Unfulfilled Promise: Evaluating the Varying Effect of Adult Education and Training on Functional Cognitive Skills Across Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

This study utilizes the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2013 data, employing propensity score matching to examine the extent to which adult education and training (AET) improves literacy and numeracy skills, particularly among socially disadvantaged groups. The findings reveal that while both general and job-related AET participation correlates with slight improvements in literacy, these gains are significantly more pronounced within high-socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Specifically, job-related AET exhibits an effect size on literacy that is double that of general AET for the high-SES group, signifying an advancement equivalent to a rise from the 50th to the 55th percentile. In contrast, middle- and low-SES groups did not yield any positive advantage in literacy or numeracy skills, indicating an inequitable distribution of AET benefit. This study underscores the need to critically reassess the policy objectives of AET as a welfare strategy intended to reduce social inequality.

Keywords

Adult education and training cognitive skills socio-economic status propensity score matching PIAAC

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