Those who need a second chance at education are the least likely to get one. Adults with weak reading skills join training far less often than their better-educated peers, OECD data show. As EU education ministers met in Dublin, that gap put a question mark over Europe’s plans to retrain its workforce.

The challenge extends beyond offering more courses. Governments need to reach adults with weaker basic skills, help them return to learning, and make it possible for them to stay. Opening Friday’s session, Ireland’s Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless identified “ensuring equitable access to education and training for basic skills attainment” as a central issue.

The two-day informal meeting gave ministers a chance to compare how their countries help people build basic skills and return to education. Those discussions will feed into November’s formal Education Council, where access to learning remains a shared challenge.

Adults left behind by training

The gap follows both education and skill levels. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) finds that adults with higher qualifications are more likely to participate in further learning. Across OECD countries, just 26 per cent of adults with low literacy proficiency participated in formal or non-formal education and training, compared with 70 per cent of those with high proficiency.

Those with weaker skills risk falling further behind as learning opportunities disproportionately reach people already better equipped to use them. The OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills, conducted in 2023 and published in 2024, found that 26 per cent of adults across participating OECD countries and economies had low literacy proficiency and 25 per cent had low numeracy proficiency.

“We’ve all had the challenges coming at us, digitalisation, changing skills, changing environments,” Mr Lawless said in his opening remarks. He described the workshops as an opportunity to compare how national education systems had responded, including through adult learning and retraining.

Access depends on practical circumstances as well as educational ability. An OECD policy brief published this year identifies work commitments, family responsibilities, and cost as major obstacles to training. A course cannot help someone who cannot afford it or find time to attend.

Skills gaps that start at school

The difficulty is already visible among pupils. The European Commission’s assessment of basic skills says roughly one in three EU 15-year-olds struggles with mathematics, while one in four struggles with reading or applying basic scientific knowledge. It also reports that 43 per cent of 13- and 14-year-olds underachieve in basic digital skills. Growing up with connected devices does not automatically equip children to use technology effectively.

The EU’s Basic Skills Action Plan, presented in March 2025, seeks to address these weaknesses. Initiatives scheduled to begin development in 2026 include a support scheme for struggling pupils and a toolkit to help vocational schools and employers teach basic skills through apprenticeships.

We’ve all had the challenges coming at us, digitalisation, changing skills, changing environments. — James Lawless, Ireland’s Minister for Further and Higher Education

In Dublin, Mr Lawless also emphasised participation and retention in adult education. Getting people into a course is only the first step. They must be able to continue alongside work and family responsibilities, particularly when returning to education after a long absence.

The practical test is whether national systems can reach people whom existing opportunities leave behind. More courses may expand provision, but success also requires affordable access, time to learn, and support to finish. Otherwise, Europe’s push to retrain its workforce risks giving the greatest advantage to those who already have it.