Evidence-Based Policymaking in Adult Learning and Education, 2024-2025

Abstract

This ESRC project was motivated by policy interest in Adult Learning and Education (ALE) as a mechanism for addressing skills shortages, economic competitiveness and social inclusion despite significant declines in participation rates throughout the 2010s. The project aimed to increase knowledge and understanding on how policymakers conceptualise ALE, prioritise competing policy objectives, formulate their research agendas, and incorporate evidence, potential ideological biases and external influences and stakeholder views into such policymaking process. Advancing such knowledge was essential to support future policy development that makes ALE more effective and efficient in reaching its potential, both for individuals and society as a whole. The project aimed to capture new insights from across the devolved nations of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and the Republic of Ireland as a means to stimulate policy learning between the different jurisdictions. Data were collected through semi-structured expert interviews with policymakers and relevant stakeholders across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The interviews focussed on several key themes: interviewees’ professional backgrounds and institutional roles; the processes used to generate and refine policy priorities; the influence of ideological beliefs and institutional constraints such as funding, time and governance structures; and the role of evidence, including statistical data and international surveys such as PIAAC and the Labour Force Survey, in shaping policy decisions. Additional data were collected among insiders within international organisations (OECD, UNESCO and European Commission) to examine intergovernmental relationships with the UK, particularly considering post-Brexit policy shifts. Interview data shed light on the ALE policy landscape as gathered from experts across the UK, Ireland and international organisations. The data offer opportunities to identify gaps in available ALE data and evidence use in decision-making. In line with the ambitions of the project, the data captured details on how policy-making is negotiated and justified across the devolved administrations.The main objectives of this project are (1) to investigate the (potential lack of) consistency of the current statistical evidence base on ALE across the four countries of the UK and Ireland (2) to identify factors that contributed to the decline in ALE participation against economic, societal and political changes in the past 25 years, (3) to investigate convergence and divergence of ALE discourses between the devolved administrations of the UK and Ireland with a specific focus on the role of evidence-based policy making through documentary analyses and in-depth interviews.</p