Adult learning and education (ALE) in general and more specific continuous vocational education and training (CVET) are seen as important for the implementation of lifelong learning as well as for the ability of the population to adapt to the changing needs of the labor market. They are crucial to support individual employability and adaptability to a changing world and work.

On national and international level, data are collected to measure policy, enterprise activities and individual participation in, motivation and restraints of ALE.

Only little work has been done to set in contrast the results of the different surveys (e.g. Behringer, Käpplinger, & Moraal, 2008; Bisovsky, 2013; Hartmann, Eisermann, Gensicke, & Janik, 2013). It is clear that there cannot be a one-to-one comparison due to different survey levels, target groups and foci. Nevertheless, it could be interesting to see, if the results in these surveys confirm each other or if there are any contradictions.

For the case of Germany, international surveys still paint an improvable picture of the ALE participation rates. Even if participation rates has increased in the recent years, the numbers are still just in the middle range. There are differences for Germany (and for the other countries), depending on which data is used as the basis.

The presented project aims to address two points. On the one hand, the project wants to use the example of the age cohort of 24 to 35-year-olds to investigate whether the form of initial vocational training (IVET) may have an influence on participation in further training, and if so, which one (e.g. whether dual vocational training in the sense of the so-called . "Matthew - Effects" which states that in those countries where there is good (vocational) initial training, there is a high participation in further training). Second, the project wants to investigate whether the same data is actually collected in different countries, or whether there are influences that can lead to different results between the countries not showing the real differences in participation or, at least, not as strong as the data suggests (e.g. different contextualization in the countries). Concerning the first aspect, results of the BIBB study on induction of job entrants (Grollmann, Geiben, & Winterhager, 2016) led to the assumption that a lot of what is referred to as (vocational) further training in other countries , in Germany is already covered as part of the training. This may reduce the number of participants in (vocational) training, especially in the first years of professional activity, which would initially contradict the thesis of the “Matthew-Effect”.

The research questions cannot be answered conclusively within the scope of the first evaluation, but an attempt should be made to find indications for the answer to one of these assumptions. This is why the project intends to serve as a “preliminary study” for further studies and to sound out which approaches are suitable for further development. Furthermore, in form of a preliminary study, this evaluation intends to check whether there are ways of typifying countries with regard to their further education. Either different forms of further training (formal, non-formal, informal) can be used as a basis for classification or the structure of the further training providers, if this can be determined with the help of the collected data. Here, too, only indications for a possible classification are to be uncovered, which will be pursued in the context of subsequent projects and, if necessary and possible, expanded into typologies.

The project is divided into two parts: first a analysis of the existing literature on the problem of defining further training and typologies of further training. To support the selection of the countries to be examined, typologies of vocational training are also included here in order to be able to compare as different countries as possible in the second phase. In this context, there will also be a critical discussion of the classification of countries in typologies. This literature review serves to create a theoretical basis for the following steps in relation to the comparison of the studies and the countries. Following in this first phase a review of the surveys and their methodological approaches follows. They should be analysed and compared based on the following leading questions: • What concept of further training is the survey based on? • How is this concept implemented or taken into account methodically in the item formulation? • Which methodological specifications are made for the survey? • To what extent do these specifications enable a national adaptation and conceptualization of further training or ensure that comparable aspects are collected? The second part of the project is a secondary analysis of different existing data on international level. The focus is on studies that collect their own data on an international level. The author chosed the data in order to have a comparable timeframe for all surveys. GRALE was an exception as there were only survey data for the The following data are used: GRALE, PIAAC, AES, CVTS, INDUCT Analysis was done with SPSS. Mainly bivariate and some multivariate analysis has been done with the data from four countries as far as data was available: Germany, France, Great Britain / UK, Sweden. The selection of the countries tried to respect countries with different types of IVET to enable an analysis of its impact on CVET / ALE.

The project is conceptualised as a preliminary study to open the way to different further research questions. Mainly two further research questions should be prepared: the author hopes to find information on the influence of the type of IVET on participation rates of job entrants in the different countries. Does the Matthew Effect also counts for job entrants from countries with a strong work based IVET or does job entrants in those countries participate less in CVET in the first years compared to more school based countries as they have a lot of practical experience during their IVET which is missing for those from more theoretical oriented IVET? Furthermore, the aim is to see if there are any hints to create “typologies” of ALE and / or CVET as they exist for IVET. The author is aware that such typologies are broad and do not cover all aspects of educational systems but for research and comparison of educational systems, outcome and participation, such typologies often are useful for a starting point or a classification and selection of countries to be compared. There are – at least in Germany – typologies for CVET regarding different aspects as the type of provider, the target group or the aim. For international comparison of CVET, a typology of CVET “systems” as they exist in IVET could be an interesting enlargement of existing typologies for further research, classification and selection of countries. As the study is conceptualised as a preliminary study, it is not the aim to answer the research questions completely but to find information on how to go on in further projects. The results of these studies can be used to discuss the internationally available data on further education even more appropriately in the German discussion and international comparison on ALE and CVET.

Behringer, F., Käpplinger, B., & Moraal, D. (2008). Betriebliche Weiterbildung in CVTS und AES - zur Anschlussfähigkeiten und Komplementarität zweier Erhebungsinstrumentarien. In D. Gnahs, H. Kuwan & S. Seidel (Eds.), Weiterbildungsverhalten in Deutschland. 2. Berichtskonzepte auf dem Prüfstand. (pp. 57-78). Bisovsky, G. (2013). Adult Education Survey 2013 (AES) und Grundkompetenzen Erwachsener (PIAAC). (250), 38-40. Grollmann, P., Geiben, M., & Winterhager, M. (2016). Muster betrieblicher Rekrutierungs- und Einarbeitungsprozesse in ausgewählten Ländern Europas: Abschlussbericht zu Forschungsprojekt 1.5.304 (JFP 2011). Laufzeit I/12-II/15. Bonn: Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung. Hartmann, J., Eisermann, M., Gensicke, M., & Janik, F. (2013). Das Nebeneinander von AES und NEPS im Hinblick auf Weiterbildungsforschung. Exkurs. In F. Bilger, D. Gnahs, J. Hartmann & H. Kuper (Eds.), Weiterbildungsverhalten in Deutschland. Resultate des Adult Education Survey 2012. (pp. 343-350). Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.