Adult education is known to be able to transform lives and can especially be powerful for those individuals who missed out on educational opportunities earlier in life. Participation in adult lifelong learning activities are linked to economic and social benefits, both at the level of the individual and the level of society (Field 2012). Many governments have highlighted the significance of learning for both economic gain and as a mode of social inclusiveness, in attempt to bridge the learning divide between those who have benefited from education and training and those who have not. However, in an economic and political climate dominated by austerity, support for adult learning is significantly decreasing. This problem strongly present in Britain and around the world, is acerbated by neoliberal policies that have constrained the practice of adult education (Mclean 2015). Rose (1999) has argued that neoliberal rationalities of government has also depended on the construction and regulation of people who see themselves as individuals with the responsibility to shape their lives through their own actions and choices. In short, a high level of individual autonomy, in contrast to a high level of social engagement, is seen to characterize the ideal–typical, neoliberal citizen (Ginn 2013). The widespread existence of such forms of subjectivity have substantially constrained the forms of practice in which adult learners can engage in continuing education.

Research specific to, and explicitly naming austerity, is much more scarce in the field of adult education. The title of this book, Adult Learners in Austere Times aims to address this issue. The chapters in this book, of which some have emerged from papers presented at the 2016 Standing Conference for University Teachers and Researchers in the Education of Adults (SCUTREA) (James 2016), have been selected to specifically focus on adult education in austere times and to show how the political and economic contexts that adult education operates in, can impact on adult learners. They also highlight how adult education pedagogy and practice can be deliberately designed to challenge austerity measures arising out of neoliberalism.

This introductory chapter will discuss why adult education matters, and the impact of austerity measures on the delivery of adult education, as well as individuals’ opportunities to access and participate in adult learning. The chapter also refers to a range of current policy actions that demonstrate the declining support for adult education. As well as setting the scene, the introductory chapter will signpost the rest of the book, which has been divided into two sections. The first section focuses on the context, history and classed nature of austerity and adult education, and positions the current state-of-art of participation in adult education in Britain against other countries in the EU-28. The second part of the book focusses on experiences of adult learners, reporting on findings from empirical research. Chapters in the second part of the book focus on adult education settings in higher education, further education and the community.

Lifelong learning, traditionally conceived as learning for adult and mature students, can also be applied to the multiplicity of contexts through which people engage in learning across different phases and stages of their lives (Schuller et al. 2002). Adult learning can be a route to gain or maintain employment, and the means to sustain livelihood. It can offer second chances to people who missed out in their earlier education, and have been previously excluded from formal learning opportunities, and first chances to people who never had the opportunity to go to school (Coffield 2009). Many researchers have argued for the wider benefits of learning beyond the level of the individual, from family and household, through to community and wider society (Schuller et al. 2002; Tuckett 2017; James and Busher 2018). There is also powerful evidence that adult learning has positive mental health and well-being effects (Feinstein et al. 2009), as those who participate in learning are healthier, happier, and better paid than those who do not (Taylor 2014, p. 4). Further, the benefits of learning, particularly for adults in terms of the growth of human, social and identity capitals as proposed by Schuller et al. (2002) are evident in the key components of adult education and its positive impacts as presented in the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) Manifesto for Adult Learning in the Twenty First Century. These include:

(Extract taken from the EAEA [Manifesto for Adult Learning in the Twenty First Century], Brussels, December 2015).

Governments have presented lifelong learning as a social good that opens up both social and economic opportunities to adult learners. Both Britain and Europe have responded to the challenge of changing economic climates by trying to create better access to qualifications and skills training because ‘learning benefits individuals, the economy and society as a whole’ (Taylor 2014, p. 4). For example, a rapidly changing economy, and the process of population ageing, means that wider access to higher education are priorities for many European nations (Field and Kurantowicz 2014). The European Commission (2011) called on member states and higher education institutions (HEIs) to encourage participation of disadvantaged adults, for example by attracting a broader cross-section of society into higher education and minimizing drop-out rates, and ensuring that financial support to potential students is better targeted. Across Europe, HEIs have been encouraged by policy interventions to create mass higher education that will satisfy the need of European economies for high-skilled labour in a global market (Field et al. 2010). However, in the current economic climate, gaining higher education qualifications does not always guarantee a greater likelihood of employment compared with people with lower qualifications (Holmes and Mayhew 2016). The high likelihood of people finding a job whatever level of skill they have and however well paid they are for the skills they possess, is likely to diminish people’s enthusiasm for pursuing the risky route of returning to formal education as a mature learner (Mannay and Morgan 2013). Yet the opportunities for pursuing a career which they cherish can be the expected non-financial reward to encourage people to pursue lifelong education, despite the risks and the potentially limited financial rewards on offer.

The economic imperative for adult education is that learning in the form of continued education provides a crucial resource that learners can take into the labour market (Tomlinson 2013). All adults beyond school age should have the chance and encouragement to start accumulating skills and qualifications that will lead to better, more fulfilling life chances, and be better equipped to support their families and local communities (Hughes et al. 2016). Yet the hollowing out of the labour market also has considerable implications for individuals hoping to improve the quality of their opportunities for employment through continuing education, and ignores the socio-economic contexts of such adult learners. This includes wider facets of their lives and identities that impact on the constraints and opportunities that facilitate their participation in adult learning (Busher et al. 2014). The choices that individuals make will be shaped by the parameters within which they make choices and understand their wider position both within the education system and beyond in the labour market (Tomlinson 2013).

Providing adult learning opportunities has the potential for transformation, however without a combination of public investment and effective targeting, it can also reinforce inequality, and the marginalisation of disadvantaged groups (Tuckett 2017). The importance of adult learning is clearly recognised both nationally through successive British government White Papers, and globally via UNESCO, European Commission and OECD policies and research findings (Boeren 2016). While such reports demonstrate the positive impact of adult participation in learning, further analysis of participation patterns and statistics also demonstrate that participation is unequal and varies between individuals and countries (Boeren 2011). A review of the participation rates in adult education commissioned by UNESCO (see Desjardins et al. 2006) provides evidence that those with high skills and education are more likely to participate in adult lifelong learning activities. While there is a global recognition for more adults to be economically and educationally active for much longer than in previous generations due to changes in state pensions and increased lifespans (Eurostat 2014) there is evidence of a decline in adult participation in skills training and broader credit and non-credit bearing provision, an...