Personal guidance works, a letter alone does not – outreach increases participation in adult education among the low-educated

Abstract

Participation in adult education is strongly accumulated in Finland: the ones to educate themselves are those, who already have a high level of education. This study evaluates the impact of two different measures on activating adults with a low level of education through a randomized field experiment. The results show that distributing information about training and education by letter alone did not increase participation in education in a statistically significant manner. Instead, the more intensive outreach work consisting of service providers offering tailored study guidance in small and medium-sized companies increased the target group’s participation in secondary education by 0,75 percentage units (circa 8 percent).

Even though outreach work is effective, it is also more expensive. The cost for outreach work per one new student was circa 6,200 euros. Another discovery in the pilot project was also the slight decrease in monthly incomes, which denotes a change in time management between studies and work. The results highlight that in order to change the educational behaviour of vulnerable groups, allocated resources and personalised touch are required, but the cost efficiency of measures needs to be weighed against the gains achieved. The study recommends wider capitalising on randomised field experiments as a basis of knowledge in the background to public policy and long-standing observation for evaluating long-term effects.

Publication Information

Karhunen, H., Kauhanen, A., Kuhakoski, J., Riukula, K., Suhonen, T., Vanhala, P. & Virtanen, H. (2026), Henkilökohtainen ohjaus puree, pelkkä kirje ei – hakeva toiminta lisää matalasti koulutettujen osallistumista aikuiskoulutukseen, Jatkuvan oppimisen ja työllisyyden palvelukeskuksen julkaisuja 2/2026.

• ISSN: 2954-2022
• ISBN: 978-952-7546-08-6
• Publication in PDF-format