Working group on adult learning : findings report PLA on financing of adult learning (12-13 May 2022, online).
Date: 2024-04-15
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, adult education, continuing vocational training, financing method, labour market, learning, professional qualifications, social rights

European Education Area Strategic Framework 

Working Group on Adult Learning 

Findings  report  PLA  on  financing  of  adult 
learning (12-13 May 2022, online) 

 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
Directorate B — Jobs and Skills 
Unit B.2 — Skills Agenda 

Contact: Ann BRANCH, Head of Unit 

E-mail:  EMPL-B2-UNIT@ec.europa.eu  

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Working Group on Adult Learning 

Findings report PLA on financing of adult learning (12-13 May 
2022, online) 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
European Education Area Strategic Framework Working Group on Adult Learning   

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Manuscript completed in September 2022 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

Table of Contents 

1.  Background of the PLA on financing adult learning .................................. 7 

2.  France – individual learning accounts ...................................................... 11 

3.  Denmark – competence funds ................................................................... 14 

4.  The Netherlands - collective bargaining over training entitlements ....... 17 

5.  Finland – the Adult Education Allowance ................................................. 20 

6.  Final reflections – overarching lessons learned ...................................... 21 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

1. Background of the Peer Learning Activity on financing 

adult learning1 

Rapidly  changing  skills  requirements  as  a  result  of  the  digital  and  green  transitions 
require  more    support  for  adults  to  update  their  skills  throughout  their  working  life. 
Furthermore,  demographic  ageing  makes  it  essential  for  adults  to  continue  skills 
developments to avoid  skills shortages. All this requires more adult learning, be it organised 
in the formal (VET/HE) system, offered by employers or by private/non-formal adult learning 
providers. This need for adult learning is firmly archored at European level in the European 
Pillar of Social Rights: the right to “quality and inclusive education, training and life-long 
learning” (first principle), the right to “active support to employment” (fourth principle), and 
the  right  to  training  “regardless  of  the  type  and  duration  of  the  employment  relationship” 
(fifth principle). In this context, the Member States agreed to make progress towards an EU-
level target of 60% adult participation in training every year by 2030. This target has been 
set by the European Pillar Social Rights Action Plan and was endorsed by the EU Heads 
of  State  and  Government  in  the  Porto  Declaration  and  in  the  European  Council 
conclusions of June 2021. 

Meeting the Porto Commitment of at least 60% of adults participating in training every year 
by 2030 will require a significant increase from the 37% participation rate in 20162 and 
will not reach the 2030 target if recent trends continue. In addition to participation in adult 
learning being low, it is also unequal across different groups of adults within Member 
States and strongly depends on educational attainment but also labour market status, type 
of employment contract or company size. 

Two main problems lead to low and unequal participation of adults in learning: 

• 

• 

individuals receive insufficient financial support for training. This is mainly due to low 
levels  of  investment,  gaps  in  coverage  of  certain  groups  of  adults  and  types  of 
training, barriers to devoting time to training and fragmentation of support, and 

individuals’  incentives  and  motivation  to  take  up  training  are  insufficient.  This  is 
related to people’s limited awareness of their skills needs, limited transparency of 
training offers, uncertainty about a training programme’s quality and recognition, and 
insufficient tailoring of available offers to individual needs. 

Across  EU  Member  States,  the  available  data  show  a  strong  correlation  between  the 
percentage  of  GDP  invested  in  adult  learning  and  the  participation  of  adults  in 
learning.  Member  States  with  higher  investments  in  adult  learning  also  show  lower 
inequalities  in  participation  between  permanent  workers  and  other  adults  aged  25-64.3 
Hence,  the  significant  increases  in  adult  learning  participation  which  Member  States  are 
committed to achieve will require significant increases also in the funding devoted to 
adult learning. A challenge for bringing about this increase in available funding is that the 
costs  of  adult  learning  are  often  concentrated  on  the  specific  adult  or  her/his  current 
employer, who need to make the financial and time commitment. By contrast, the benefits 
of adult learning tend to be wide-spread and shared by the individual, the current employer, 
future  employers  and  society  at  large.4  In  this  context,  institutional  arrangements  to 
support  cost  sharing  by  social  partners  and  public  authorities  can  help  ensure 
sufficient funding. 

Employers  currently  play  a  dominant  role  in  financing  adult  learning,  being 
responsible  for  more  than  half  of  the  investments  in  training.  Furthermore,  when  adults 
participate in job-related non-formal education and training (total 34.6% in EU-27), in almost 

1 This section is a brief summary of the PLA background report. 
2 As measured by the Adult Education Survey. This figure excludes guided on-the-job training in order to align with the scope 
of adult learning considered in the Labour Force Survey, which is used for EU-level benchmarking. 
3 ILA Impact assessment report (2021), p. 90. 
4 ILA Impact assessment report (2021), pp. 145 ff. 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

9 out of 10 cases it is sponsored at least partly by an employer.5 There are however large 
differences  in  participation  rates  across  Member  States,  showing  a  potential  for  mutual 
learning  on  how  to  organise  and  stimulate  employer  investments  in training.  Concerning 
employer-sponsored  learning,  there  is  interest  in  initiatives  that  mobilize  funding  by 
employers,  or  social  partners  together,  to  ensure  that  employees  have  the  right  and 
possibilities to learn skills relevant to the labour market context. Schemes differ in the way 
employers  are  involved  in  funding  adult  learning:  on  the  one  hand,  public  authorities 
operate funding schemes, such as tax incentives and grants to companies, that support 
employers  to  offer  and  support  training  of  employees.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
employer-led, or social partner-led funding arrangements such as collective bargaining 
over  training  rights,  and  training  funds.  Collective  bargaining  agreements  can  include 
provisions concerning training (next to wages and working conditions). However, the extent 
to which employees are covered by collective bargaining differs greatly across Member 
States.  Similarly,  there  is  a  lot  of  variation  in  the  extent  to  which  existing  collective 
bargaining agreements include provisions on training/ training rights for employees.  

Alongside  employer-led  funding  arrangements,  there  are  also  initiatives,  just  like  the 
Council  Recommendation  on  individual  learning  accounts6,  that  provide  direct 
financial support and empower adults to learn, not necessarily linked to requirements 
of  their  current  jobs,  but  considering  the  broader  labour  market  context  and  personal 
professional development. As currently employers sponsor 88% of job-related non-formal 
training , adults who would like to learn more and are not in permanent employment report 
costs as a barrier more often than those in permanent employment (31% vs. 22%). Among 
employees, those employed in SMEs receive less support for training than those in large 
companies , mirroring the pattern of inequality in participation levels. Individually targeted 
financial  instruments  have the  benefit  that  in  principle  all  adults  can  benefit from them, 
including those with no or less access to employer-sponsored training: be it because 
they are in atypical forms of work including self-employment, currently unemployed or 
out  of  the  labour  force,  because  they  work  for  an  SME  or  micro-enterprise  with  less 
capacity to organise training or because they want to train for a professional transition 
to another job or sector. Furthermore, it facilitates training in transversal skills beyond the 
requirements of the current job- which is becoming increasingly important on today’s labour 
markets,  but may  not  be  supported sufficiently  by  the  current  employer due to  the  wide-
spread nature of the benefits. 

The goal  of  this  PLA  was to  learn  about  and discuss  four  innovative practices (from 
France,  Denmark,  the  Netherlands  and  Finland)  relating  to  initiatives  to  empowering 
individuals to learn, to allow participants to draw inspiration for them for their own work. 
After  an  initial  presentation  and  an  opportunity  to  ask  questions,  each  example  was 
discussed and analysed in small groups, drawing on the following guiding questions: 

1.  What are the objectives of the initiative? 

a.  What are the main envisaged outcomes of the initiative? What is the scope 
of the initiative in terms of the type of adult learning and profile of adult 
learners that are supported? 

2.  What are the conditions for success? 

a.  How is the sustainability of funding secured? What funding mechanism is 
applied, and to what extent does it increase overall funding available for adult 
learning? 

5  See  Adult  Education  Survey  2016:  Participation  rate  in  job-related  non-formal  education  and  training  by  type  and  sex 
(TRNG_AES_120). 
6 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32022H0627%2803%29  

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

b.  How 

is  the 

initiative  governed?  To  what  extent  are  feedback 
mechanisms  in  place  to  revise  the  initiative  based  on  implementation 
experiences and outcomes? 

c.  What  are  main  contextual  factors  influencing  the  implementation  of  the 
initiative?  To  what  extend  does  the  initiative  integrate  financial  support 
with other support to tackle barriers to participation in learning? 

d.  How  are  ongoing  labour  market  changes  impacting  on  these  funding 

instruments? (e.g. towards more frequent professional transitions) 

3.  What lessons can be drawn for other Member States?  

a.  Despite contextual differences, which elements of the discussed initiatives 

could inspire developments in other countries? 

b.  What concrete steps could countries take to stimulate similar initiatives? 

The four presentations and discussions on country approaches were complemented with 
keynote presentations in plenary by: 

•  Ken  Mayhew  (Emeritus  Professor  of  Education  and  Economic  Performance, 

University of Oxford) discussing adult learning and its funding; 

•  Lidia  Salvatore  (Expert  in  VET  for  adults  and  apprenticeships  at  Cedefop) 

discussing adults’ perceptions of learning and barriers to participation; and, 

•  Adam Gajek (Senior Policy Advisor for Skills at EUROCHAMBRES), discussing the 

role of chambers of commerce in mobilising financing for training. 

The PLA was attended by 43 participants from 14 countries, representing Ministries of 
Education,  social  partners,  and  research  institutes;  and  from  nine  European  level 
organisations and stakeholders (i.e. social partners and civil society organisations). 

The  following  chapters  discuss  the  four  country  initiatives  presented  and  provide  a 
summary  of  the  reflections  that  emerged  during  the  group  discussions.  The  report 
concludes by identifying some overarching lessons learned from the PLA. 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

2.  France – individual learning accounts 

The French individual learning accounts initiative (Compte Personnel de Formation, CPF) 
was  presented  by the  French  Ministry  of  Labour  (Ministère  du  Travail,  de  l'Emploi  et  de 
l'Insertion)  and  the  French  public  sector  financial  institution  in  charge  of  managing  the 
scheme (Caisse des Dépôt). The presentations provided 1) an overview of the CPF (how it 
works,  how  it  is  funded);  2)  the  rationale  behind  the  CPF;  3)  the  challenges  for 
implementation; 4) the functioning of the online platform ‘Mon Compte Formation’, the one-
stop shop for individuals to make use of their training rights, and trends in the use of the 
CPF. 

With CPF, individuals acquire training rights that can be used throughout their working life. 
The CPF was created in 2015 to offer every person entering the labour force, the right to 
training,  regardless  of  their  labour  market  status  and  type  of  job.  This  also  makes  it  a 
relevant tool to help working age adults face the major changes in employment to come, 
such as the green and digital transitions.  In this, the individuals’ autonomy is at the heart 
of the system. Individuals have the right to receive between €500 and €800 a year up to a 
maximum amount of €5 000 to €8 000 (the higher amount relates to a top-up for disabled 
persons  and  low  skilled  workers).  The  CPF  is  funded  through  an  automatic  withdrawal 
directly on the employer’s payroll. Public authorities (public employment services, regional 
authorities) and companies can also top up the individual accounts. 

The  legal  framework  was  revised  by  the  2018  law  for  the  freedom  to  choose  one’s 
professional future (loi pour la Liberté de choisir son avenir Professionnel du 5 septembre 
2018).  The  main  changes  introduced  are  that  training  rights  are  now  counted  in  Euros 
instead of hours of instruction, and that individuals can book courses directly via the online 
platform  ‘Mon  Compte  Formation’,  increasing  the  accessibility  of  the  CPF  and  training 
programmes available. 

Since 2015, 20 million personal training accounts have been activated, which is around half 
of  the  total  french  working  population  (15-64  year  olds).  The  number  of  training  courses 
paid  for  through  the  CPF  quadrupled  over  the  past  three  years,  with  participant 
numbersincreasing from 489 000 in 2019 to 1 million in 2020, and to 2.1 million in 2021. 
Sectors  with  the  highest  CPF  use  rates  are  those  that  were  particularly  affected  by  the 
COVID-19-related lockdowns (i.e. the accommodation and catering sector). Currently, the 
CPF  offers  219  036  different  training  courses  with  16  020  training  providers.  The  most-
selected courses are in transport, modern languages, social integration, ICT and security.  

A key factor in the implementation of the CPF is the integrated online platform ‘Mon Compte 
Formation’. Here they can check their rights; find career advisors; find training offers; get 
additional funding and pay for the training courses; and receive their certification.  

The  main  implementation  challenges  are  to  ensure  useful  and  quality  training  that  is 
relevant to the labour market and to balance between individuals’ rights to exercise freedom 
of professional choices and the skills expected on the labour market. Integrated services 
such as career development advice to support and guide people in their training or retraining 
projects, quality information concerning the relevance of skills on the labour market, and 
quality assurance of trainings offered are therefore essential. This necessiates governance 
structures that mobilise all major stakeholders, especially employers and social partners, 
and continuously reviewing and renewing processes and procedures (such as the quality 
criteria for educational providers to offer training programmes). 

The Group discussions and plenary discussions resulted in the following reflections on the 
French approach: 

• 

It  is  a  very  comprehensive  approach  combining  training  with  career  guidance 
services and offered through a user-friendly tool, promoting agency of the individual. 
There  is  a  prominent  role  for  guidance  and  information  support.  It  also  offers  a 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

personal touch through the app, as well as offering ICT support for lower skills and 
a helpdesk. 

•  The  approach  is  developed  and  improved  during  implementation  by  allowing 
incremental changes to the whole system and the supporting tools/measures. This 
enables  the  CPF  to  adjust  to  new  insights  and  changing  demands  and  solve 
challenges  along  the  way.  An  example  of  an  incremental  change  is  the  recent 
introduction of more strict quality criteria for training courses on offer (leading to a 
reduction of 50% of available courses but without reducing the overall participation). 
Another  example  is  the  introduction  of  additional  regulations  concerning  the 
marketing of training courses to prevent aggressive marketing and fraud. A law to 
further  combat  abuse  of  the  CPF  is  currently  under  discussion  at  the  National 
assembly. 

•  The CPF is used as a measure to change the dynamics in the whole training system 
and  developing  a  systemic  view  on  learning,  bringing  together  different  services. 
The large scale of the scheme is necessary to give access to all. 

•  The  CPF  is  implemented  by  the  Ministry  of  Labour,  supported  by  public  bodies 
(France compétences and the French public sector financial institution (Caisse des 
Dépôt)),  and  engages  with  social  partners 
roles, 
responsibilities and shared governance structures.  

through  setting  clear 

•  Through  the  ‘Mon  Compte  Formation’  platform,  and  the  top-up  funding,  the  CPF 
managed to be more attractive for vulnerable groups of adults and those that are 
less digitally ready, turning digitalisation from a barrier to learning for those groups 
into an opportunity to reach those vulnerable groups of adults. 

A point for further reflection was the amount of additional funding that will be required in the 
future if the take-up of CPF-training continues to increase at the same pace as in recent 
years, and how to ensure the sustainability of funding also with higher use rates.   

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

3. Denmark – competence funds 

The Danish competence funds were presented by PensionDanmark, which offers lifelong 
learning  opportunities  alongside  pensions.  PensionDanmark  administers  20  competence 
funds  in  the  private  sector  labour  market,  covering  250  000  employees  across  14  000 
companies.7  The  presentation  provided  a  brief  overview  of  lifelong  learning  and  adult 
vocational  training  in  Denmark;  the  available  financial  and  economic  support;  the 
competence funds; the digital overviews available for members and companies; and finally 
the results of competence funds (as administered by PensionDanmark). 

The lifelong learning and adult vocational training system in Denmark has a long tradition 
and  is  based  on  close  cooperation  with  the  social  partners  at  a  national  level  secured 
through  1)  tripartite  agreements  between  the  employers'  organisations,  the  trade  unions 
and the government; 2) the legal framework for adult education being based on negotiations 
between these parties; 3) the financing of adult education depending on both public funding 
and  funds  from  the  social  partners.  The collective  bargaining  and  sector  agreements  on 
competence funds began in 2008. 

The  adult  education  and  continuing  training  system  should  allow  everyone  to  engage  in 
lifelong  learning  that  is  effective  and  flexible,  supporting  good  job  opportunities  for 
individuals,  good  competitiveness  in  enterprises  and  high  employment  and  prosperity  in 
society. The main programmes that support this orientation are the adult vocational training 
programmes  (AMU)  for  unskilled  and  skilled  employed  workers  as  well  as  unemployed 
adults signed up by the local job centre; and general adult education programmes (FVU) 
for people who are further removed from the labour market. Both programmes are state-
funded, but the AMU programme receives co-funding from employers through payment of 
tuition fees at approximately €100-150 per week. Employers continue to pay wages during 
their  employees’  participation  but  receive  a  partial  reimbursement  for  this  from  the 
employers’ reimbursement system (AUB)8- and possibly a full reimbursement from a training 
fund if set in collective bargaining agreements. 

Competence funds were created as a result of collective bargaining agreements since 2008. 
The  funds  provide  additional  subsidies  to  companies  when  employees  attend  adult 
education  and  training.  The  governing  boards  of  the  competence  funds  consist  of 
representatives from the social partners. The collective bargaining agreements specify what 
amount the employer must pay to the fund for each employee, typically from 780 kr. up to 
1 500 kr. a year (from €105 to €200). The competence funds are based on solidarity, so 
companies can draw from the funds when they have a need to do so.  

In  the  last  decade,  there  has  been  a  noticable  decline  is  the  take-up  of  training  from 
competence  funds.  However,  initiatives  by  specific  competence  funds  managed  by 
PensionDanmark  towards  providing  digital  platfroms,  summarising  available  training 
opportunities in an online registry, and offering personalised digital accounts for individuals 
and companies have resulted in better performance compared to competence funds that 
work more in a traditional way.  

The Group discussions and plenary discussions resulted in the following reflections on the 
Danish approach: 

•  Denmark  has  a  long  tradition  of  social  partner  engagement  and  lifelong  learning, 

resulting in a generous system of adult education. 

•  AMU system prioritises the use of recognition and validation to motivate learners. 

7 There are three major administrators in Denmark: PensionDanmark, The confederation of Industries and the confederation 
of Danish Employers. 
8 As an employer in Denmark, you must pay contributions to a number of statutory schemes including AUB. 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

•  The  system  of  the  competence  funds  is  more  employer-driven  than  based  on 
individual  demands.  However,  there  are  other  options  available  in  Denmark  to 
engage  in  self-selected  training  courses.  The  system  offers  smart  incentives  for 
employers to have their employees participate in training. 

•  The system is well and sustainably funded through the employer contributions. 

•  As the system is based on collective bargaining, the competence funds are available 
for  all  companies  and  employees  in  the  sector  covered  by  collectibe  bargaining, 
including SMEs. 

•  The offer of training courses is made available for individuals and employers through 
a  registry  and  is  well  quality-assured,  transparent  and  included  in  the  National 
Qualifications Framework, referenced to the European Qualifications Framework. 

Points  for  further  reflection  were  how  to  support  adults  not  covered  by  collective 
agreements,  and  how  to  “turn  the  tide”  concerning  the  usage  of  competence  funds  and 
increase companies’ incentives to allow their employees to participate in training also in a 
context of growing staff shortages. 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

4. The Netherlands - collective bargaining over training 

entitlements 

The Dutch approach to collective bargaining over training entitlements was presented by 
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. It provided an overview of the Dutch policy 
on lifelong development, described the role of social partners, explained the fiscal policy to 
support lifelong development and finally presented some best practice examples of sector 
initiatives in lifelong development. 

The  Dutch  lifelong  development  policy  is  based  on  four  pillars:  strengthening  learning 
demand of individuals, stimulating employers and employees in learning, developing flexible 
learning offerings, and stimulating a learning culture. In the Netherlands, employers carry 
the largest costs for lifelong development (€3.6 billion on an annual basis). The government 
develops complementary policies such as the recently launched individual learning budget 
(STAP-budget) supported by €200 million on an annual basis. Hence, lifelong development 
is  considered  a  shared  responsibility  of  employers,  employees,  social  partners  and  the 
government.  In  this,  the  role  of  the  government  is  to  set  the  framework  and  develop 
additional policy when further support is required. 

The  Collective  Bargaining  Agreements  (CAO)  can  include  provisions  on  training  and 
development funds at sectoral level. These development funds are binding for the whole 
sector if agreed upon and are financed and managed by the sectoral social partners. Their 
main objectives are to optimise sectoral labour markets through training and development 
of  employees;  promote  good  working  conditions;  and,  enhance  sectoral  employability. 
Sectors also work together to improve intersectoral labour mobility. 2.2 million employees 
(which is around 25% of all employees) have an individual learning budget governed by the 
159 collective bargaining agreements.  

Individuals can freely use the funds in their individual learning budget, with the only condition 
that  it  is  relevant  to  their  current  or  a  future  job.  A  challenge  is  that  this  labour  market 
relevance is determined by the Dutch tax office and may be challenged after a training has 
taken place, creating reluctance to use these budgets. Hence, the country is seeking ways 
to  balance  the  freedom  of  individuals  to  choose  training  opportunities  with  what  is 
considered  relevant.  The  Ministry  is  reflecting  on  how  to  simplify  the  scheme  e.g.  by 
considering all trainings included in the STAP budget registry of training opportunities as 
being relevant to the labour market for tax purposes. 

The group discussions and plenary discussions resulted in the following reflections on the 
Dutch approach: 

•  The  system  is  built  on  a  high  level  of  engagement  of  social  partners  and  a  high 

coverage of workers by collective bargaining agreements. 

•  As collective bargaining agreements differ per sector, not everyone has the same 

opportunities and resources for training. 

•  The  combination  of  collective  bargaining  agreements  with  an  individual  training 
budget  (STAP-Budget)  allows  a  balance  beween  individual  freedom  in  selecting 
courses and employer-steered choices for courses. 

•  With the launch of the individual training budget (STAP-Budget), it was clear that not 
all systems and procedures were already put in place, but the approach was to get 
started first and solve challenges along the way. 

•  The  current  focus  is  on  developing  and  further  improving  the  web-portal  of  all 

available courses on offer. 

A  questions  for  further  reflection  concerned  the  “first  come,  first  served”  principle  as  a 
solution to reconcile universality of  access with limitation in the available funding. How to 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

see this from an equity perspective? There was the perception that in some countries, this 
solution would not be accepted as public services need to be available for all. 

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WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

5. Finland – the Adult Education Allowance 

The Finnish approach was presented by the Ministry of Social Affairs and focussed on the 
study leave approach, the adult education allowance and its 2020 refrom. 

In Finland employees have a right to take two years of study leave in a period of five years. 
The  study  leave  is  for  studies  that  are  publicly  recognized.  The  employer  cannot  deny 
employees’ study leave, but in some cases they can postpone it by six months. During study 
leave it is possible to apply for an adult education allowance. The purpose of the allowance 
is to support employees’ and self-employed persons’ cost of living during their studies. To 
qualify for the allowance, the applicant must participate in studies leading to a degree, or 
be  in  vocational,  further  or  continuation  training  organised  by  a  Finnish  educational 
institution under public supervision. The applicant must complete 2 or 4 study credits each 
month to be eligible for the allowance. One credit corresponds to approximately 27 study 
hours. The allowance is paid for a maximum of 15 months. The employees’ allowance is 
funded  solely  by  unemployment  premiums.  The  self-employed  persons´  allowance  is 
funded from the state budget because entrepreneurs do not pay unemployment premiums. 
The allowance was paid to 28 322 persons in 2021 (which is approximately one per cent of 
the employed population), for a total amount of €175 million.  

The 2020 reform was enacted to encourage more people working in low-paid sectors and / 
or  the  low-skilled  to  study  during  their  careers.  It  made  the  income  support  more  widely 
available  for  lower  income  groups  and  part-time  workers.  By  2024,  Finland  plans  to 
introduce a registry of training opportunities to diversify the types of learning activities that 
can be supported by the adult education allowance (towards more shorter courses) and the 
participants  (reaching  more  low-qualified)  by  making  it  easier  for  adults  to  identify 
opportunities. 

The group discussions and plenary discussions resulted in the following reflections on the 
Finnish approach: 

•  The schemes presented need to be seen in the context of the whole Finnish public 
system  of  adult  education  provision,  which  is  quite  a  generous  and  rich  system 
compared to other countries and includes many free or affordable public education 
offers.  To  allow  adults  to  make  use  of  these  offers,  getting  time  off  work/  a 
replacement  income  during  studies  is  more  important  than  support  to  cover  the 
direct costs of training/ course fees. 

•  The  allowance  is  taken  up  mainly  for  higher  education  courses  compared  to 

vocationally oriented courses (two-third compared to one-third). 

•  The allowance is generous, but can be used only once in a lifetime. 

•  The  system  is  not  as  integrated  as  in  the  previously  discussed  French  approach 
(integrating  guidance  and  quality  assurance  of  privately  provided  courses),  but 
different  policies  do  offer  a  full  coverage  of  services  to  both  employed  and 
unemployed. 

•  The allowance is mostly taken up in (semi-)public sectors such as health care and 

education (so by nurses and teachers). 

•  Self-employed people are also able to make use of the allowance. 

A point for further reflection was how to convince more lower educated people to use the 
adult education allowance to improve their skills. 

20 

 
 
WORKING GROUP ON ADULT LEARNING 

6. Final reflections – overarching lessons learned 

The  PLA  offered  reflections  on  four  different  country  examples  related  to  employer-
sponsored learning and/or empowering individuals to learn. In this section, we present some 
overarching reflections. 

The objectives and outcomes of the initiatives 

The four country examples showcase different approaches to increasing funding for adult 
learning,  including  employer-led  funding  arrangements  and  initiatives  that  provide  direct 
financial  support  to  empower  adults  to  learn.  The  examples  show  different  approaches 
related  to  collective  bargaining  (the  Netherlands,  Denmark),  employer  levies  (France, 
Denmark)  and  individual  entitlements  offered  by  the  government  (Finland,  France).  The 
country examples differ in scope and size but together illustrate that there exist effective 
approaches  to  increase  the  financing  available  for  adult  learning  and  these  can  inspire 
policy action in different national contexts. 

Conditions for success and lessons learned for other Member States 

As overarching factors for success of any funding approach to adult learning, the following 
were mentioned during the PLA: 

•  Need for collective action: to build functioning and sustainable funding systems, 
all  relevant  stakeholders,  including  governments,  national  authorities,  social 
partners, individual companies, intermediary organisations, training providers, etc. 
need to be involved and provided with the right (financial) incentives to act. All four 
examples  showcase  the  need  for  collective  action  and  the  close  engagement  of 
labour market stakeholders in the development and implementation of initiatives. 

•  Need for a systemic and integrated approach: Funding is not a separate topic, 
but  something  that  is  linked  to  a  whole-system  approach related  to  stakeholder 
engagement and integration of services (quality, guidance, information provision via 
a registry of training opportunities etc.). Furthermore, outreach can be supported by 
having user-friendly IT tools and web-based platforms to engage with individuals, 
employers and training providers. This turns digitalisation into an opportunity rather 
than  a  barrier  for  adult  participation  in  learning.  These  success  factors  were 
particularly present in the French and Danish examples but under consideration also 
in  the  Netherlands  and  Finland-  highlighting  the  potential  of  registries  to  provide 
guidance,  transparency  and  user-friendliness  and  improve  quality  assurance 
processes.  

•  Need  to  building  trust  within  a  ‘learning  system’:  Systems  do  not  need  to  be 
perfect from the beginning, but should allow for continuous improvements based on 
effective feedback-loops.  Such  feedback  loops  allow  to solve  emerging  problems 
(such as aggressive marketing and fraud). This lesson was particularly highlighted 
in the French and Dutch examples. 

21 

 
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