Despite efforts to expand learning opportunities and reach new target groups, a significant proportion of adults still do not participate in adult education. Reaching the educationally disadvantaged is therefore crucial to promoting educational equity. Recruitment is therefore a key challenge for adult education staff. However, to date, there are no empirically based overviews that systematise the international state of discussion and research on this topic. To fill this gap, we conducted a scoping review including a total of 126 publications to find out what is actually known about participant recruitment in adult education. In our analysis, we focused on terminology and research characteristics. We found (i) a paucity of empirical studies, (ii) a lack of standardised terminology when addressing target groups, (iii) an adoption of either a provider perspective or a target group perspective to examine the issue, (iv) a combination of personal networking, direct engagement, and targeted advertising as an effective recruitment approach. Finally, we offer suggestions for future lines of research within this field as well as implications for practice and policy. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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