Evaluation occupies an increasingly major place in public and private decision-making processes, serving many political functions such as analysis of spending, allocation of funds, and provision of accountability. On the other hand evaluation is also increasingly concerned with learning, with empowering program participants and enabling social transformation.

Program evaluation is the use of social research procedures to systematically investigate the effectiveness of social intervention programs such as education and training (Stufflebeam and Shinkfield, 2007). At one level the demand for an appropriately skilled workforce in an evolving global economy has made the evaluation of adult education and training programs a high priority but one which seemed relatively straightforward. However ideological, curricular, and political rethinking has fundamentally undermined this seeming simplicity. The conceptual framework underpinning theories of adult education and training has become deeply contested. In terms of curricular structure the traditional focus on behavioral outcomes has been replaced by the broader concept of competences.