Financing and institutions as key elements of the future of adult education. Disciplinary struggles about empirical observations

The empirical basis of this chapter is an explorative attempt of the observation and analysis of the total expenditure and basic structures of participation for adult education in Austria, compared to selected countries from different welfare regimes (Finland, Sweden, Australia, Scotland/UK). The empirical results from the estimations are widely unexpected, and they are reflected in relation to disciplinary struggles at different levels, viz. the inner Austrian discourses and more broadly the wider academic and research disciplines. A big disciplinary struggle is about how the contributions of different stakeholders relate to market failure and to adult education as a public good.