Between Inclusion and Fairness: Social Justice Perspective to Participation in Adult Education. (May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boyadjieva, Pepka; Ilieva-Trichkova, Petya
• Is Part Of: Adult education quarterly. Volume 67:Number 2(2017:May)
• Page Start: 97
• Page End: 117
• Publication Date: 2017-05
• Subjects: social justice -- inclusion -- fairness -- formal and nonformal adult education -- indexes -- Adult Education Survey; Adult education -- Periodicals; Continuing education -- Periodicals; Teaching -- Periodicals; 374.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0741713616685398
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0741-7136

Abstract

The article claims that equity is an indispensable dimension of the widening of access to adult education. Building on the understanding of social justice in adult education as a complex phenomenon, two indicators are developed: an index of inclusion and an index of fairness in participation in adult education. The article analyses social justice separately in formal and nonformal education for two social groups—people with low and high education. Using data from the Adult Education Survey from 2007 and 2011 for 25 countries, it is shown that in most of the countries, there are signs of improvement in the fairness aspect of social justice as a result of a decrease in the overrepresentation of people with high education and in the underrepresentation of people with low education. However, the inclusion of people with low education in adult education remains considerable lower in comparison with the inclusion of people with high education.