Social exclusion in European lifelong learninganalysing the European Union and Spanish lifelong learning policies

Zusammenfassung

This study aims to examine the conceptualisation of social exclusion in EU and Spanish lifelong learning policy from the 1990s to 2018, identifying its meaning, definitions, prevalence, related terminology, measures, as well as the prioritised and missing vulnerable groups and their social construction. The study examines three different levels of lifelong learning policy: the EU level, the national (Spanish) level, and the funding scheme level i.e. the implementation level, as well as the level of convergence and divergence between the different levels. The study also examines the history of the concept of lifelong learning in Spain. The study uses a mixed methods research which involves: content analysis of the EU and Spanish policy documents, interviews, and secondary data on the drafting of lifelong learning policies; quantitative analysis of ESF data; and an analysis of Massive Digital Libraries data. The results show that the concept has undergone a considerable shift with social exclusion increasingly defined in terms of specific vulnerable groups and in terms of employability, many vulnerable groups are left out, and measures to tackle exclusion are often missing. The results show that the EU has played an important role in introducing the concept in the Spanish policies, and there has been an increased convergence of Spanish policies with EU policies due to different factors ranging from aspiration for legitimacy, lack of awareness of EU requirements, to similar domestic pressures giving rise to similar policy responses. Furthermore, the emergence of the ESF as the main funding instrument of lifelong learning has serious implications for national and regional policy as it promotes its narrow understanding of social exclusion. As Spanish ESF programmes are adopting EU-provided indicators and definitions, this is influencing the choice of target groups and having an especially negative impact on the most vulnerable. Moreover, the analysis revealed the lack of political power of vulnerable groups in policy-making with very little attempt to involve them. Finally, different measures are put forward ranging from ensuring quality of participation to organising learner festivals to improve the representation of vulnerable people.