Despite the expanding opportunities in adult education and learning (ALE) for young people, not all individuals take advantage of them. The paper aims to analyze the relationship between the educational status of young people and their parents, their perseverance (GRIT), with their participation in informal and informal ALE. We analyze whether perseverance enhances participation in ALE among young people with educational advantages. The study tends to contribute to the wider discussion on the reproduction of social structure through human capital accumulation. We analyze the data provided by the longitudinal study “Trajectories in education and profession (TROP)” using regression analysis. We found a positive relationship between an individual’s level of education and perseverance (measured at the age of 14) and participation in job-relevant ALE in adulthood (23-25 years old), and a positive relationship between mothers’ higher education and participation in ALE, not relevant to the job. The hypotheses about the significant role of perseverance in further accumulation of educational advantages is partially confirmed: perseverance enhances the positive effect of higher mother’s education, in participation in work-related informal learning. The results can be used in the development of activities aimed at increasing the involvement of young people in ALE.
Keyword(s) : informal learning
The Phenomenon of Self-Education: Review of World Research Contexts
Modern education overcomes institutional, age, and spatial limits. It provides each person with the opportunity to lifelong learning, and it also allows managing the learning process. Self-education as a proactive human activity for the purposeful accumulation of experience is becoming a relevant subject of scientific research. The research contexts of self-education in world science are the following concepts: «adult learning», «continuous learning», «continuous professional development», «informal learning», «lifelong learning», «non-formal learning», «self-development», «self-directed learning», «self-education», «workplace learning». A review of the segments of the subject field formed by these concepts was carried out. The main goal was to compare and determine the possibilities of using these concepts for the study of self-education in educational, organizational (professional) and life contexts. The articles indexed in the Scopus database served as the basis for the review. Quantitative indicators characterizing the prevalence of terms and the content of the sought-for concepts in the most cited articles were identified. The results showed that the significant amount of knowledge about self-education is concentrated in the segments related to the concepts of lifelong learning, self- directed learning, informal learning, and workplace learning. The most promising is the study of self-education of students or professionals based on the theories of self-directed and informal learning. The theories of self-directed learning are necessary to consider the initiation, implementation, and control of person’s proactive learning activities. The theories of informal learning are necessary to analyze the spontaneous, but meaningful experience accumulation in the process of various activities. The materials of the review, which describe contexts for the study of self-education, will be useful for scientists to determine the current research perspectives and select an adequate theoretical framework.