This presentation will discuss results from a Dutch Research Council (NWO) funded study. The main research question relates to how learning cultures can be established that stimulate individual agency towards learning. The project contributes to a national monitoring approach to better evaluate whether policies do the right things in stimulating adults to learn. The study took the human capability approach (Nussbaum, 2013; Sen, 1999) as starting point (Broek et al., 2023). In this approach, the focus is on whether persons have the freedom to choose adult learning as a valuable life option. The focus is hence less on whether adults participate, but on whether they are in the position to even consider participating in adult learning. The latter does say more about the effectiveness of policies being able to establish a learning culture that stimulates individual agency towards learning. Literature review resulted in a theoretical framework concerning stimulating factors that make adults learn (Broek et al., 2023), focusing on ‘agency-factors’ (motivation, aspiration, self-confidence), ‘conversion-factors’ ((e.g. social, family, work, education background, institutions) and ‘results of adult learning’ (e.g. personal development, health, career). Furthermore, literature was explored to identify success factors in regional level learning environments (Broek, under review). Monitoring therefore whether adults are in a position to learn, requires a methodological approach that allows analysing the whole person addressing the stimulating and hampering factors together and not separately. To allow this, while allowing quantification, a large-scale interview approach based on card-sorting methodology was tested (Cataldo et al., 1970; Conrad & Tucker, 2019). 30 organisations (e.g. training providers, libraries, municipalities, PES, social welfare organisations) and 70 adults were interviewed. The interviews took place in three distinct Dutch regions (Rotterdam, Achterhoek, Groningen). The presentation will present how the learning culture interacts with personal agency-factors. It will cluster adult learners based on their profile of impacting factors and assess what interventions work best to stimulate the learning of those groups. Furthermore, reflections will be provided on the usability, strengths and weaknesses of applying card-sorting in social science research and explore the potential of scaling-up this methodology to be embedded in a national large-scale policy-monitoring instrument for lifelong learning. The thematical and methodological explorations are relevant for other European countries willing to better understand what policy actions could motivate adults to learn. In April 2024, in the context of the Belgian Presidency, the study will facilitate a European workshop on this topic.

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