PARTICIPATION IN MUNICIPAL ADULT EDUCATION IN SWEDEN Why and How is the Second Chance Taken?

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore and describe how and why adults who have not fulfilled the current upper secondary education level become adult students in Swedish upper secondary municipal education, Komvux. Under this aim, there are two research questions: 1) why and how the adults decide to study in Komvux and 2) if they experience any barriers to participate in Komvux, if so how they overcome them.

Theory: The study relies on theoretical framework of life history reserach. Bounded Agency Model and capability approach are applied as tools of analysis. Method: A life history approach has been used to examine five adult students’ experiences. Results: The results show that a main reason of participation is that the students expected that their studies in Komvux would lead to a new job. Most of the informants had a long term perspective to change their carrier and lifestyle. Using the capability approach (Sen, 1999), I analyzed that the informants had a limited capability for work. Different situations and transitions in life gave them opportunities to think about their future. The participation barriers that were experienced by my informants were 1) age, 2) lack of self-confidence, 3) time span, and 4) no clear purpose of study. These barriers were weakened through 1) encountering with new people and new values, 2) a transition in life that requires new needs, 3) having proper information about education, and 4) cultivating self-confidence.

In relation to the Bounded Agency Model (Rubenson & Desjardins, 2009), I first analysed that the influence of the Swedish welfare state regime (Esping-Anderson, 1990) seems to have played a great role in weakening the participation barriers. Secondly, the primary reasons of why these adult students had not taken “the first chance” and needed the second chance were also bounded in the social context. Thirdly, the perceived value of the study in Komvux is continuously renewed and revised by reflecting the experience corresponding to life stage and new environment. The empirical knowledge of dynamic bounded agency described in my life history research contributes to an understanding of the Bounded Agency Model as a continuous and dynamic process of deciding to participate in adult education.