New Profiles Of Adults In Education. Clustering Students To Rethink Innovative Targeting Strategies Of Cpias

The reforms of adult education in Italy are beginning to be effective after almost a decade (De Luca Picione and Madonia 2017, Indire 2018, Invalsi 2020). A significant consequence of the reorganization of CPIAs seems to be the differentiation of targets, which was not expected until some time ago. MIUR data (2020) suggests they are predominantly non-EU adults and youth, whereas Italian adults have become a minority. This would have increased the social representation of CPIAs as 'schools for foreigners' (De Luca Picione and Madonia 2017) resulting in the gap between courses for foreigners and Italians (e.g. early-school leavers). Therefore, understanding the current profile of CPIA students is central to rethinking new strategies of adult education. On this basis, the paper aims to answer these questions: who are the people studying in CPIAs? How do they are similar and different? Is it because of age, nationality, or something else? The authors examine the students who joined CPIAs in Campania in the 2016/2017 school year, exploring their main socio-demographic characteristics and training backgrounds. Through a clustering analysis of participants, a varied scenario emerges compared to the common (and simplistic) dichotomy of 'foreign students vs. Italian adults'. On the other hand, in the largest cluster, nationality is not a relevant discriminant. Indeed, there are features with more weight, such as educational content and experimentation with new learning purposes e.g. inclusion and adult re-entry needs. These empirical evidences suggest that rethinking adult education policies also could mean thinking about CPIA targeting policies