Sustaining advocacy and action on women��s participation and gender equality in adult education

This article gives an overview of the development of gender equality and women??s participation in adult learning and education in the history of the International Conferences on Adult Education (CONFINTEA). Though the equality of rights was highlighted throughout the various conferences, the first Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) observed that a gender gap in the participation in adult learning and education still persisted in 2009. This is especially remarkable with regard to the impact of CONFINTEA V in 1997, because it focused on the issue of women??s participation and gender equality. A review of the CONFINTEA VI programme elements and the national reports prepared by UNESCO Member States in 2008 reveals that gender issues have to some extent moved from the centre of attention to the periphery. This article therefore tries to explore how gender principles are acknowledged in CONFINTEA VI and its follow-up.     

Dancing on the deck of the Titanic? Adult education, the nation-state and new social movements

This article begins with a discussion of the implications of CONFINTEA VI having been organised in Brazil ?C the author uses the term ??Brazilian effect?? ?C and the role of social movements challenging neoliberalism. Next, drawing from the experience of Latin America, this paper analyses the counter-hegemonic practice of the new social movements. The concluding section highlights the dilemmas faced by UNESCO in trying to create a democratic and efficient process of policy-making and institutional service in adult education in the nation-states. Furthermore, the proposal of popular education portrayed by the new social movements is described as a tool for empowerment. CONFINTEA VI??s recommendation of moving from rhetoric to action in adult education programmes, practices and policies demands that we take the agendas of the new social movements in the post-neoliberalism era seriously.     

CONFINTEA VI follow-up and the role of university lifelong learning: Some issues for European higher education

The Belém Framework for Action underlines, among many other issues, that quality in adult learning and education must be holistic and multidimensional both as a concept and in practice, using various tools such as partnerships with higher education institutions. Bridging adult and higher education is difficult, but the lifelong learning paradigm may help European universities to meet the challenge. This paper argues that European higher education institutions should, on the one hand, educate adults to qualify them for their complex roles in society and economy either through academic programmes or in other, non-formal ways. On the other hand, higher education institutions should promote quality research on adult learning and education and develop active citizenship too. Emphasis was clearly given to the former task in the Budapest Statement in December 2008 as part of the European preparatory process for CONFINTEA VI, and the latter has been articulated by UNESCO for more than a decade. This paper suggests that a balanced position may help universities in setting themselves up as better and more effective learning organisations.     

Adult education as a human right: The Latin American context and the ecopedagogic perspective

This article presents the concept and practice of adult education as a key issue for Brazil and other Latin American countries, both for formal and non-formal education in the public and private sectors. It includes citizen education focused on democratisation of society and sustainable development. The concept is pluralist and ideological as well as technical. All along the history of contemporary education it is essential to highlight the importance of the CONFINTEA conferences for the construction of an expanded vision of this concept. Adult education is understood as a human right. The right to education does not end when a person has reached the so-called ??proper?? age; it continues to be a right for the duration of everyone??s entire life. This article explores Paulo Freire??s contribution, particularly the methodology of MOVA (Youth and Adult Literacy Movement). It also presents the ecopedagogic perspective, which was inspired by Paulo Freire??s legacy. Finally, this article stresses the need to support a long-term policy for adult education, following the recommendations of the Civil Society International Forum (FISC) and CONFINTEA VI, both held in Belém, Brazil, in 2009.     

Financing adult learning and education (ALE) now and in future

This article submits that while the world continues to view education as a human right, it also persists in depriving an important section of it – namely adult learning and education (ALE) – of adequate funding. Located within the lifelong learning domain, which facilitates both the resolution of challenges and adjustment to the vagaries of living throughout a lifetime, ALE is indispensable within the framework of the United Nations 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article identifies four factors which are currently responsible for the poor funding of ALE. These factors are: (1) the world’s obsession with the provision of school education; (2) the lack of adequate instruments to work out ALE’s returns on investment; (3) the hope that employers will ultimately supply ALE; and (4) the assumption that an expansion of formal schooling will eventually lead to the establishment of literate societies free of inter-generational crises. Since ALE is generally framed as a broad literacy education project, the author undertakes a review of literacy education costing. This leads him to posit that quality literacy education can be supplied at a unit cost ranging between USD 150 and USD 250 annually within any Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL) country. Finally, the article offers four recommendations to increase ALE funding going forward.

     

Formation des formateurs?: place dans une ��ducation de qualit�� des adultes

Training the trainers: its role in high-quality adult education ?C This article is about the crucial role of instructor training; it discusses the implications for the quality of adult learning and education. The documents arising out of CONFINTEA V and VI, the Hamburg Declaration, the Agenda for the Future and the Belém Framework for Action all recognise the critical role played by facilitators and adult instructors in the quality of adult learning and education. However, all over the world, they are undertrained and poorly paid by comparison with their counterparts in the formal education sector. In West Africa, where the average literacy rate is 20%, the situation of these facilitators and instructors and the conditions in which they work are becoming alarming, particularly since actors?? expectations of them are constantly increasing. This article aims to clarify the most important reasons for this marginalisation and then provides some key pieces of guidance on how to move forward in terms of the political context, the literate environment, skills and languages, curricula, teaching methods and learner needs, materials, monitoring and evaluation and research.     

Adult education and indigenous peoples in Latin America

This article describes the educational situation of indigenous peoples in Latin America, and in particular their scant participation in adult education activities. It analyses the historical, structural and institutional barriers to their greater involvement in adult education. The article proposes to look at indigenous demands on education as a potential way out of educational stagnation of indigenous adults, which is one of the challenges clearly formulated by UNESCO member states during CONFINTEA VI as a priority to be faced. The article concludes arguing the case for intercultural education, not only among indigenous peoples, but for the whole of the population, to be a guiding philosophy for education in general and adult education in particular in Latin American countries. It emphasises the fact that this cannot be achieved without the active participation of indigenous peoples themselves.     

From Hamburg to Belem: the limits of technocratic thinking in adult learning education

This article discusses some of the generalized analyses of adult learning education, mostly informed by technocratic thinking, highlighting perceived trends in adult learning education between CONFINTEA V and CONFITEA VI. Those trends could be understood as challenges. Employing a political sociology of adult learning education as a critique of instrumental reason is advanced.     

Revisioning Education for All in the age of migration: Global challenges and opportunities for lifelong learning

This paper revisits and revisions Education for All (EFA) in the age of global migration with the aim of developing more inclusive approaches towards social justice and equity in education. Drawing on cases of internal and international migration in China and Canada, this paper compares and contrasts policies and practices in the education of migrants and their children to discern common issues and challenges in both country contexts. The findings reveal that despite China’s nine-year compulsory education law for all school-aged children, migrant children are often deprived of equitable learning opportunities, resulting in their being the most educationally marginalised in China. The case of Canada demonstrates some of the challenges facing immigrants in having their prior learning and work experience recognised. Lessons learned from this comparative analysis have important implications for the post-2015 EFA revisioning process in terms of developing a holistic, inclusive lifelong learning framework which ensures that the learning needs of both young and adult learners are met through access to equitable learning opportunities as well as recognition of their prior learning and experience.     

全球成人学习和教育的进展与愿景——基于第三次成人学习和教育全球报告的分析

2016年9月,联合国教科文组织终身学习研究所发布第三次成人学习和教育全球报告,旨在评估自2009年以来各国成人学习和教育取得的进展,并以此作为《2030年可持续发展议程》的主要努力成果.第三次成人学习和教育全球报告以对世界范围内的成人学习和教育的实践审视为基点,展示出成人学习和教育在健康和福祉、就业和劳动力市场、公民和社区生活等领域的重要贡献,为实现教育可持续发展的承诺提供科学依据和理论基础.     

Inclusion of indigenous peoples in CONFINTEA VI and follow-up processes

This paper discusses key issues raised by indigenous peoples during CONFINTEA VI and proposes strategies to enable them to participate in ongoing processes. Indigenous peoples are not involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of adult education programmes, and this often results in a ??one-size-fits-all?? model. This article takes the position that indigenous people must have full and effective participation in all matters which concern them and that well-meaning policy statements are only as effective as the display of real effort to make them work. One example of an indigenous community taking initiative in order to free itself of overwhelming deficit positioning by mainstream educational and other systems is the M??ori community of Aotearoa/New Zealand. The paper argues that through CONFINTEA VI, there is still space for the voice of indigenous peoples to be heard.     

Bringing together monitoring approaches to track progress on adult learning and education across main international policy tools

International Review of Education - This article critically examines how monitoring strategies currently track progress on country commitments to adult learning and education (ALE). These...     

教育的未来:为教育共建一份社会新契约北大核心CSSCI

半个世纪以来,联合国教科文组织发布了一系列重要的、里程碑式的教育文件。从学会生存、学习的四个支柱到共同利益、社会契约等理念的提出,既呈现了联合国教科文组织作为全球教育领导者的全球性思维和全球视野,也体现了其一贯坚持的人文主义传统,并在传承中创新。面对全纳教育危机、学习的贫穷、学习的非认知能力培养以及新冠肺炎疫情加剧的教育危机等,联合国教科文组织在2021年11月发布的《共同重新构想我们的未来:一种新的教育社会契约》报告中提出,要为教育构建一份新的社会契约,通过契约精神维护与践行"教育是一项共同利益"。     

成人教育全球发展的历程与展望——来自UNESCO的推展

UNESCO在推进全球成人教育发展中扮演着极其重要的角色。在其引领下,成人教育经历了激情彭湃的全球成人扫盲、纳入国家正规教育组成、构建终身教育体系、成为一项不可剥夺的基本权利等全球发展时期。今后UNESCO在激发成人学习动机、提升成人学习能力、创设成人学习机会和环境、加大成人学习的财政、立法与文化支持以及促进成人学习的国际合作上还将继续发挥重要的作用。     

全球视域下成人参与学习的障碍及解决路径——基于GRALE Ⅳ的分析

成人全面而有效地参与学习是保障2030年可持续发展目标实现的关键因素之一。但联合国教科文组织2019年发布的第四份《成人学习与教育全球报告》显示,当前全球范围内成人学习与教育(Adult Learning and Education, ALE)的平均参与率仍然不高,而且不同国家和地区之间的差异明显,一定程度上影响了可持续发展目标的实现。究其原因主要是成人参与学习的主观意识不强、社会环境欠佳、保障体制待完善等。为破除这些障碍,需从激发成人个体学习意识、构建社会支持系统、塑造有利于成人学习的社会环境出发,帮助更多的成人参与学习和接受教育,促进全球化时代全民学习社会的早日实现。     

Making education world-class: “ThinkGlobalOhio”

For over two decades the State of Ohio has been reforming its education system. This article focuses on the 2006 reform initiatives: a newly elected governor pledged to review and revise its 2002 kindergarten to twelfth grad (K-12) academic content standards and benchmark them to international ??best-in-class?? measures, given Ohio??s need to develop human talent for new industries to replace disappearing jobs in manufacturing. Rather than look at only one other country or state in the US, Ohio compared its standards to those of eight countries and one province; based on this analysis, it rewrote its standards. Ohio has formally adopted the U.S. Common Core Standards and joined the national Partnership for 21st Century Skills, using those learning frameworks to pass legislative amendments for new academic standards and model curriculum. US federal funding from both ??No Child Left Behind?? and ??Race to the Top?? ($400 million) confirms and validates the state??s efforts to build a world-class education system that will make Ohio??s students more competitive in a global economy that demands innovation and a highly skilled workforce.     

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education

Globalisation, transnational policies and adult education – This paper examines policy documents produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the European Union (EU) in the field of adult education and learning. Both these entities address adult education as an explicit object of policy. This paper investigates how globalisation processes are constructed as policy problems when these transnational political agents propose adult education as a response. The author’s main argument is that while UNESCO presents the provision of adult education as a means for governments worldwide to overcome disadvantages experienced by their own citizenry, the EU institutionalises learning experiences as a means for governments to sustain regional economic growth and political expansion. After reviewing the literature on globalisation to elucidate the theories that inform current understanding of contemporary economic, political, cultural and ecological changes as political problems, she presents the conceptual and methodological framework of her analysis. The author then examines the active role played by UNESCO and the EU in promoting adult education as a policy objective at transnational level, and unpacks the specific problem “representations” that are substantiated by these organisations. She argues that UNESCO and EU processes assign specific values and meanings to globalisation, and that these reflect a limited understanding of the complexity of globalisation. Finally, she considers two of the effects produced by these problem representations.     

French second-language teacher candidates’ positions towards Allophone students and implications for inclusion

In Canada, there is a rising population of K-12 students who speak neither French nor English at home, and who are sometimes expected to learn both of the country’s official languages in school. Applying the lenses of critical theory and positioning theory, this study uses questionnaire and interview data to frame considerations to explore how teacher candidates in French second-language (FSL) teacher education programmes across Canada position these Allophone students and their learning needs over the course of their year in teacher education. Findings showed mostly positive attitudes towards the students, and in some cases, apparent small changes in their perceptions of Allophone students in FSL classes but also revealed some uncertainty about the extent to which these positive positions led to recognition of the unique learning needs of this student population. Such findings raise questions about the potential for true inclusion of these students within the learning environment.     

Conceptual foundations for understanding inequality in participation in adult learning and education (ALE) for international comparisons

Inequality in adult learning and education (ALE) participation has been reported by previous comparative studies. In doing so, however, most of efforts have been made to understand such patterns of inequality in ALE participation at the micro-level using a conceptual approach based on human capital theory. While the micro-level approach offers an individualistic and economic perspective on learning, macro-level structural conditions play an important role in creating the circumstances faced by individuals. By performing a critical literature review, this paper intends to build conceptual foundations conducive to understand both micro- and macro-level dimensions implicitly and/or explicitly linked to inequality in ALE participation. Specifically, this paper takes a brief look into social origins as a micro-level factor, and takes an in-depth look into social inequality (i.e. education, economic and skill inequality) and institutional settings (i.e. active labour market policies and strictness of employment protection,) as macro-level factors. These conceptual foundations can be used as a conceptual framework for a cross-country empirical analysis of the degree of inequality in ALE participation.     

‘The Treasure Within’ and ‘Learning Through Life’: A Review and Prospectus

In this article, Tom Schuller and David Watson, who were responsible for a major review of lifelong learning in the UK published in 2009, describe the main proposals from that review and compare them with the 1996 UNESCO report, The Treasure Within. They find many points of similarity, as well as clear differences. Apart from specific differences of analysis or emphasis, their 2009 ‘Learning Through Life’ (LTL) report focused particularly on adults and dealt prominently with workplace and community-based opportunities compared with the full life-cycle but largely formal education focus of the Delors report. They discuss the LTL 4-lifestage model, the lifecycle distribution of resources, and entitlements to learning. They draw out key issues related to ‘learning to be’. They provide a stocktake of the progress that has been made in the UK since the publication of their report in 2009 and find little grounds for encouragement that their suggested directions for change have been put into practice. They reflect on rationales and developments to offer a prospectus for lifelong learning that has general application, not only in the UK.