Editorial

It can be considered as the promise of social permeability and individual occupational upwards mobility that adults are able to obtain and catch up on formal qualifications at basic and advanced levels. Formal education for adults ranges from continuing socially and labour market-oriented important basic skills (literacy and numeracy, completion of compulsory education), adult apprenticeship training through evening schools of advanced learning, tertiary courses or study programmes to recognition procedures for non-formally acquired knowledge and skills leading to a formal qualification. Issue 21 of "The Austrian Open Access Journal for Adult Education (Magazin erwachsenenbildung.at in German)" describes the scope and meaning of this form of adult education over the course of time - a form which is frequently underestimated in Austria - and places it in an international context. Conceptual limitations, participation quotas, funding and policies of second chance education and other respective adult education will be discussed drawing on extensive data. Innovative models of tertiary education and the potential of NQF descriptors to describe learning outcomes of general, academic and vocational education are further topics covered by contributions to this publication. Furthermore, alternative pathways to tertiary level qualifications for adults with vocational backgrounds are critically analysed. Well-tried educational pathways (e.g., schools for people in work, Schule für Erwachsenenbildung Berlin, WIFI professional academies) are presented along with new approaches and ideas for recognizing competences and facilitating access from vocational education to first or further tertiary level education (Austrian Academy of Continuing Education - wba, KOMKOM project, Vienna 2020 Qualification Plan).