The necessary competencies for a continuing education decision an empirical-theoretical approach

The European Union wants to increase participation in continuing education across Europe by 2030. Current data shows that a significant proportion of the European population does not participate in (non-)formal continuing education, raising pressing questions about educational equity. This article takes a competence-theoretical approach to explain (non-)participation in continuing education in order to focus on those barriers that could be overcome through targeted educational activities. An exploratory study investigated the question of what competencies people need in order to make an informed decision for or against participating in (non-)formal continuing education courses. To this end, 21 continuing education counsellors from Germany were interviewed using guided problem centred interviews. The results obtained using structured content analysis show that continuing education choice competence is based on five competency facets: Knowledge about the adult education system; reflective knowledge about one’s own adult education-related self-concept (e.g. learning preferences); adult education-related self-efficacy expectations; motivational factors; and self-regulatory skills. The model will be further developed using quantitative item construction in order to further examine its reliability and ultimately, at the individual level, to encourage self-determined decisions about continuing education courses and to help to make participation in continuing education more equitable.