Comparative cartography of adult education for migrants in Cyprus, Estonia, Malta and Scotland

Abstract

This chapter’s discussion critically reviews legislative and policy practices in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta and Estonia related to the provision of adult migrant education. The cartography maps several commonalities – such as diverse immigrant cohorts, state expenditure on education, adult education provision by public, private and civil society entities, and language programmes of comparable level; as well as differences – such as the origins and ethnicities of migrant groups, differences in the legal and technocratic jargon. Additionally, the four countries featured diverse policy responses to adult education for migrants, ranging from inclusive visible policy to non-existent – a key finding also because it was not aligned with geographical location. On the other hand, the comparative analysis illuminates the absence of a salient placeholder across the four countries – namely, a concrete policy on adult education for migrants. This chapter also flags the unavailability of data (or of reliable data) in all the four countries on participation rates of migrants in adult education programmes, suggesting the case studies informing the book’s broader discussion unfolded in a relative policy vacuum.