant positive relationship with the willingness to undertake training to strengthen the position outside the organization. Furthermore, the relationship between job insecurity and the willingness to undertake training to strengthen the external labor market position was weaker with increasing levels of perceived employability.

A skilled workforce is a prerequisite for productivity and a stepping stone for innovation. This is the reason why education and investment in skills have been made the foundations of Europe 2020, Europe's strategy to overcome the economic crisis and boost growth. The propensity for developing skills is consistently present in European countries and concerns all educational levels. However, differences between countries are often considerable, in particular with regard to skills and educational attainment. There are countries, such as Italy, which have not been successful thus far at decreasing the number of low-skilled workers. This article aims to describe the situation of low-educated and low-skilled workers in Italy and the impact of the economic crisis on this particularly vulnerable group. The work is based on official data issued by national and international institutions, as well as on results from a narrative analysis of 15 biographical interviews with low-skilled adults in Italy conducted within a Cedefop project. Drawing on both types of sources, the article will offer a perspective on the relationship between structural constraints in regard to access to and participation in lifelong learning in Italy, specifically for low-skilled workers, and individual strategies adopted to cope with these constraints.

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