{"title":"Understanding Europe's skills shortage: Patterns of participation in formal and non-formal education and training.","authors":"Sarah Pemberton-Frings, Sonia Ilie","doi":"10.1007/s11159-025-10175-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-025-10175-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Technological advancements, environmental commitments and demographic shifts are rapidly reshaping Europe's labour markets, and thus the skills needed to succeed within them. These changes are driving growth in some industries while leading to contractions in others. Adult learning, both in formal and non-formal contexts, provides pathways for reskilling and upskilling, which are critical for adapting to these shifts. Recognising the importance of education and training, the European Union (EU) set a target that, by 2025, at least 47 per cent of adults aged 24-64 should have participated in some form of learning, education or training during the last 12 months. Using data from the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), which ran from 2013 to 2022, this article explores progress towards that target, specifically examining the relationship between personal and work-related factors and participation in different forms of learning. The results show that participation in adult education and training has grown significantly, particularly in job-related, non-formal training. Across countries and over time, women participate at higher rates than men in all forms of learning. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, including gender, training rates were found to be highest in highly skilled occupations and lowest in low-skilled occupations. Additionally, individuals in industries with significant skills mismatches are more likely to participate in learning. The analysis indicates progress in addressing skills shortages but raises doubts about whether EU countries have met the 2025 target. These findings underscore the need for targeted policies to address participation in learning, education and training and to support the upskilling and reskilling necessary for the evolving European labour market.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11159-025-10175-0.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"72 2","pages":"231-257"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13124880/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147822033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exacerbating exclusion? How the logic of refugee education perpetuates the exclusion of refugees with disabilities in Lebanon.","authors":"Giada Costantini, Yomna El-Serafy","doi":"10.1007/s11159-025-10132-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11159-025-10132-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article assesses how the logic of refugee education affects the inclusion of refugees with disabilities. It draws on academic literature, sociological and ethnographic research in Lebanon with refugees with disabilities and refugee education practitioners, and conversations between the authors on practices they witnessed out in the field. They highlight four tensions between how refugee education is conceptualised on the one hand, and the prerequisite logics for disability-inclusive education on the other. First, they historicise the emergence of refugee education, highlighting how the logic of securitisation facilitates the exclusion of refugees with disabilities who fall outside constructs of the \"threatening migrant\". Second, they highlight the neoliberal logics shaping funding structures and educational assumptions within refugee education. Ideals of cost-benefit analyses and future employability interact with ableist assumptions to construe refugees with disabilities as less valuable to include. Third, the reliance on vulnerability frameworks leads to disempowering perceptions of disability that conflict with more equitable narratives of diversity and inclusion. Fourth, conflicting temporal pressures are at play between ideas of \"emergency\" education, which have a temporary and present-oriented focus, and disability-inclusive education, which is developmental and future-oriented. The tensions between the dominant lexicon of refugee education and the philosophy underlying inclusive education contribute to marginalisation, disempowerment and exclusion. This article calls for the refugee education community of scholars and practitioners to engage in critical reflection on how the frameworks within which we work might better support the recognition, inclusion and dignified treatment of refugees with disabilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"71 2","pages":"301-319"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12144040/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144250253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cumulative, collective or conservative? A review of seven decades of writing about women, gender, sex, sexuality and intersectionality in international and comparative education.","authors":"Elaine Unterhalter","doi":"10.1007/s11159-025-10193-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11159-025-10193-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article traces the cumulative and collective development of knowledge on women, gender, sex, sexuality and intersectionality over seven decades of scholarship in international and comparative education. The discussion centres on a history of articles published in the <i>International Review of Education (IRE)</i>, written by women and by women and men about women's learning and, gender, sex, sexuality , intersectionality and education<i>.</i> This frames an analysis of how the scholarship on these themes has been discussed, contested or silenced in the field of international and comparative education. The analysis draws out themes and considers how they link to the work of United Nations organisations and movements for social change. In an age of vulnerability, stark inequalities, powerful attacks on the concept of gender and evident planetary boundaries with regard to resources, the article highlights the significance of educational engagement with the politics of gender, the many forms these connections take and the potential for forming alliances. Building significant support for human development and equity as these values come under attack requires paying close attention to insights from data on gender, sex, sexuality and intersectionality, their conceptual framings, combined with empathetic understanding and reflective practice to help form solidarities.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11159-025-10193-y.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"71 5-6","pages":"835-858"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12662869/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145649603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zula Namubiru, Kellen Aganyira, Josje van der Linden, George Ladaah Openjuru
{"title":"Sustainable fishing, lifelong learning and youth entrepreneurship: The case of Kigungu fishing ground in Uganda","authors":"Zula Namubiru, Kellen Aganyira, Josje van der Linden, George Ladaah Openjuru","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10062-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10062-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article investigates the impact of illegal fishing on sustainable fisheries, and its implications for youth unemployment, in Uganda. The qualitative study drew on the knowledge, attitudes, practices and experiences of young fishers regarding their role as active citizens in sustainable fishing. It also explored youth entrepreneurship through lifelong learning as a potential solution to the challenges involved. Data were collected using participatory action research. Interviews were conducted with thirteen young fishers (aged 22–35) from Kigungu fishing ground on Lake Victoria, four of their spouses (some of whom were fish smokers), and two fishers from Gaba fishing ground (as a comparison). A focus group discussion was also held with five local leaders of Kigungu fishing ground. The authors used a social constructivist theoretical framework to help them understand the perspectives of young fishers and consider potential solutions and opportunities for lifelong learning. Their findings highlight manipulative employment terms and expensive legal fishing methods as significant barriers to sustainable fishing. Furthermore, fishers expressed uncertainty about starting their alternative enterprises, compounded by a sense of hopelessness and a lack of social capital, as victims of a worldwide problem they are being punished for but cannot solve on their own. There is a need to engage young fishers in discussions surrounding alternative livelihoods and collective solutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"19 2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142212545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sneaking out the back door? Interrogating the role of governments in the global governance of SDG 4","authors":"Antonia Wulff","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10105-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10105-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In 2015, the governments of United Nations Member States agreed on an ambitious agenda for people, planet and prosperity. Support for the unprecedentedly ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda was obtained, however, on the condition that there would not be any accompanying enforcement or accountability mechanisms. The non-binding nature of the SDGs is characteristic of the process of “governance through goals”, with governments enjoying a large degree of freedom in their implementation. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, however, and its impact on national education systems, political consensus has emerged that education must be an urgent policy priority, evidenced by multiple global initiatives to accelerate progress towards achieving the targets of SDG 4 on Quality Education. Drawing on the emerging literature on governance through goals, as well as relevant policy documents, the author examines two specific global initiatives aimed at making headway through increased Member State engagement; namely, the reform of the Global Education Cooperation Mechanism (GCM) and the Transforming Education Summit (TES). Discussing the role of governments in global education governance, this article examines whether such initiatives signal a new approach to implementation and accountability in relation to SDG 4 – and thus to the global governance of education. The findings have important implications for the remaining SDG period until 2030, and demonstrate the critical need for increased accountability as well as mechanisms to assess the implications of different policy measures, evaluate funding arrangements, and interrogate the roles of different actors in education.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142212547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
William C. Smith, Adriana Susu, Ijaaz Jackaria, Johanna Bohorquez Martinez, Meihui Qu, Misaki Niwa
{"title":"Prioritisation of indicators in SDG 4: Voluntary national reviews as a tool of soft governance","authors":"William C. Smith, Adriana Susu, Ijaaz Jackaria, Johanna Bohorquez Martinez, Meihui Qu, Misaki Niwa","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10067-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10067-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Voluntary national reviews (VNRs) are an important component of the follow-up and review process for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Presented by countries at the annual United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), VNRs detail a country’s self-reported progress to peers. This voluntary process has been criticised for its weak accountability. Global governance literature, however, points to an increase in these “soft” governance mechanisms as well as the potential strategic benefits of this approach. Using a mix of logistic regression and document analysis, this study examined VNRs as a soft governance tool and a reflection of the governance mechanism of the SDGs. The authors examined the scope and content of VNR submissions from 2016 to 2022, with a deeper review of 2022, which focused on the global goal for education (SDG 4). Three types of soft governance – governing by goal-setting, by numbers and by morality – were used as lenses to make sense of the results. The authors’ findings demonstrate the ability of soft governance tools to bring together diverse actors around a broad set of goals, and how the power of numbers can influence which indicators countries report on in their VNR.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142212546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transforming education or transforming the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4)?","authors":"Jhon Jairo Ocampo Cantillo, Lira Luz Benites Lazaro","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10088-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10088-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article provides an overview of the evolving agenda surrounding the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4), dedicated to education. The authors examine the transformation of its guiding principles via the introduction of new priorities, benchmarks and modes of governance. Drawing on theoretical and methodological insights from political sociology of global education, and employing a combination of ethnographic methods, they highlight key moments which illustrate the dynamic nature of global coordination efforts for SDG 4. The article examines the reform process of the Global Education Cooperation Mechanism (GCM), alongside the adoption of a renewed thematic agenda, ranging from the Global Education Meetings in 2020 and 2021 to the Transforming Education Summit in 2022. Their findings underscore the predominant influence of multilateral agencies and donors over Member States, driven by a preference for a multistakeholder approach and a pragmatic vision of education. Key trends identified include a focus on basic learning, digital literacy and education financing, highlighting the current trajectory of global education governance.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"106 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142212548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Sustainable Development Goals as mechanisms of educational governance in Africa","authors":"Teklu Abate Bekele","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10085-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10085-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study interrogates how one of the least-studied regional intergovernmental organisations, the African Union (AU), operationalises or recontextualises the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the process of developing its post-2015 education and development strategies. Employing critical discourse analysis and drawing on multidisciplinary theories, the author examines the <i>emergence</i> of the SDGs in Africa and the strategies used to make them <i>hegemonic</i>. The analysis indicates that the AU positions itself as an emerging education policy “node” negotiating between global development discourses and African needs and challenges. The strategies that the AU uses highlight potential issues in global governance. On the one hand, the AU positions itself as a victim of the unfair power relationships in global governance, by which international organisations and powerful economies maintain their institutional, structural and productive dominance. This seems to keep the AU “at bay” when it comes to decision-making at the global level. The AU consequently vows to become more critical and assertive, and to forge inclusive and fair relationships with its global partners. On the other hand, post-2015 African development strategies seem to benefit from global norms and make repeated references to scientific knowledge, expert ideas and best practices from the Western world. Overall, then, in order to carry out its role as a continental policy node <i>vis-à-vis</i> global expectations, the AU employs two apparently conflicting strategies: adoption and adaptation. These interpretations of the SDGs add more salience to both consensus and conflict-driven theories of global governance.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142212549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Noemi Laforgue-Bullido, David Abril-Hervás, Beatriz Malik-Liévano
{"title":"Hip-hop and education: A literature review of experiences","authors":"Noemi Laforgue-Bullido, David Abril-Hervás, Beatriz Malik-Liévano","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10069-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10069-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The purpose of this study was to describe educational initiatives that use hip-hop culture as a means of socio-educational action. To this end, the authors carried out a systematic review of relevant articles published over the last 10 years in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and written in English, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian. After applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, 68 articles were analysed. This analysis revealed how most of the reported experiences refer to formal secondary education. Although a third of these experiences are linked to critical pedagogies, these were not derived from the critical use of hip-hop – which was largely instrumental. But by means of a thematic content analysis, the authors identify the main strengths and limitations of hip-hop culture as an educational medium. Among the strengths they highlight are its potential to build culturally relevant educational contexts for students traditionally excluded from the academic curriculum, its fostering of students’ political and social participation, and its facility to promote critical thinking. Among the challenges encountered in using hip-hop culture in educational spaces are some educators and families’ perceptions of hip-hop as anti-educational, the imposition by educators of a vision of hip-hop that is not shared by young people, and the lack of systematisation of experiences that can provide guidance on how to carry out this type of initiative.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141743575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The synchronic and diachronic evolution of key themes around SDG 4 before and after 2015: From a quantitative analysis of web-downloaded texts","authors":"Shoko Yamada","doi":"10.1007/s11159-024-10078-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-024-10078-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The authoritative ideas of what education should be like under the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) are constructed through discourse among key actors of the “international education community” at large. This article presents the evolution of international education discourse, comparing the periods before and after September 2015. The analysis is presented in two parts. The first part discusses the period before the adoption of SDGs in 2015, during which the agenda was formulated through discourse. The author identifies themes such as cognitive and noncognitive skills, learning outcomes, measurement and indicators. Actors shaping the discourse included mission-driven civil society organisations (CSOs), constituency-based CSOs, technical specialist groups, UN Member States and philanthropic organisations. The second part is based on a large sample text mining using 832 web-downloaded texts published between 2015 and 2022. The list of key themes largely mirrors those identified in the first part, although the relative weight among them has changed over time. The emphasis has shifted from global, structural topics to more local, specific ones, with increased attention on individual learners and their skills and knowledge. It suggests the uprooted nature of global governance, particularly at the time of SDG adoption. The fact that the term “SDGs” has permeated to the household level reflects widening participation in the global discourse on education. The author observes two contrasting perspectives: one discusses education’s contributions to noneducational goals, such as employment, economic growth, achieving sustainability or guaranteeing basic human rights; while another represents traditional educationalism, which tends to equate schooling with the traditional classifications of primary, secondary and higher education.</p>","PeriodicalId":47056,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141743574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}