Patterns of learning. Coping with school failure and its relevance to educational practices in adulthood

Abstract

Participation in adult learning is unequally distributed in terms of sociodemographic characteristics. One of the targets of public policy is to raise and even the level of participation among different social groups. In the article we concentrate on adults already taking part in non-formal educational activities, however, their attitudes, ways of participation and benefits from education differ significantly. The analysis aims to explore and link the experiences of compulsory education with those of adult education. School failures and ways of coping with them seem to be of particular importance. We also analyse the context, especially in terms of family capital and parenting styles. We identified two distinct patterns concerning lifelong learning – cumulative advantage and cumulative disadvantage, and present a few outliers. We argue that attitudes toward adult education and potential gains are determined by previous educational experiences within the school system.