Abstract:

The contemporary world is undergoing profound challenges and transformations driven by climate change, increased life expectancy, migration flows, globalisation, demographic decline and the rapid development of digital technologies. In this context, the Seventh International Conference on Adult Education (2022) emphasised the need to rethink adult education within a broader perspective of lifelong learning. The literature highlights several critical issues in adult education systems. In Italy, a significant percentage of adults have low levels of literacy, numeracy and digital skills, and only 41% participate in lifelong learning activities, with those most in need being excluded. At the same time, labour markets are rapidly evolving, particularly due to digitalisation, which is increasing the demand for new digital, transversal and entrepreneurial skills.

The broader research project, conducted in collaboration with Demetra Formazione, a company specialising in training and employment services, aims to investigate how adult learning needs are evolving in this changing context in order to design up-to-date and personalised training courses. Within this broader framework, this study focuses in particular on the development and validation of self-assessment questionnaires in Italian designed to assess key competences relevant to adult learners using a 4-point Likert scale.

Three areas of competence were examined: digital, entrepreneurial and green competences. The digital skills questionnaire is a translation and adaptation into Italian of the DigCompSat tool, while the entrepreneurial skills questionnaire is a translation and adaptation into Italian of a questionnaire originally developed and validated in English by Dr Radka Čopková, professor at the University of Košice. The green skills questionnaire was originally developed by the author. The development and adaptation of the items were based on the DigComp, EntreComp and GreenComp frameworks. The questionnaires were reviewed by a group of experts and refined through two rounds of pilot testing.

The instruments were administered to a sample of 319 university students and analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to examine their factor structure, validity and reliability. The administration to university students was done solely for the purpose of psychometrically validating the questionnaire. The analyses led to the validation of three self-assessment questionnaires with robust psychometric properties. The digital skills questionnaire consists of 23 items organised into six factors, the entrepreneurial skills questionnaire comprises 29 items structured into four factors, and the green skills questionnaire comprises 14 items grouped into three factors, all consistent with the respective European skills frameworks.

Overall, the study led to the development of reliable and theoretically grounded self-assessment tools for measuring digital, entrepreneurial and green skills in adult learners. Future stages of the research involve administering the questionnaires to adult students enrolled in Demetra Formazione courses, with the aim of mapping skills gaps and identifying areas of skills deficiency in order to support the design of more targeted and personalised adult education and training pathways. This work will focus specifically on the procedures used to develop and validate the questionnaires and on their final factorial structure.

Keywords:

Emerging Skills, Adult Learning, Digital Transformation.